Lincoln University
ECONOMICS FOR MANAGERS

Several public school districts have attempted to increase teacher productivity by paying teachers based on the scores their students achieve on standardized tests (administered by outside testing agencies). The goal is to achieve higher quality-classroom instruction. Do you think this type of compensation scheme will produce the desired outcome? Explain your economic reasoning as it applies to both a public district and a private (for profit) school district.

I strongly believe incentive influences performance. However in this case, there are two questions that need to be answered before coming to a conclusion.

1. Is the reward big enough to motivate the teachers to motivate teachers to perform better?­
If a reward is to increase productivity teachers and achieve higher quality classroom instruction, it should be big enough to motivate the teachers to put much time and effort to prepare for classes. This may include rebuilding the curriculum, doing more research for lectures, and spending more time engaging with students. So the reward should be enough to compensate for the time and effort that is put in. 2. Are the standardized tests reliable enough to evaluate the productivity of the teachers? Can you say higher scores on standardized tests is a result of a higher quality-classroom instruction?
According to Wikipedia, a standardized test is a test that is administered and scored in a consistent, or "standard", manner. And this can be a simple and brief way to understand school performance in general. However the test scores are