The emergence of publicly subsidized preschool raises important policy questions about the role of market forces and, in places where competition to provide these services exists, presents a setting in which the effects of competition on educational outcomes can be tested. We test...

In contrast to education reform efforts that target teachers and schools, merit-based financial aid for college increases the incentives for high school students and their families to directly affect the quality of education by investing more time and effort in schoolwork. Large-scale...

In the wake of the 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act, localities across the United States initiated public information campaigns both to raise awareness of threats to air quality and to change behavior related to air pollution by recommending specific behavioral changes in the campaign...

Indicators of program performance are used as evaluative measures in a variety of fields. A particularly vexing problem for evaluation is the development of empirically based performance expectations. Should program sponsors be satisfied with average performance? How should evaluators account...

Performance data need a context to meaningfully interpret the data. One method of providing contextfor an individual unit's performance is to compare it with other similar units. This study compares three methods for selecting similar units: cluster groupings, index groups, and benchmark groups....