While compensation accounts for roughly 90% of K-12 instructional costs, there is little evidence of rational design in these systems. This chapter reviews the nature of teacher compensation systems in developed economies and research on their performance effects. Since these compensation...

The General Educational Development (GED) credential is issued on the basis of an eight-hour subject-based test. The test claims to establish equivalence between dropouts and traditional high school graduates, opening the door to college and positions in the labor market. In 2008 alone, almost...

This paper studies the determinants of college attendance in Mexico. I use subjective quantitative expectations of future earnings to analyze both causes and implications of the steep income gradient in higher-education enrollment. I find that poor individuals require significantly higher...

Students who attend schools in low income communities have significantly lower achievement and make smaller gains than their counterparts in high income communities. Explanations for this achievement gap are generally based on constraints in financial resources. However, when equalizing...