Enhancing the Efficacy of Teacher Incentives through Framing: A Field Experiment

A-Tier
Journal: American Economic Journal: Economic Policy
Year: 2022
Volume: 14
Issue: 4
Pages: 269-99

Authors (4)

Roland G. Fryer, Jr. (not in RePEc) Steven D. Levitt (not in RePEc) John List (National Bureau of Economic Re...) Sally Sadoff (not in RePEc)

Score contribution per author:

1.005 = (α=2.01 / 4 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

In a field experiment, we provide financial incentives to teachers framed either as gains, received at the end of the year, or as losses, in which teachers receive up-front bonuses that must be paid back if their students do not improve sufficiently. Pooling two waves of the experiment, loss-framed incentives improve math achievement by an estimated 0.124 standard deviations (σ), with large effects in the first wave and no effects in the second wave. Effects for gain-framed incentives are smaller and not statistically significant, approximately 0.051σ. We find suggestive evidence that the effects on teacher value added persist posttreatment.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:aea:aejpol:v:14:y:2022:i:4:p:269-99
Journal Field
General
Author Count
4
Added to Database
2026-01-25