Camille Terrier

WORKING PAPERS

“The Design of Teacher Assignment: Theory and Evidence” (with Julien Combe and Olivier Tercieux)

Revision requested, Review of Economic Studies

Latest version here (June 2020). Slides.

To assign teachers to schools, a modified version of the well-known deferred acceptance mechanism has been proposed in the literature and is used in practice. We show that this mechanism fails to be fair and efficient for both teachers and schools. We identify a class of strategyproof mechanisms that cannot be improved upon in terms of both efficiency and fairness. Using a rich dataset on teachers’ applications in France, we estimate teachers preferences and perform a counterfactual analysis. The results show that these mechanisms perform much better than the modified version of deferred acceptance. For instance, the number of teachers moving from their positions more than triples under our mechanism.

“Fiscal and Education Spillovers from Charter School Expansion” (with Matthew Ridley)

Latest version here (March 2020). NBER Working Paper No. 25070.

Winner of the 2019 Distinguished CESifo Affiliate Award.

The fiscal and educational consequences of charter expansion for non-charter students are central issues in the debate over charter schools. Does the charter sector drain resources and high-achieving peers from non-charter schools? This paper answers these questions using an empirical strategy that exploits a 2011 reform that lifted caps on charter schools for underperforming districts in Massachusetts. We use complementary synthetic control instrumental variable (IV-SC) and differences-in-differences instrumental variables (IV-DiD) estimators. The results suggest increased charter attendance encourages districts to shift expenditure in the traditional sector from support services to instruction and salaries. At the same time, charter expansion has a small positive effect on non-charter students’ achievement.

"Boys Lag Behind: How Teachers' Gender Biases Affect Student Achievement"

Economics of Education Review, August 2020.

Pre-print version here.

I use a combination of blind and non-blind test scores to show that middle school teachers favor girls when they grade. This favoritism, estimated in the form of individual teacher effects, has long-term consequences: as measured by their national evaluations three years later, male students make less progress than their female counterparts. Gender-biased grading accounts for 21 percent of boys falling behind girls in math during middle school. On the other hand, girls who benefit from gender bias in math are more likely to select a science track in high school.

Press coverage: The Times (2015), BBC News (2015), Le Monde (2014), Le Monde les décodeurs (2014)

“Closing the Gap Between Vocational and General Education? Evidence from University Technical Colleges in England” (with Sandra McNally, Guglielmo Ventura, and Stephen Machin)

Latest version here (October 2020). Slides.

Countries such as the UK and the US, with a weak history of vocational education, have recently seen a rapid expansion of hybrid schools which provide both general and vocational education. England introduced ‘University Technical Colleges’ (UTCs) in 2010 for students aged 14 to 18. 49 UTCs have been created since then. We use an instrumental variable approach to evaluate the causal effect of attending a UTC on student academic and vocational achievement and on their labour market outcomes. UTCs dramatically reduce academic achievement on national exams at age 16. However, for students who enter at age 16, UTCs boost vocational achievement without harming academic achievement. They also improve achievement in STEM qualifications, and enrolment in apprenticeships. By age 19, UTC students are less likely to be unemployed and more likely to study STEM at university.

POLICY WORK

"How Does Charter Expansion Affect School District Finances and Student Achievement? New Evidence from Massachusetts", Education Next, 24 September 2018

"Mesurer l’impact des politiques publiques est un exercice indispensable", Le Monde, 5 July 2018

"Faut-il sauver les algorithmes d'affectation ? Affelnet, affectation des enseignants et Parcoursup", Terra Nova, 6 June 2018

"Il faudra prendre avec beaucoup de prudence les résultats affichés par Parcoursup à la fin de l’été", Le Monde, 23 May 2018

"Améliorer la mobilité des enseignants : un nouvel algorithme ne pénalisant pas les académies les moins attractives", Education & Formations, Vol. 92, pp. 57-75, 2016

"Why French school curriculum and timetable reforms forced teachers onto the streets", The Conversation, 22 May 2015

"Matching practices of teachers to schools in France", Matching in Practice, 2014

"L’attractivité des concours de recrutement des enseignants du second degré public : une étude rétrospective", DEPP, June 2014

REFERENCES