Learning from praise: evidence from a field experiment with teachers

Maria Cotofan

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: Financial incentive programs for teachers are increasingly common, but little is known about the effectiveness of non-monetary incentives in improving educational outcomes. This field experiment measures how repeated public praise for the best teachers impacts student performance. In treated schools, the students of praised teachers perform better on standardized exams undertaken six months after the intervention. Praised teachers also assign higher marks to their students two months after the intervention. The students of teachers who are not praised in treated schools are assigned lower marks two months after the intervention, but they do not perform any worse on final exams. Compared to costly interventions where teachers receive financial incentives, the effects of public praise for praised teachers are remarkably large.

Keywords: field experiment; non-monetary incentives; public praise; teacher performance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C39 I21 J30 J45 J53 M52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-12-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp, nep-hrm and nep-ure
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Published in Journal of Public Economics, 1, December, 2021, 204. ISSN: 0047-2727

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:112772

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