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A recent working paper from CALDER uses longitudinal administrative data on teachers and pupils from North Carolina to examine whether a teacher having a Master’s degree has an impact on their pupils’ outcomes.
The authors used data on pupils and teachers from 2005 to 2011, including pupils’ demographic and achievement data. The study concludes that teachers with Master’s degrees are no more effective than those without. The only consistently positive effect of attaining a Master’s degree was found to be lower pupil-absentee rates in middle school.
Source: Do Master’s Degrees Matter? Advanced Degrees, Career Paths, and the Effectiveness of Teachers (2015), National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research.