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Do Grading Standards Affect the Incentive to Learn?

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Author Info
Julian R. Betts
Abstract

The paper extends the literature on education production functions by arguing that incentives partly determine student performance. The paper develops a model in which schools' grading standards influence student effort. The model is tested using the Longitudinal Study of American Youth (LSAY). The level of grading standards at each school is a highly significant predictor of gains in student test scores, more so than are standard measures of school resources. Amount of homework performed by students also responds to grading standards. The paper concludes that higher grading standards represent an important tool for improving school quality.

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Paper provided by Department of Economics, UC San Diego in its series University of California at San Diego, Economics Working Paper Series with number 97-22.

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Date of creation: Sep 1997
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Handle: RePEc:cdl:ucsdec:97-22

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Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Betts, Julian R, 1995. "Does School Quality Matter? Evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 77(2), pages 231-50, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Lazear, Edward P & Rosen, Sherwin, 1981. "Rank-Order Tournaments as Optimum Labor Contracts," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 89(5), pages 841-64, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. Becker, W. & Rosen, S., 1990. "The Learning Effect Of Assessment And Evaluation In High School," University of Chicago - Economics Research Center 90-7, Chicago - Economics Research Center.
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  4. Grogger, Jeff, 1996. "Does School Quality Explain the Recent Black/White Wage Trend?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 14(2), pages 231-53, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Heckman, James J, 1979. "Sample Selection Bias as a Specification Error," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 47(1), pages 153-61, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Montmarquette, Claude & Mahseredjian, Sophie, 1989. "Could teacher grading practices account for unexplained variation in school achievements?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 8(4), pages 335-343, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Moulton, Brent R., 1986. "Random group effects and the precision of regression estimates," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 385-397, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Joesph E. Stiglitz, 1975. "Incentives, Risk, and Information: Notes Towards a Theory of Hierarchy," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 6(2), pages 552-579, Autumn. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Costrell, Robert M, 1994. "A Simple Model of Educational Standards," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(4), pages 956-71, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Hanushek, Eric A, 1986. "The Economics of Schooling: Production and Efficiency in Public Schools," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 24(3), pages 1141-77, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Brewer, Dominic J., 1993. "Principals and student outcomes: Evidence from U.S. high schools," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 281-292, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Bhattacharya, Sudipto & Guasch, J Luis, 1988. "Heterogeneity, Tournaments, and Hierarchies," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 96(4), pages 867-81, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Murphy, Kevin M & Topel, Robert H, 1985. "Estimation and Inference in Two-Step Econometric Models," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 3(4), pages 370-79, October.
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  1. Giorgio Brunello & Lorenzo Rocco, 2007. "Educational standards in private and public schools," "Marco Fanno" Working Papers 0043, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche "Marco Fanno". [Downloadable!]
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