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Teacher performance pay : Experimental evidence from Pakistan

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  • Barrera-Osorio,Felipe
  • Raju,Dhushyanth

Abstract

This paper presents evidence from the first three years of a randomized controlled trial of a government-administered pilot teacher performance pay program in Punjab, Pakistan. The program offers yearly cash bonuses to teachers in a sample of public primary schools with the lowest mean student exam scores in the province. Bonuses are linked to three school-level indicators: the gain in student exam scores, the gain in school enrollment, and the level of student exam participation. Bonus receipt and size are also randomly assigned across schools according to whether or not the teacher is the school?s head. On average, the program increases school enrollment by 4.1 percent and student exam participation rates by 3.4 percentage points, both in the third year. The analysis does not find that the program increases student exam scores in any year. Mean impacts are similar across program variants. The positive mean impact on school enrollment is mainly seen in urban schools and the positive mean impact on student exam participation rates is only seen in rural schools.

Suggested Citation

  • Barrera-Osorio,Felipe & Raju,Dhushyanth, 2015. "Teacher performance pay : Experimental evidence from Pakistan," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7307, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7307
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    2. Barrera-Osorio, Felipe & Cilliers, Jacobus & Cloutier, Marie-Hélène & Filmer, Deon, 2022. "Heterogenous teacher effects of two incentive schemes: Evidence from a low-income country," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    3. David K. Evans & Fei Yuan & Deon Filmer, 2020. "Are Teachers in Africa Poorly Paid? Evidence from 15 Countries," Working Papers 538, Center for Global Development.
    4. Florian Englmaier & Stefan Grimm & Dominik Grothe & David Schindler & Simeon Schudy, 2018. "The Effect of Incentives in Non-Routine Analytical Team Tasks," CESifo Working Paper Series 6903, CESifo.
    5. Filmer,Deon P. & Habyarimana,James Paul & Sabarwal,Shwetlena, 2020. "Teacher Performance-Based Incentives and Learning Inequality," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9382, The World Bank.
    6. Barrera-Osorio, Felipe & Ganimian, Alejandro J., 2016. "The barking dog that bites: Test score volatility and school rankings in Punjab, Pakistan," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 31-54.
    7. Evans, David K. & Yuan, Fei & Filmer, Deon, 2022. "Teacher pay in Africa: Evidence from 15 countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    8. Cotofan, Maria, 2021. "Learning from praise: Evidence from a field experiment with teachers," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 204(C).
    9. Matteo BOBBA & Gianmarco LEON & Christopher A. NEILSON & Marco NIEDDU & Camila ALVA, 2021. "Teacher Wages, the Recruitment of Talent, and Academic Achievement," Working Paper d0be74cf-f264-405f-a38e-6, Agence française de développement.
    10. Abbink, Klaus & Ryvkin, Dmitry & Serra, Danila, 2020. "Corrupt police," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 101-119.
      • Klaus Abbink & Dmitry Ryvkin & Danila Serra, 2018. "Corrupt police," Working Papers wp2018_09_01, Department of Economics, Florida State University, revised Sep 2018.
    11. Gómez, Maria Fernanda & González-Velosa, Carolina, 2023. "Can a Pay-for- Performance Program Help the Vulnerable find Jobs during a Pandemic?: Experimental Evidence from Empleate in Colombia," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 12982, Inter-American Development Bank.
    12. Berlinski, Samuel & Ramos, Alejandra, 2020. "Teacher mobility and merit pay: Evidence from a voluntary public award program," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Education For All; Secondary Education; Tertiary Education; Effective Schools and Teachers; Primary Education;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • M52 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Compensation and Compensation Methods and Their Effects

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