The recent federal education bill, No Child Left Behind, requires states to test students in grades three to eight each year, and to judge school performance on the basis of these test scores. While intended to maximize student learning, there is little empirical evidence about the effectiveness of such policies. This study examines the impact of an accountability policy implemented in the Chicago Public Schools in 1996-97. Using a panel of student-level, administrative data, I find that math and reading achievement increased sharply following the introduction of the accountability policy, in comparison to both prior achievement trends in the district and to changes experienced by other large, urban districts in the mid-west. I demonstrate that these gains were driven largely by increases in test-specific skills and student effort, and did not lead to comparable gains on a state-administered, low-stakes exam. I also find that teachers responded strategically to the incentives along a variety of dimensions -- by increasing special education placements, preemptively retaining students and substituting away from low-stakes subjects like science and social studies.
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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number
8968.
Length: Date of creation: May 2002 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:8968
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Find related papers by JEL classification: I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
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References listed on IDEAS 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.:
Alan B. Krueger, 2000.
"Economic Considerations and class size,"
Working Papers
975, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..
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Paul Glewwe & Nauman Ilias & Michael Kremer, 2003.
"Teacher Incentives,"
NBER Working Papers
9671, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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