TY  - JOUR
AU  - Fryer,Roland G.
TI  - Teacher Incentives and Student Achievement: Evidence from New York City Public Schools
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 16850
PY  - 2011
Y2  - March 2011
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w16850
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w16850.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Roland G. Fryer, Jr
Department of Economics
Harvard University
Littauer Center 208
Cambridge, MA  02138
Tel: 617/495-9592
Fax: 617/495-8570
E-Mail: rfryer@fas.harvard.edu
AB  - Financial incentives for teachers to increase student performance is an increasingly popular education policy around the world. This paper describes a school-based randomized trial in over two-hundred New York City public schools designed to better understand the impact of teacher incentives on student achievement. I find no evidence that teacher incentives increase student performance, attendance, or graduation, nor do I find any evidence that the incentives change student or teacher behavior. If anything, teacher incentives may decrease student achievement, especially in larger schools. The paper concludes with a speculative discussion of theories that may explain these stark results.
ER  -