Gains in standardized test scores: Evidence of diminishing returns to achievement

Donna Driscoll, Dennis Halcoussis and Shirley Svorny ()

Economics of Education Review, 2008, vol. 27, issue 2, 211-220

Abstract: In many states, standardized tests are used to hold schools accountable for student academic achievement. To motivate improvement in test scores, financial awards are given to teachers and administrators in schools that show the greatest gains. However, failure to adjust for initial conditions may put awards out of the reach of some schools and fail to produce the desired incentives. In this paper, we examine factors that influence gains in test scores using school-level data from California (1999-2003). We find evidence that validates the existing California award system--test scores improved the most for weak schools.

Date: 2008
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272-7757(07)00008-8
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:27:y:2008:i:2:p:211-220

Access Statistics for this article

Economics of Education Review is currently edited by E. Cohn

More articles in Economics of Education Review from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().