Head teachers, peer effects, and student achievement

Teachers can influence student achievement, not only directly, but also indirectly via peer effects. Based on a unique data set from a Chinese middle school (grades 7–9), this paper uses a student fixed-effects model to estimate peer effects for four core subjects (Chinese, Math, English, and Science) at the level of the class cohorts studying each subject. We find negative peer effects that are significant from both an economic and a statistical perspective. However, in the subjects taught by head teachers, who have more tools to manage students than do regular teachers, such negative peer effects disappear. Further investigation suggests that head teachers generate positive peer effects that override the negative ones.