Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Title: Teacher Performance Pay and Student Learning: Evidence From a Nationwide Program in Peru
Author-Name: Cristina Belles-Obrero ´ 
Author-Email: cbelleso@mail.uni-mannheim.de
Author-Name: María Lombardi
Author-Email: mlombardi@utdt.edu

Classification-JEL: I21, M52, J4
Keywords: education, teachers, incentives, compensation, Peru

Abstract: We study the impact on student achievement of a nationwide teacher pay-for-performance
program implemented in Peruvian public secondary schools in 2015. Schools compete in
a tournament primarily based on 8th graders’ performance in a standardized test, where the
principal and teachers of the top 20 percent of schools receive a substantial bonus. We perform
a difference-in-differences estimation comparing the internal grades of 8th and 9th graders of
the same school, before and after the program. We find a precisely estimated zero effect on
student achievement, and we reject impacts greater than 0.017 standard deviations, well below
those previously found in the literature. We provide evidence against a series of potential
explanations, and argue that this zero effect could be a consequence of teachers’ uncertainty
about how to improve their students’ performance in the standardized test tied to the bonus.


Note: 
Length: 57
Creation-Date: 2019-09
Revision-Date: 
File-URL: https://www.crctr224.de/research/discussion-papers/archive/dp126
Handle: RePEc:bon:boncrc:CRCTR224_2019_126