How Do Teachers Improve? The Relative Importance of Specific and General Human Capital

Ben Ost

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2014, vol. 6, issue 2, 127-51

Abstract: One of the most consistent findings in the literature on teacher quality is that teachers improve with experience, especially in the first several years. This study extends this research by separately identifying the benefits of general teaching experience and specific curriculum familiarity. I find that both specific and general human capital contribute to teacher improvement and that recent specific experience is more valuable than distant specific experience. This paper also contributes to a broader literature on human capital acquisition, as it is among the first to examine human capital specificity using a direct measure of productivity.

JEL-codes: H75 I21 J24 J45 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
Note: DOI: 10.1257/app.6.2.127
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (45)

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