Do Funds for More Teachers Improve Student Outcomes?

Small-group instruction to improve student performance in mathematics in early grades: Results from a randomized field experiment

“…Our findings add to the tutoring and ability grouping literature by showing that a pull-out strategy using small homogenous groups in mathematics while keeping instruction time constant can benefit all students. It is also worth noting that we find effects of additional teacher resources on student performance in a resource-rich context where previous research has shown no or small effects of reduced student-teacher ratio (Leuven et al 2008;Iversen & Bonesrønning 2013;Falch et al 2017;Leuven & Løkken 2018;Haaland et al, 2021, Borgen et al 2022. This makes our study particularly relevant for policy-makers seeking additional teaching resources to target a heterogeneous student population efficiently.…”

“…Our paper adds to the literature on the effect of increased teacher resources on student performance (e.g., Schanzenbach 2006;Angrist et al 2019;Hoxby 2000;Browning and Heinesen 2007;Fredriksson & Öckert 2008;Leuven et al 2008;Iversen & Bonesrønning 2013). While the evidence is mixed (see Leuven and Oosterbeek (2018) and Schanzenbach (2020) for recent reviews), previous research has shown no or small effects in the resource-rich Norwegian context (Leuven et al 2008;Iversen & Bonesrønning 2013;Falch et al 2017;Leuven & Løkken 2018;Haaland et al, 2021;Borgen et al 2022). Most of this literature investigates the impact of increasing the teacher-student (TS) ratio through reduced class size, suggesting that more flexible approaches to increasing the TS ratio may be key.…”

Long-Term Effects of School Spending: Evidence from Exiting Cohort Size Variation

“…In the Norwegian context, existing research tends to report small effects of school resources on child outcomes (Borgen et al, 2022;Leuven and Løkken, 2020;Falch et al, 2017;Leuven et al, 2008). In order to reconcile our findings with the literature, we offer several explanations.…”

“…Reiling et al (2021) show that the 2015 reform was undermined by leakage of funds to non-intended purposes, suggesting that strong enforcement mechanisms are necessary to direct the use of earmarked grants. Borgen et al (2022) find that the 2012 reform reduced student-teacher ratios, but they did not find any effect on student performance. Since the 2012 reform was transitory, it might have incentivized schools and teachers differently from a setting with persistent changes in student-teacher ratios.…”