New York Times writer, Annie Lowrey, recently reported in the article “Big Study Links Good Teachers to Lasting Gain” on the results of a very large study that indicate that having elementary and/or middle school teachers who help their students raise their standardized test scores might have “wide-ranging, lasting positive effect on those students’ lives beyond academics. “

Economists from Harvard and Columbia University did this study, which tracked 2.5 million students over 20 years.  Many school systems are considering adding the “value-added” effects from this study as part of their teacher evaluation metrics.  The economists claim, “replacing a poor teacher with an average one would raise a single classroom’s lifetime earnings by about $266,000.”

Aside from getting good grades in school, some of the positive, long-lasting effects of having an excellent teacher include the following:

• Less likely to become pregnant as teenagers
• More likely to enroll in college
• More likely to earn more money as adults