Are Tenure Track Professors Better Teachers?

Abstract

We are grateful to the Northwestern University Registrar's office, office of admissions, and office of human resources for providing the data necessary to carry out this analysis, and to numerous colleagues for helpful suggestions. Caitlin Ahearn and Christine Mulhern provided exceptional research assistance. All opinions and errors are our own. We have not received research support for this project. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research. NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peerreviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications.

Teaching and research at a large university: Case studies of science professors

“…Gess‐Newsome, Southerland, Johnston, and Woodbury () studied three science professors creating and implementing a novel curriculum; this study primarily examined the conditions required to support change in professors’ teaching belief systems. Indeed, a host of similar studies might be described (Figlio, Schapiro, & Soter, ; Galbraith & Merrill, ; Hurley et al, ). Each in its own way contributes to the field's understanding of professors’ careers, but they lack the deeply descriptive power of case study or ethnographic analysis.…”

Part-Time Faculty and Community College Student Success

“…A recent white paper by Figlio, Schapiro, and Soter (2013), suggests the same is true for the tenured versus nontenured employment status at selective research institutions as well. They found nontenured faculty were actually better for student success, as defined by taking subsequent courses in a subject, as well as doing better in subsequent coursework.…”

Instruction Quality or Working Condition? The Effects of Part-Time Faculty on Student Academic Outcomes in Community College Introductory Courses

“…The differences in these studies' results are likely due to the variations in students' academic preparedness between education sectors, the types of contingent faculty different institutions were able to attract and employ, and the employment arrangements of contingent faculty at different institutions. As Figlio et al (2015) noted, their results could have been driven by the context of their study-Northwestern University, where students come from a rarefied portion of the preparation distribution and almost all contingent faculty have long-term contracts.…”