As evidence-based reform becomes increasingly important in educational policy, it is becoming essential to understand how research design might contribute to reported effect sizes in experiments evaluating educational programs. The purpose of this study was to examine how methodological features such as types of publication, sample sizes, and…

This report describes the methodology and results of the "incentives only" experiments at Mesa, Arizona and at Stockton, California. The incentives only experiment -- one facet of the performance contracting experiment -- involved contracting to provide incentives to teachers and students, rather than contracting with particular private technology…

This report contains a description of the principal results and conclusions concerning the impact of educational performance contracting on student achievement in two school districts that subcontracted with its local educational association to test the use of incentives in regular classrooms. A related document is EA 004 441. (Author)

One hundred forty-five studies concerning individualized programs of mathematics instruction were reviewed. The summary of results presented tends to support the effectiveness of individualized programs, but notes possible difficulties in implementing them. (SD)

This report describes the experimental design, presents the contract provisions, and provides conclusions and recommendations. The document is comprised of five chapters that discuss (1) the statistical analysis methods used, (2) the problems of using standardized tests in performance contracting, (3) the contractual procedures between OEO and the…

The Conference sought to provide a user-based and -oriented assessment of performance contracting for education. It focused on delineating the current interest in performance contracting, the technique's demonstrated strengths and weaknesses, and its potential as an alternative approach to school system resource allocation. Six commissioned papers…