Empirical research investigating the association between teacher pay incentives and student test scores has grown rapidly over the past decade. To integrate the findings from these studies and help inform the debate over teacher merit pay, this meta-analysis synthesizes effect sizes across 37 primary studies, 26 of which were conducted in the…

Millions of students leave college every year before earning a degree. At community colleges, only a third of full-time students graduate within three years. How can school administrators help students stay in school and eventually graduate? Higher education institutions commonly offer students advising services to help them develop the academic…

Amaya Garcia of New America talks with Kappan about grow-your-own programs, in which school districts partner with teacher preparation programs to recruit and prepare community members, often current students or school staff, to teach in local schools. A recent 50-state scan shows that there is a great deal of variety in how these programs are…

Results-based financing (RBF) has gained popularity in the international development community because of its potential to make education spending more effective and efficient. In the education sector, RBF has been primarily applied to four levels: teachers; students and families; schools; and governments. The results overall have been mixed, with…

Colleges support students with advising, counseling, or coaching in academics and other skills they need to succeed in school. Some colleges enhance those services through reduced adviser caseloads and more comprehensive, frequent guidance, which can improve students' semester-to-semester retention and average credits earned. This overview…

Accumulating evidence indicates that student attendance is closely tied to a range of educational outcomes, and yet millions of students are chronically absent each year. Under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), schools are now held accountable for their students' attendance at a scale this country has never before seen. As such, this is a…

This brief explores the costs of developing and implementing Student Learning Objectives (SLOs) in order to help Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) grantees interested in adopting SLOs anticipate and understand the costs of implementing them in a district or school. The brief focuses on the costs involved with the initial design and implementation of an…

Many universities have observed needs and shared goals that include increasing faculty members' research productivity (in quantity or quality). Strategies for raising faculty performance include revising standards and supporting valued outcomes with rewards and incentives. One college at a research-extensive university received institutional…

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role of universities and other institutions in successful entrepreneurship. Insights are obtained following a literature review approach. Case studies from the United States (New York startup), Spain (Mondragon), and Germany provide strong evidence that universities are very instrumental in the creation,…

As of August 2010, a total of 33 states, school districts, charter school coalitions, and other education organizations had received Teacher Incentive Funds (TIF) to redesign compensation programs for teachers and principals. The U.S. Department of Education named a new cohort of TIF grantees on September 23, 2010. TIF grantees have faced a number…

Schools, districts, and states across the nation are changing the way educators are paid. Through the Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) and other publicly and independently funded programs, educators at every level are designing and implementing modified pay and reward structures for teachers and principals. Sometimes these initiatives are called…

This report focuses on the seven original Youth Transition Demonstration (YTD) projects selected for funding in 2003. Three of the original seven projects were selected for a national random assignment evaluation in 2005; however, this report only focuses on program operations prior to joining the random assignment evaluation for the three…

District Awards for Teacher Excellence (D.A.T.E.) is a state-funded program in Texas that provides grants to districts for the implementation of locally-designed performance pay plans. All districts in the state are eligible to receive grants, but participation is voluntary. As D.A.T.E. continues in its second year of operation with approximately…

One of the central challenges of designing and implementing a performance pay program is developing an approach for determining which schools, teachers, and administrators have performed well enough to have earned a bonus. The U.S. Department of Education's Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) program provides grantees substantial latitude to create…

Intense competitive pressure and the need for continual improvements have led to a burgeoning interest in and use of pay-for-performance programs. This paper explores the increased use of pay-for-performance, drawing examples from healthcare, education, and the government. Suggestions are made as to how best to implement pay-for-performance…