Teachers are among the most critical factors in students’ learning. But while extensive research exists on teacher effectiveness in traditional classrooms, far less is known about their performance during remote instruction. In their working paper, Teacher Effectiveness in Remote Instruction, M. Cade Lawson of the Georgia Institute of Technology and Tim Sass of Georgia State University explore how teacher effectiveness varies between remote and in-person teaching environments. They find that a teacher’s performance changes depending on the instructional mode.
The researchers evaluated teacher effectiveness using value-added models, which measure a teacher’s ability to improve student test scores over the course of a school year. Drawing on data from three public school districts in the Atlanta metro area during fall 2019 (the last fully in-person semester prior to the pandemic) and fall 2020 (the first fully remote semester), they found shifts in relative teacher performance. Some teachers became more effective in remote settings, while others were less effective compared to their in-person baseline.
Veteran teachers generally showed larger gains in value-added measures during remote instruction compared to early- and mid-career teachers, potentially reflecting their stronger skills in lesson planning and classroom management, which may have better equipped them to adapt to virtual environments. Interestingly, the study also found that the top-performing in-person teachers were more likely to see declines in effectiveness during remote instruction relative to their in-person performance. The researchers did not provide an explanation for this, but they emphasized the need for identifying the skills and traits linked to success in remote teaching, which could inform teacher preparation programs and targeted in-service training.
These findings have important implications for state and district policies on teacher selection, instructional design, and professional development. The researchers suggest that their findings point to the need for schools and school districts to adopt a nuanced approach to assigning teachers to remote instruction, rather than assuming that top-performing in-person teachers would be the best remote instructors.