Can Service Scholarships Boost Academic Performance? 

This study provides causal evidence on the short-term impacts of a service scholarship in China on teacher candidates’ academic achievement, using a regression discontinuity design. Leveraging a transcript dataset with over 200,000 course-level observations from a top-ranked normal university, the study compares academic performance within the same classrooms. The results show no significant overall impact on course grades or GPA. However, recipients from wealthier families perform slightly worse than their peers, and a negative trend emerges over time—initial improvement followed by a decline. These findings suggest that while the scholarship attracts more academically competitive students, it may lead to unintended performance trade-offs.

Recruiting High-Quality Teachers with Service Scholarships

This study evaluates the effectiveness of China’s Free Teacher Education (FTE) scholarship in attracting and developing high-quality teachers, focusing on enrollment, career choices, teaching effectiveness, and burnout. Using administrative and survey data, we compare FTE recipients with non-recipients on metrics such as pre-college background, job placement, teaching effectiveness, and burnout. Findings show that while FTE recipients are more likely to become teachers and demonstrate superior teaching effectiveness, they do not necessarily end up in hard-to-staff schools. Additionally, recipients experience slightly higher burnout. This study highlights the potential of service scholarships to address teacher shortages while also raising concerns about their broader impact.

This paper provides the first empirical evidence comparing the effectiveness of traditionally trained teachers from teachers’ colleges and non-traditionally trained teachers with similar pre-college abilities, in a top school district in China. We apply a value-added and cross-subject model to account for teacher-student sorting bias. The findings show that, on average, traditionally trained teachers boost students’ high-stakes test scores by 0.1 standard deviations more over three years. Survey results suggest both groups are similar in time allocation and professional characteristics, but traditionally trained teachers report using more diverse pedagogies and teaching strategies. These findings, which are corroborated by data from another province, contribute to the debate on alternative routes to teaching and the value of teacher education.