WWC Review of the Report "Teacher Incentive Pay and Educational Outcomes: Evidence from the New York City Bonus Program"

Title:	WWC Review of the Report "Teacher Incentive Pay and Educational Outcomes: Evidence from the New York City Bonus Program"
Description:	The 2012 study, Teacher Incentive Pay and Educational Outcomes: Evidence from the New York City Bonus Program, examined the effects of offering a school-wide teacher performance bonus program on students’ reading and math achievement in 309 high-poverty New York City K–8 public schools. Through random assignment, 181 schools were selected and offered the opportunity to participate in the performance bonus program. The comparison group consisted of 128 schools that did not receive the chance to participate. The study found that the offer of a school-wide teacher performance bonus program did not have a statistically significant effect on students’ reading achievement in either 2007–08 or 2008–09 or on mathematics achievement in 2007–08. For 2008–09, study authors reported a very small, but statistically significant, negative effect of the bonus program on mathematics achievement. This study is a well-implemented randomized controlled trial, and the research described in this report meets WWC evidence standards without reservations. However, the WWC cautions that changes in the observed achievement may be due in part to changes in student learning, student movement between schools, or a combination of both.
Online Availability:	Download, view and print the report as a pdf file. (197KB)
Cover Date:	October 2012
Web Release:	October 16, 2012
Publication #:	WWC SSRTI174
Center/Program:	WWC
Associated Centers:	NCEE
Authors:	WWC
Type of Product:	Single Study Review
Keywords:	Teachers • performance evaluations • salaries of
Questions:	For questions about the content of this Single Study Review, please contact: Erin Pollard.