Teacher Value Added in a Low-Income Country

Using data from Pakistan, we show that existing methods produce unbiased and reliable estimates of teacher value added (TVA) despite significant differences in context. Although effective teachers increase learning substantially, observed teacher characteristics account for less than 5 percent of the variation in TVA. The first two years of tenure and content knowledge correlate with TVA in our sample. Wages for public sector teachers do not correlate with TVA, although they do in the private sector. Finally, teachers newly entering on temporary contracts with 35 percent lower wages have similar distributions of TVA to the permanent teaching workforce. (JEL I21, J31, J41, J45, O15)