Current interest in teacher evaluation focuses disproportionately on measurement issues and performance-based pay without an overarching theory of how evaluation works. To develop such a theory, I contrast two motivation theories often used to guide thinking about teacher evaluation. External motivation theory relies on economics and extrinsic…

Presents a structural equation model for understanding the relationship between salary incentives for teachers and class size and student achievement. Using data on student achievement in 102 Colorado school districts, finds that the model is moderately successful for explaining reading achievement, but factors not included in the model probably…

The focus of school finance expertise and inquiry has shifted away from litigation and equity concerns to microeconomic and productivity research, and the utilization and outcome of educational inputs. Efficiency, productivity, and incentives are topics of current school finance research. Issues of the appropriateness of the research agenda and…

Two decades of research into educational production function have revealed that variations in school expenditures are not systematically related to educational background, teaching experience, or class size; nor are better teachers paid more than lesser ones. School decision-making must move away from input directed policies to ones providing…

Discusses 10 years of research on intergovernmental relations in education policy and examines current intergovernmental issues. Overall, governmental action at all levels is revealed to be largely unproductive. The author states that policies need to be more robust and sophisticated without losing sight of the realities of the classroom and that…