This article discusses the trade-offs associated with study designs that involve random assignment of students within schools and describes the experience from one such study of Teach For America (TFA). The article concludes that within-school random assignment studies such as the TFA evaluation...

This paper clarifies four areas of confusion about value-added methodology and its role in teacher evaluation: (1) use of value-added information; (2) consequences for teachers versus those for students of classifying and misclassifying teachers as effective or ineffective; (3) reliability of...

This working paper examines behavioral responses to an incentive program that offers high-performing teachers in 10 school districts across the country $20,000 to transfer into the district's hardest-to-staff schools. Specifically, the paper looks at high-performing teachers' willingness to...

For over a decade, the National Institutes of Health has been using repayment of education loans as an incentive to attract and retain first-rate biomedical scientists in its labs and clinics. This report from an evaluation of the NIH Intramural Loan Repayment Programs uses new survey data on...

This report presents evidence suggesting that a school district’s participation in the Missouri Career Ladder Program would tend to increase retention in the district and the profession, especially for mid-career teachers. The report notes that small bonuses can affect behavior but not...

Most research on equal educational opportunity has focused on inputs like teacher experience and degrees. This brief estimated teachers’ value added (contribution to student achievement growth) and measured access to highest-performing teachers in high- and low-poverty schools. Across 10...

Recommends that an upcoming study on the effectiveness of education interventions focus on reading comprehension in grades 3 to 5 and allow for inferences about selected groups of students (such as students with limited English proficiency or with very low reading skills). Other recommendations...

This paper examines the program's effect on student achievement across the state, using longitudinal data on district math and reading scores for 524 Missouri school districts over a nine-year period. The estimated effects of the Career Ladder program range from small positive effects to no...

This report details second-year results from Mathematica’s study on Chicago Public Schools’ Teacher Advancement Program (TAP), a Teacher Incentive Fund grantee. The TAP model offers teachers performance pay, professional development, and advancement opportunities based in part on...