@workingpaper {310311, title = {New Technology and Teacher Productivity}, year = {Working Paper}, abstract = { I study the effects of a labor-replacing computer technology on the productivity of classroom teachers. Focusing on one occupation{\textemdash}and a setting where both workers and their job responsibilities remain fixed{\textemdash}provides an opportunity to examine the heterogeneity of effects on individual productivity. In a series of field-experiments, teachers were provided computer-aided instruction (CAI) software for use in their classrooms; CAI provides individualized tutoring and practice to students one-on-one with the computer acting as the teacher. In math classes, CAI reduces by one-fifth the variance of teacher productivity, as measured by student test score gains. The smaller variance comes both from productivity improvements for otherwise low-performing teachers, but also losses among high-performers. The change in productivity partly reflects changes in teachers{\textquoteright} level of work effort and teachers{\textquoteright} decisions about how to allocate class time. How computers affect teacher decisions and productivity is immediately relevant to both ongoing education policy debates about teaching quality and the day-to-day management of a large workforce. }, author = {Taylor, Eric S.} }