Becoming a teacher: Experimental evidence from an information intervention

Education systems seeking to improve outcomes must attract, develop, and retain highly effective teachers. A critical challenge is making the teaching profession appealing to talented youth. This paper presents evidence from an experiment in Peru, where we provided high school seniors with information about recent reforms to the teaching career. We find positive, though modest, effects on both the intensive and extensive margins: treated students were more likely to choose an education major and to enroll in higher education. While the intervention increased the number of prospective teachers, it did not substantially alter the profile of those entering the profession. These findings suggest that career incentives and information can influence students’ decisions, though broader changes to the composition of the future teaching workforce may require additional, complementary interventions. • Improving student outcomes requires attracting and retaining effective teachers. • A key challenge is making teaching appealing to talented high school students. • We test an information intervention on teaching reforms with seniors in Peru. • Treated students were more likely to choose education and pursue college. • Incentives help, but shifting teacher composition may need additional interventions.