Incentives and effort in the public sector: Have US education reforms increased teachers’ work hours?

Beyond some contracted minimum, salaried workers’ hours are largely chosen at the worker's discretion and should respond to the strength of contract incentives. Accordingly, we consider the response of teacher hours to accountability and school choice laws introduced in US public schools over the past two decades. Total weekly hours of full-time teachers have risen steadily since 1983 by about an hour, and after-school instructional hours have increased 34 percent since 1987. Average hours and the rate of increase also vary widely across states. However, after accounting for a common time trend in hours, we find no association between the introduction of accountability legislation and the change in teacher hours. Education reforms are, however, associated with an increase in student test scores, presumably due to other types of changes in school and teacher behavior.