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This paper reports on a randomized experiment to study the impact of an alternative teacher preparation program, Teach for America (TFA), on student achievement and other outcomes. We found that TFA teachers had a positive impact on math achievement and no impact on reading achievement. The size of the impact on math scores was about 15 percent of a standard deviation, equivalent to about one month of instruction. The general conclusions did not differ substantially for subgroups of teachers, including novice teachers, or for subgroups of students. We found no impacts on other student outcomes such as attendance, promotion, or disciplinary incidents, but TFA teachers were more likely to report problems with student behavior than were their peers. The findings contradict claims that such programs allowing teachers to bypass the traditional route to the classroom harm students. © 2006 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management

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The Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program offers unemployment compensation and re-employment adjustment services to workers who lose their jobs due to increased import competition. In 1981 and again in 1988, the program rules were changed to shift the emphasis from compensation to training. This paper examines the pre-layoff characteristics and post-layoff labor market experience of two nationally representative samples of TAA program participants, one of which participated in the program just before the 1988 amendments and the other just after. The authors find that the TAA program was well targeted during the time period studied: it served workers who were permanently displaced from their jobs and who experienced significant earnings losses due to their layoff. They find no evidence, however, tha training had a substantial positive impact on earnings of TAA trainees, at least in the first three years after their initial unemployment insurance claim.

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