Incentives and Test-Based Accountability in Education

Incentives and Test-Based Accountability in Education
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 111
Release: 2011-10-18
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0309225078

In recent years there have been increasing efforts to use accountability systems based on large-scale tests of students as a mechanism for improving student achievement. The federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is a prominent example of such an effort, but it is only the continuation of a steady trend toward greater test-based accountability in education that has been going on for decades. Over time, such accountability systems included ever-stronger incentives to motivate school administrators, teachers, and students to perform better. Incentives and Test-Based Accountability in Education reviews and synthesizes relevant research from economics, psychology, education, and related fields about how incentives work in educational accountability systems. The book helps identify circumstances in which test-based incentives may have a positive or a negative impact on student learning and offers recommendations for how to improve current test-based accountability policies. The most important directions for further research are also highlighted. For the first time, research and theory on incentives from the fields of economics, psychology, and educational measurement have all been pulled together and synthesized. Incentives and Test-Based Accountability in Education will inform people about the motivation of educators and students and inform policy discussions about NCLB and state accountability systems. Education researchers, K-12 school administrators and teachers, as well as graduate students studying education policy and educational measurement will use this book to learn more about the motivation of educators and students. Education policy makers at all levels of government will rely on this book to inform policy discussions about NCLB and state accountability systems.

One More Time

One More Time
Author: Frederick Herzberg
Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press
Total Pages: 80
Release: 2008-07-14
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1633691349

Imagine overseeing a workforce so motivated that employees relish more hours of work, shoulder more responsibility themselves; and favor challenging jobs over paychecks or bonuses. In One More Time: How Do You Motivate Employees? Frederick Herzberg shows managers how to shift from relying on extrinsic incentives to activating the real drivers of high performance: interesting, challenging work and the opportunity to continually achieve and grow into greater responsibility. The results? An ultramotivated workforce. Since 1922, Harvard Business Review has been a leading source of breakthrough management ideas-many of which still speak to and influence us today. The Harvard Business Review Classics series now offers readers the opportunity to make these seminal pieces a part of your permanent management library. Each highly readable volume contains a groundbreaking idea that continues to shape best practices and inspire countless managers around the world-and will have a direct impact on you today and for years to come.

Status Differences and Knowledge Transfer

Status Differences and Knowledge Transfer
Author: Katlijn Haesebrouck
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2017
Genre:
ISBN:

We examine how incentive systems influence knowledge transfer between group members with equal or different status who solve an interdependent task. In our experiment, group members receive group or individual incentives, while status is manipulated by assigning job titles with corresponding role descriptions. Although all conditions require knowledge sharing to maximize payoffs, our results suggest that significantly more knowledge is shared under group incentives relative to individual incentives when status differences are present, whereas the amount of knowledge shared does not differ across these incentive manipulations for equal-status groups. These findings are in line with theory suggesting that individual incentives can motivate knowledge sharing among equal-status groups, but cannot overcome the negative interactions that arise under status differences. Instead, group incentives are required to induce cooperative behavior that mitigates the negative effects of status differences on knowledge sharing. We contribute to the literature and practice by showing that the effect of incentives depends on the social context and that job titles can have unintended consequences.

Drive

Drive
Author: Daniel H. Pink
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 275
Release: 2011-04-05
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1101524383

The New York Times bestseller that gives readers a paradigm-shattering new way to think about motivation from the author of When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing Most people believe that the best way to motivate is with rewards like money—the carrot-and-stick approach. That's a mistake, says Daniel H. Pink (author of To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Motivating Others). In this provocative and persuasive new book, he asserts that the secret to high performance and satisfaction-at work, at school, and at home—is the deeply human need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things, and to do better by ourselves and our world. Drawing on four decades of scientific research on human motivation, Pink exposes the mismatch between what science knows and what business does—and how that affects every aspect of life. He examines the three elements of true motivation—autonomy, mastery, and purpose-and offers smart and surprising techniques for putting these into action in a unique book that will change how we think and transform how we live.

The Great Mental Models, Volume 1

The Great Mental Models, Volume 1
Author: Shane Parrish
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 209
Release: 2024-10-15
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0593719972

Discover the essential thinking tools you’ve been missing with The Great Mental Models series by Shane Parrish, New York Times bestselling author and the mind behind the acclaimed Farnam Street blog and “The Knowledge Project” podcast. This first book in the series is your guide to learning the crucial thinking tools nobody ever taught you. Time and time again, great thinkers such as Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett have credited their success to mental models–representations of how something works that can scale onto other fields. Mastering a small number of mental models enables you to rapidly grasp new information, identify patterns others miss, and avoid the common mistakes that hold people back. The Great Mental Models: Volume 1, General Thinking Concepts shows you how making a few tiny changes in the way you think can deliver big results. Drawing on examples from history, business, art, and science, this book details nine of the most versatile, all-purpose mental models you can use right away to improve your decision making and productivity. This book will teach you how to: Avoid blind spots when looking at problems. Find non-obvious solutions. Anticipate and achieve desired outcomes. Play to your strengths, avoid your weaknesses, … and more. The Great Mental Models series demystifies once elusive concepts and illuminates rich knowledge that traditional education overlooks. This series is the most comprehensive and accessible guide on using mental models to better understand our world, solve problems, and gain an advantage.

The New Economics

The New Economics
Author: William Edwards Deming
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2000
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780262541169

Critique W. Edwards Deming's work at your peril. After all, he probably set whatever standard you're using. This volume - revised by the author before his death in 1993 and partially based on his 1950s work with the Japanese - may strike the contemporary reader as a curious mixture of seminal process thinking and idiosyncratic ruminations on education. Portions read like an artifact of the early 1990s, but in this regard, however, his volume offers a unique perspective on a turning point in American economic history: the shift to the knowledge-based economy. Deming's volume is suited to any serious student of management thought, and all human resources professionals should familiarize themselves with his work, which set the foundations for many of the transformations now underway in the corporate world.

Unintended Effects of Employee Incentives

Unintended Effects of Employee Incentives
Author: Jeff Brazell
Publisher:
Total Pages: 140
Release: 2001
Genre: Employee competitive behavior
ISBN:

"This paper discusses the notion that divisional or departmental incentives, whether formal or informal, can and often do conflict with the overall strategic objectives of the company. Moreover, the resulting conflict can result in very discouraging outcomes in terms of the overall effectiveness that a company has in achieving its objectives. This paper starts with a review of the inherent nature of formal incentive programs that often conflict with corporate goals and that organizations often fail to consider how information is disseminated within their organizations, sometimes causing issues in regard to the general lack of information between individuals or teams within the firm. Several business cases are reviewed wherein corporate incentive policies have resulted in negative behaviors of employees as a result of misaligned performance goals. By reviewing these cases one can understand the impact that an employee's opportunistic behavior can undermine the goals of a company by reacting to financial incentives. Finally, the paper investigates the strategic shortcomings of formal institutionalized incentive-based programs like MBO and Performance Management Systems that have been found ineffective when not backed up by engaged leadership from top management. The paper concludes by sugesting that companies must become more aware of the effect that communication and culture play in the way employees react to performance and incentive issues."--Author's Abstract.