Learning Job Skills from Colleagues at Work Evidence from a...

LearningJobSkillsfromColleaguesatWorkEvidencefromaFieldExperimentUsingTeacherPerformanceData

GuestLecturebyEricTaylorAssistantProfessor,HarvardGraduateSchoolofEducation

Monday,October16,201712:00–1:15pm,Education2010

Abstract:We studyon-the-job learningamongclassroom teachers, especially learning skillsfromcoworkers.Usingdatafromafieldexperiment,wedocumentmeaningfulimprovementsinteacherjobperformancewhenhigh-andlow-skilledteachersworkingatthesameschoolarepairedandaskedtoworktogetheronimprovingtheirskills.Pairsarematchedonspecificskillsmeasuredinpriorevaluations.Eachpairincludesatargetteacherwhoscoreslowinoneormoreofnineteenskills,andapartnerwhoscoreshigh in (manyof) the target teacher’sdeficient skills. Student test scores improved by 0.12 standard deviations in the low-skilledtargetteachers’classrooms.Theseimprovements inteacherjobperformancepersisted,andperhapsgrew,intheyearaftertreatment.Empiricaltestssuggesttheimprovementsarelikelytheresultoftargetteacherslearningskillsfromtheirpartner.

Eric Taylor is an assistant professor at the Harvard GraduateSchool of Education. Eric studies theeconomicsof education,with a particular interest in employer-employee interactionsbetweenschoolsandteachers—hiringandfiringdecisions,jobdesign, training, performance evaluation. His work has beenpublishedintheAmericanEconomicReview,JournalofHumanResources, and Journal of Public Economics; and featured inSlate,Time,TheWashingtonPost,andEducationWeek.EricwasaSpencerDissertationFellowin2014,andwasrecognizedforExcellence in Teaching andMentoring by the StanfordGSE in2013.