Different Teachers, Different Peers: The Magnitude of Student Sorting Within Schools
Abstract
The authors use administrative data from three large urban school districts to describe student sorting within schools. Students are linked to each of their teachers and students’ classmates are identified. There are differences in the average achievement levels, racial composition, and socioeconomic composition of classrooms within schools. This sorting occurs even in self-contained elementary school classrooms and is much larger than would be expected were students assigned to classrooms randomly. Much of the racial and socioeconomic sorting is accounted for by differences in achievement, particularly at the high school level. Classrooms with the most low-achieving, minority, and poor students are more likely to have novice teachers. Sorting students by achievement level exposes minority and poor students to lower quality teachers and less resourced classmates.
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Prior evidence suggests that when teachers are nonrandomly assigned to classes, systematic assortative matching occurs such that higher performing teachers are assigned to higher performing students.
“Prior evidence suggests that when teachers are nonrandomly assigned to classes, systematic assortative matching occurs such that higher performing teachers are assigned to higher performing students (Clotfelter etal., 2006; Kalogrides & Loeb, 2013; Kalogrides etal., 2013; Steinberg & Garrett, 2015).”
From Classroom Composition and Measured Teacher Performance: What Do Teacher Observation Scores Really Measure? (2016) · cites this paper as Kalogrides et al., 2013
It is possible that the sorting of teachers to classrooms may also be a function of time-varying, unobserved shocks to teacher performance.
“However, it is possible that the sorting of teachers to classrooms may also be a function of time-varying, unobserved shocks to teacher performance.”
From Classroom Composition and Measured Teacher Performance: What Do Teacher Observation Scores Really Measure? (2016) · cites this paper as Kalogrides and Loeb (2013)
Prior evidence suggests that when teachers are nonrandomly assigned to classes, systematic assortative matching occurs such that higher performing teachers are assigned to higher performing students.
“Prior evidence suggests that when teachers are nonrandomly assigned to classes, systematic assortative matching occurs such that higher performing teachers are assigned to higher performing students (Clotfelter etal., 2006; Kalogrides & Loeb, 2013; Kalogrides etal., 2013; Steinberg & Garrett, 2015).”
From Classroom Composition and Measured Teacher Performance: What Do Teacher Observation Scores Really Measure? (2016) · cites this paper as Kalogrides & Loeb, 2013
Cites
Teachers, Schools, and Academic Achievement
Rivkin, S. G., Hanushek, E. A., & Kain, J. F. (2005) · Econometrica · doi:10.1111/j.1468-0262.2005.00584.x · Cited by 4,501 · see citing works
A teacher like me: Does race, ethnicity, or gender matter?
Dee, T. S. (2005) · American Economic Review · doi:10.1257/000282805774670446 · Cited by 1,078 · see citing works
Teacher-Student Matching and the Assessment of Teacher Effectiveness
Clotfelter, C. T., Ladd, H. F., & Vigdor, J. L. (2006) · Journal of Human Resources · doi:10.3368/jhr.xli.4.778 · Cited by 739 · see citing works
Sociodemographic Diversity, Correlated Achievement, and De Facto Tracking
Lucas, S. R., & Berends, M. (2002) · Sociology of Education · doi:10.2307/3090282 · Cited by 216 · see citing works
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Steinberg, M. P., & Garrett, R. (2016) · Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis · doi:10.3102/0162373715616249 · Cited by 150 · see citing works
Observational Evaluation of Teachers: Measuring More Than We Bargained for?
Campbell, S. L., & Ronfeldt, M. (2018) · American Educational Research Journal · doi:10.3102/0002831218776216 · Cited by 111 · see citing works
- Authors
- Kalogrides, D., & Loeb, S.
- Affiliations
- Stanford University (US)
- ORCID
- Loeb, Susanna
- Venue
- Educational Researcher
- Published
- 2013-08
- Volume
- 42
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 304-316
- ISSN
- 0013-189X (ISSN-L)
- 1935-102X
- OpenAlex
- W2052861627
- Cited by
- 201
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 18 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 17 · 2022: 23 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 21 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 19 · 2016: 19 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 60.12
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Educational Researcher (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › School Choice and Performance
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Critical Race Theory in Education
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies
- Keywords
- student sorting, class composition, teacher quality, novice teachers, school segregation, socioeconomic segregation, academic performance, peer effects, urban school districts, elementary school classrooms, secondary school classrooms, school resource allocation
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