Teacher compensation is one of the most divisive issues in public educational policy as all stakeholder groups ponder the cost effectiveness of increasing teacher pay. What this issue presupposes is that our American educational system tends to underpay teachers and thusly the results of our schools reflect this lagged commitment to appropriate…

Paying teachers varying amounts on the basis of how well their students perform is an idea that has been winning increasing support, both in the United States and abroad, and many school systems have adopted some version of it. Proponents claim that linking teacher pay to student performance is a powerful way to encourage talented and highly…

As digital tools proliferate and improve, solid instruction in the basics will eventually become "flat"--available anywhere globally--and the elements of excellent teaching that are most difficult for technology to replace will increasingly differentiate student outcomes. As a result, teacher effectiveness may matter even more than it…

Teacher compensation schemes are often criticized for lacking a performance-based component. Proponents of merit pay argue that linking teacher salaries to student achievement will incentivize teachers to focus on raising student achievement and stimulate innovation across the school system as a whole. In this paper, we utilize a policy experiment…

Over the past two decades, an innovative approach to workforce development known as sectoral employment has emerged, resulting in the creation of industry-specific training programs that prepare unemployed and underskilled workers for skilled positions and connect them with employers seeking to fill such vacancies. In 2003, with funding from the…

Despite a decade of reform efforts, important policy questions concerning the efficiency and equity of the current financing system remain unanswered. This paper examines New York State fiscal and educational outcome data for 1985/86 through 1989/90. Data are presented for school district expenditures and teacher salaries; local revenue bases and…

Research findings from a study of collective bargaining in New York and Michigan school districts indicate that collective bargaining does have a significant impact on the allocation of resources in ways that affect student learning. These findings support hypotheses based on the theory that collective bargaining will make a difference in resource…

In the 1983-1984 school year, postsecondary-level proprietary vocational schools served 160,000 students in the State of New York. About 30 percent of the students received public assistance before enrolling and 68,000 students completed a wide array of programs; according to state data, most found employment related to their training. As private…