published in: Economics of Education Review, 2008, 27 (1), 1-13
Beyond some contracted minimum, salaried workers’ hours are largely chosen at the
worker’s discretion and should respond to the strength of contract incentives. Accordingly, we
consider the response of teacher hours to accountability and school choice laws introduced
in U.S. public schools over the past two decades. Total weekly hours of full-time teachers
have risen steadily since 1983 by about an hour, and after-school instructional hours have
increased 34 percent since 1987. Average hours and the rate of increase also vary widely
across states. However, after accounting for a common time trend in hours, we find no
association between the introduction of accountability legislation and the change in teacher
hours. We conjecture that the weak link between effort and compensation in most school
reforms helps explain the lack of such an association.
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