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Relative Performance Feedback in Education: Evidence from a Randomised Controlled Trial
[‘Teachers and student achievement in the Chicago public high schools’]

Author

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  • L I Dobrescu
  • M Faravelli
  • R Megalokonomou
  • A Motta

Abstract

In a one-year randomised controlled trial involving thousands of university students, we provide real-time private feedback on relative performance in a semester-long online assignment. Within this set-up, our experimental design cleanly identifies the behavioural response to rank incentives (i.e., incentives stemming from an inherent preference for high rank). We find that rank incentives boost performance in the related course assignment, but also the average course exams grade by 0.21 SDs. These beneficial effects remain sizeable across all quantiles and extend beyond the intervention period. Furthermore, rank feedback stimulates social learning, i.e., rank incentives make students engage more in peer interactions.

Suggested Citation

  • L I Dobrescu & M Faravelli & R Megalokonomou & A Motta, 2021. "Relative Performance Feedback in Education: Evidence from a Randomised Controlled Trial [‘Teachers and student achievement in the Chicago public high schools’]," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 131(640), pages 3145-3181.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:econjl:v:131:y:2021:i:640:p:3145-3181.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/ej/ueab043
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Raphael Brade & Oliver Himmler & Robert Jaeckle & Philipp Weinschenk, 2024. "Helping Students to Succeed – The Long-Term Effects of Soft Commitments and Reminders," CESifo Working Paper Series 11001, CESifo.
    2. Klausmann, Tim & Wagner, Valentin & Zipperle, Isabell, 2021. "Rank response functions in an online learning environment," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    3. Raphael Brade & Oliver Himmler & Robert Jaeckle, 2023. "Relative Performance Feedback and Long-Term Tasks – Experimental Evidence from Higher Education," CESifo Working Paper Series 10346, CESifo.
    4. Thanos Mergoupis & Robertas Zubrickas, 2024. "Work experience, information revelation, and study effort," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 76(2), pages 495-513.
    5. Tim Klausmann, 2021. "Feedback in Homogeneous Ability Groups: A Field Experiment," Working Papers 2114, Gutenberg School of Management and Economics, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz.
    6. Oded Stark & Grzegorz Kosiorowski, 2023. "A pure theory of population distribution when preferences are ordinal," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 71(2), pages 317-342, October.
    7. Ersoy, Fulya, 2023. "Effects of perceived productivity on study effort: Evidence from a field experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 207(C), pages 376-391.
    8. Sofia Badini & Esther Gehrke & Friederike Lenel & Claudia Schupp, 2024. "Expanding Horizons A Randomized Controlled Trial on Adolescents’ Career Information Acquisition," CESifo Working Paper Series 11225, CESifo.
    9. Brade, Raphael & Himmler, Oliver & Jäckle, Robert, 2022. "Relative performance feedback and the effects of being above average — field experiment and replication," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    10. Megalokonomou, Rigissa & Zhang, Yi, 2022. "How Good Am I? Effects and Mechanisms behind Salient Ranks," IZA Discussion Papers 15604, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Collins, Matthew & Lundstedt, Jonas, 2024. "The effects of more informative grading on student outcomes," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 218(C), pages 514-549.
    12. Rigissa Megalokonomou & Yi Zhang, 2023. "How Good Am I? Effects and Mechanisms Behind Salient Rank," Monash Economics Working Papers 2023-07, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    13. Wagner, Valentin, 2022. "Heterogeneous effects of grade framing," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    14. Lavinia Kinne, 2023. "Good or Bad News First? The Effect of Feedback Order on Motivation and Performance," ifo Working Paper Series 396, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    15. Stark, Holger & Kosiorowski, Grzegorz, 2023. "A Pure Theory of Population Distribution When Preferences Are Ordinal," IZA Discussion Papers 15923, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Duc, Julien & Poirier, Côme, 2024. "The optimal role model," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 234(C).
    17. Sharma, Karmini & Castagnetti, Alessandro, 2023. "Demand for information by gender: An experimental study," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 207(C), pages 172-202.

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