While numerous studies have found that school accountability boosts test scores, it is uncertain whether estimated test score gains reflect genuine improvements or merely ?gaming? behaviors. This paper brings to bear new evidence from a unique five-year, three-round survey conducted of a census...

While numerous recent authors have studied the effects of school accountability systems on student test performance and school "gaming" of accountability incentives, there has been little attention paid to substantive changes in instructional policies and practices resulting from school...

Using student-level microdata from 2000–2001 to 2004–2005 from Florida and North Carolina, we compare the effectiveness of teachers in schools serving primarily students from low-income families (70% free-and-reduced-price-lunch students) with teachers in schools serving more advantaged...

The common explanation for the expansion of bureaus is based on rationalist reasoning. Bureaus grow because it is in the interest of the central decision makers to have them grow. This article presents a different explanation, drawing on the organizational-processes literature. It argues that...