Gains in standardized test scores: Evidence of diminishing returns to achievement

Driscoll, Donna A.; Halcoussis, Dennis; Svorny, Shirley

doi:10.1016/j.econedurev.2006.10.002

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…In the current context, policy influence may be used as an incentive to induce preferred teacher behavior that leads to increased proficiency gains (Brehm & Gates, 1999). The quadratic term on proficiency, however, suggests that those schools that are already performing better than most may have little incentive to grant further policy influence to teachers to increase test performance (Driscoll, Halcoussis, & Svorny, 2008). As mentioned, the discussion surrounding the differences between traditional public schools and charter schools often takes place in terms of performance.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

School Characteristics and Teacher Policy Influence: Evidence From New York City

Shannon

Saatcioglu

2016

Educational Policy

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Proponents of the charter school movement often claim that the decentralized, autonomous nature of charter schools from district and state authority allows teachers greater influence over school policy both instructionally and administratively. Using a data set of 1,427 New York City schools, we empirically examine the extent to which organizational characteristics predict the amount of policy influence charter schools and traditional public schools grant to teachers. Results indicate not only do charter schools grant their teachers less policy influence but also other organizational features are stronger predictors of teacher policy influence including several nonlinear relationships. Directions for future research are discussed.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

School Characteristics and Teacher Policy Influence: Evidence From New York City

Shannon

Saatcioglu

2016

Educational Policy

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“…The fact that many schools with large Asian and White subgroups are already better performing schools, the positive impact of having additional percentage of Asian and White students on API gain may have tapered due to possible diminishing returns effect as well (Driscoll, Halcoussis, & Svorny, 2008). The concept of diminishing returns refers to the decrease in per-unit returns, or school achievement in this case, when the amount of a single factor is increased, while all others are held constant.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The concept of diminishing returns refers to the decrease in per-unit returns, or school achievement in this case, when the amount of a single factor is increased, while all others are held constant. In education, as proposed by Driscoll, Halcoussis, & Svorny (2008), diminishing returns predominantly affect the achievement gains of high performing schools. High scoring schools would show the smallest gains over time as this diminishing returns effect in achievement could overshadow any superior ability of high scoring schools to maneuver their scores by familiarizing students with the tests (pp.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The average percentage of subsidized meal recipients across schools shown in Table 2 was as high as 50.4%; it suggested that there were a good number of schools that already had large shares of students enrolled in subsidized meal plans. While schools with higher percent of students on subsidized meal plans were less likely to be API overachievers, Driscoll et al (2008) explained that larger API gains associated with lower scoring schools a result of the bigger improvement room afforded underachieving schools to grow under the current growth accountability model. In other words, schools with large share of students participating in subsidized meal programs may appear less competitive under a status accountability model, but the growth model allowed school's improvement efforts to become much more visible.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Effects of Student Demographics and School Resources on California School Performance Gain: A Fixed Effects Panel Model

Wu¹

2013

Teachers College Record

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Background/Context Recently emerged with the implementation of the California's Public Schools Accountability Act of 1999 and the NCLB Act of 2001 is an increase in the number of education production function studies estimating the relationship between educational inputs and APIs. While the majority of past research on California school performance focuses on the impacts of different demographic measures and school resources on API scores at interschool level, few are done to study the effects of changes in similar factors on performance gain at intraschool level. Given that school performance is to be measured against oneself over time under California's current accountability system, the need is great to understand how school performance gain is affected by changes in student demographics and school characteristics within the school. Objective Of Study The primary objective of this study is to investigate how APIs change with student demographics and school resources within individual schools. It is hypothesized that changes in factors contributing to interschool variations in API may also affect school API gains. In addition, the impacts of these variables on API gains of individual schools are then compared with results from prior cross-sectional studies to see if their effects on school performance differ between and within the schools. Research Design Using the fixed effects regression a hypothetical causal relationship proposed between API gains and changes in nine student demographic variables, including seven racial/ethnic, free and reduced price meal and English language learning subgroups, plus seven school resource variables was estimated. Findings School API gains appeared very sensitive to changes in all 16 variables. A 1% change in student demographics at school level was significant enough to change API by an average of -5.0077 to 1.2372 points, while changes in school resources by 1 unit was found to affect school API in the range of -0.0212 to 2.5013. Conclusions While California places great responsibility on individual schools for student growth, little policy consideration is given to the likely effects of demographic and resource changes on school performance within the school. Moreover, this study's confirmation of the positive impact of teachers’ advanced degree and full teaching credential on performance gains suggests that teacher qualifications may hold the key to improving student achievement.

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What determines comprehensive performance of left-behind students in China?: a multilevel study

Han

2015

IJMRM

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Gains in standardized test scores: Evidence of diminishing returns to achievement

Cited by 5 publications

References 9 publications

School Characteristics and Teacher Policy Influence: Evidence From New York City

School Characteristics and Teacher Policy Influence: Evidence From New York City

The Effects of Student Demographics and School Resources on California School Performance Gain: A Fixed Effects Panel Model

What determines comprehensive performance of left-behind students in China?: a multilevel study

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