I analyze a program implemented in Texas schools serving underprivileged populations that pays both students and teachers for passing grades on Advanced Placement (AP) examinations. Using a difference-in-differences strategy, I find that program adoption is associated with increased AP course and exam taking, increases in the number of students…

I analyze the longer-run effects of a college-preparatory program implemented in inner-city schools that included payments to eleventh- and twelfth- grade students and their teachers for passing scores on Advanced Placement exams. Affected students attended college in greater numbers, were more likely to remain in college beyond their first year,…

To many, it seems obvious which schools are failing--schools whose students perform poorly on achievement tests. But since evaluating schools on achievement mixes the effects of school and nonschool influences, achievement-based evaluation likely underestimates the effectiveness of schools that serve disadvantaged populations. In this article, the…

Describes the grades 11-12 joint vocational program at an Ohio vocational school to illustrate the components in an educational matrix designed to meet the needs of all students. Programs include career development, assessment/evaluation, basic skills lab, occupational work adjustment, occupational work experience, and placement and followup. (CT)

International comparisons of American education have become so popular and widespread in the reform debates of the last several decades that many of the current centerpieces of the American reform movement were shaped through evidence and speculation on what other more educationally successful nations were doing that the U.S. was not. The current…

Information was obtained from staffs of selected schools, from samples of eighth and twelfth grade students, and from group interviews with community representatives and school leaders for the purpose of detecting the inadequacies and shortcomings of California schools in a three-county region. Problems emerged in the areas of curriculum balance…