The purposes of this mixed method study were to examine the relationship between student motivation and performance on large-scale, low- and high-stakes examinations and identify the types of incentive programs used by principals to promote test performance among high school students. The study took take place in California's Southern San Joaquin Valley and was situated in a large high school district with an enrollment of 37,070 students. A total of 5,245 10th-grade students were included in the study after completing the mandated state assessments in the spring of 2013. The qualitative findings for this study indicated that principals believed that students do not always put their best efforts forward when taking mandated exams; incentives are motivational for students; some teachers support the use of incentives for test-taking effort; more data should be used by school leaders to make decisions about incentive use; and incentive programs require financial and human resources that are difficult to provide. The quantitative findings of this study indicated that student performance on low- and high-stakes assessments is significantly correlated to test-taking effort. The study revealed that schools with performance-based incentive programs demonstrated greater growth in API scores than non-incentive schools and performance-based incentives deployed were substantially different across the sample of school sites indicating that students may be motivated in a variety of ways. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]