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Carrot and Stick? Impact of a Low-Stakes School Accountability Program on Student Achievement

Author

Listed:
  • Woo, Seokjin

    (Myongji University)

  • Lee, Soohyung

    (Seoul National University)

  • Kim, Kyunghee

    (Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation)

Abstract

A key concern in the design of education policies relates to the structure of incentives in accountability systems. This paper examines a school accountability program that provides financial support to low-performing schools but has no direct punishment scheme for recipients who do not exhibit improvement. Although the program does not include high-stakes consequences, our estimates indicate that the program reduced the share of underperforming students by 18 percent. This paper's results suggest that to improve student achievement, a school accountability program does not need to set high-stakes consequences that potentially induce unwanted strategic behaviors on the part of school workers.

Suggested Citation

  • Woo, Seokjin & Lee, Soohyung & Kim, Kyunghee, 2015. "Carrot and Stick? Impact of a Low-Stakes School Accountability Program on Student Achievement," IZA Discussion Papers 9458, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9458
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    3. Eric A. Hanushek & Margaret E. Raymond, 2005. "Does school accountability lead to improved student performance?," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(2), pages 297-327.
    4. Cecilia Elena Rouse & Jane Hannaway & Dan Goldhaber & David Figlio, 2013. "Feeling the Florida Heat? How Low-Performing Schools Respond to Voucher and Accountability Pressure," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 5(2), pages 251-281, May.
    5. Jonah Rockoff & Lesley J. Turner, 2010. "Short-Run Impacts of Accountability on School Quality," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 2(4), pages 119-147, November.
    6. Guido Imbens & Karthik Kalyanaraman, 2012. "Optimal Bandwidth Choice for the Regression Discontinuity Estimator," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 79(3), pages 933-959.
    7. Thomas Dee, 2012. "School Turnarounds: Evidence from the 2009 Stimulus," NBER Working Papers 17990, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Figlio, David & Loeb, Susanna, 2011. "School Accountability," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & Stephen Machin & Ludger Woessmann (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 8, pages 383-421, Elsevier.
    9. Hanley Chiang, "undated". "How Accountability Pressure on Failing Schools Affects Student Achievement," Mathematica Policy Research Reports c58a3b537e324447b94a2bd41, Mathematica Policy Research.
    10. Neal, Derek, 2011. "The Design of Performance Pay in Education," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & Stephen Machin & Ludger Woessmann (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 0, pages 495-550, Elsevier.
    11. Meghir, Costas & Mommaerts, Corina & Carneiro, Pedro & Koussihouede, Oswald & Lahire, Nathalie, 2015. "Decentralizing Education Resources: School Grants in Senegal," Center Discussion Papers 201691, Yale University, Economic Growth Center.
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    Cited by:

    1. Cook, Will, 2021. "Does funding targeted at improving the management of schools increase school performance over the long term?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 204(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    school accountability; student achievement; school performance; fuzzy regression discontinuity design;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C5 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling
    • I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education

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