Family, teacher, and student ability development in China

AbstractWe investigate the impact of family and teacher human capital on the development of cognitive and noncognitive abilities of Chinese middle school students. Our cognitive ability is measured by a standard cognitive ability test, and our noncognitive ability indicators include confidence, college intentions, perseverance, and behavior problems. We specifically solve the endogeneity issue caused by nonrandom sorting by employing Hausman–Taylor estimation method. Our results indicate that family characteristics such as family size, income, and parental relationship are highly predictive of both cognitive and noncognitive abilities. We also find that teachers’ educational background and experience significantly affect the development of cognitive and noncognitive abilities.