How can a bonus program affect the performance of teachers in classrooms? This paper collected data from teachers employed in Brazilian state-run schools to examine the key mechanisms through which a teacher bonus scheme can have a causal effect on the academic achievements of students. Using mixed-methods research and data triangulation from…

This study is the first statewide analysis of the effectiveness of the Texas Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA) program. Introduced in 2019, TIA is the most significant and unprecedented teacher merit-pay system in the U.S. Leveraging the Synthetic Control Method (SCM), we construct a counterfactual scenario to assess the causal impact of TIA on…

This paper examines the effects of a comprehensive performance pay program for teachers implemented in high-need schools on students' longer-run educational, criminal justice, and economic self-sufficiency outcomes. Using linked administrative data from a Southern state, we leverage the quasi-randomness of the timing of program adoption across…

This thesis investigates the dynamics of performance-based payment systems for teachers in Guayaquil and Santiago de Chile. This payment system is considered to positively affect the performance of teachers and education quality. The main objective of this research paper was to analyze the existing educational systems in Santiago de Chile,…

This quantitative study assessed the impact of performance-based pay on student achievement in English Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics. Performance-based pay is rooted in the belief that teachers will exert greater effort to enhance student outcomes when their efforts are incentivized. While traditional salary schedules are widely used, their…

Teacher pay-for-performance policies have been introduced in many countries, including South Korea, in order to improve the quality of teacher workforces. However, such policies cannot be exactly replicated across countries. A policy transferred across borders is transformed within each new situation. Based on policy mobility and transformation…

This article draws on recent insight regarding the distribution and mobility of highly effective teachers, student access to top-performing educators, and research on the effectiveness of strategic compensation reforms to argue that the single-salary pay schedule has resulted in disturbing inequities for students and inefficiencies in resource…

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…

Teacher performance pay is often introduced with the goal of reducing gaps in test scores across groups, yet little is known about how well they achieve this aim. We ask, "Do test score-based teacher incentives impact the Black-White test score gap?" Using student-teacher matched data and a difference-in-differences approach in which the…

Private, Christian schools are in a position to be creative with their teacher compensation practices as it relates to the use of merit pay. However, there is a debate within the literature regarding the effectiveness of merit pay in schools, generally, as well as how to best structure such a plan. This study aims to understand how a subset of…

Fair and equitable compensation is a key driver in attracting and retaining a talented educator workforce. States and districts play the most significant role to ensure teacher salaries are competitive. To address current challenges related to educator shortages, many state and district leaders are actively engaged in discussions about increasing…

The purpose of this study was to determine educator perspective of merit-based pay to determine if merit-based pay is an effective option for closing the teacher pay gap while motivating teachers to enter and remain in the field of education. The study was conducted by administering questionnaires to 20 participants. The study found that educators…

In 2015, a new performance-related pay scheme was introduced for schoolteachers in Italy as part of education accountability policies aimed at improving their performance. Beginning in that year, all Italian state school principals were offered the opportunity to distribute wage bonuses to deserving teachers. During the first year of…

Theory suggests that strategic compensation can not only serve as a powerful motivational incentive to increase worker performance, but also improve the composition of the workforce through the attraction and retention of high performers and discouragement of lesser performers from entering or staying in the profession. This study tests the…

This paper examines the effects of a comprehensive performance pay program implemented in high-need schools using administrative data from Louisiana. Exploiting the within-student variation in the timing of implementation, we find a large and significant effect beginning with the second year of the program on math achievement. Similar but…