The Dallas school accountability and incentive program: an evaluation of its impacts on student outcomes

Abstract

Consistent with the current emphasis on performance-based accountability in K-12 education, several states and a few local districts have introduced school-based incentive programs. This paper provides one of the few evaluations of the effects of such programs on student outcomes. Using a panel data set for schools in large Texas cities, it measures the gains in student performance in Dallas relative to those in other cities. It finds positive and relatively large effects for Hispanic and white seventh graders, but not for black students. Potentially positive effects also emerge for drop-out rates and principal turnover rates.[ JEL I20]