Optimizing teacher quality based on student performance: A data envelopment analysis on pisa and talis

Abstract

The present study aims to determine the relative efficiency of 28 countries participated in PISA 2015 and TALIS 2013 based on student performance and teacher quality, and to sort the countries according to their efficiency scores by using a super efficiency model. Moreover, this study attempts to reveal important improvements countries must make in terms of teacher quality to have better results for student performance. Using data of 28 countries from TALIS 2013 for determining the variables of teacher quality and PISA 2015 for student performance, a data envelopment analysis was performed. Four negative attributes of the teachers were included as input variables and students' performance on reading, mathematics and science as output variables in the analysis. According to the research findings, the most efficient countries on the basis of the determined inputs and outputs are Finland, France, Japan, South Korea, Norway, Singapore, while Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovak Republic and Spain are inefficient. The potential improvement is required for all input variables, but its amount varies by country. However, a higher rate of potential improvement is needed for developing countries whose populations are younger.