IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/osf/socarx/ck9z6.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Do Pay-for-Grades Programs Encourage Student Cheating? Evidence from a randomized experiment

Author

Listed:
  • Li, Tao
  • Zhou, Yisu

    (University of Macau)

Abstract

Pay-for-grade programs were adopted in many schools within the past two decades. Despite doubts over its effectiveness in improve students performances, educators worry that monetary incentive could skew student learning motivation and lead to academic cheating. Due to data limitation, there has been scant empirical study on this issue. Using a randomized control trial in Chinese migrant primary schools, we studied the effects of pay-for-grades programs on academic cheating. We provide new insights into the feasibility of such policy to improve learning outcomes, show concerning levels of cheating in Chinese migrant schools, and discuss its policy implications.

Suggested Citation

  • Li, Tao & Zhou, Yisu, 2017. "Do Pay-for-Grades Programs Encourage Student Cheating? Evidence from a randomized experiment," SocArXiv ck9z6, Center for Open Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:ck9z6
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/ck9z6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://osf.io/download/5a0e42c5594d90026dc1b019/
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.31219/osf.io/ck9z6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Eric P. Bettinger, 2012. "Paying to Learn: The Effect of Financial Incentives on Elementary School Test Scores," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 94(3), pages 686-698, August.
    2. Li, Tao & Han, Li & Zhang, Linxiu & Rozelle, Scott, 2014. "Encouraging classroom peer interactions: Evidence from Chinese migrant schools," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 29-45.
    3. Jere R. Behrman & Susan W. Parker & Petra E. Todd & Kenneth I. Wolpin, 2015. "Aligning Learning Incentives of Students and Teachers: Results from a Social Experiment in Mexican High Schools," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 123(2), pages 325-364.
    4. Federico Echenique & Roland G. Fryer, 2007. "A Measure of Segregation Based on Social Interactions," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(2), pages 441-485.
    5. Brian A. Jacob & Steven D. Levitt, 2003. "Rotten Apples: An Investigation of the Prevalence and Predictors of Teacher Cheating," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(3), pages 843-877.
    6. Morais de Sa e Silva, Michelle, 2015. "Conditional cash transfers and improved education quality: A political search for the policy link," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 169-181.
    7. Scott E. Carrell & Bruce I. Sacerdote & James E. West, 2013. "From Natural Variation to Optimal Policy? The Importance of Endogenous Peer Group Formation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 81(3), pages 855-882, May.
    8. Philip Oreopoulos & Kjell G. Salvanes, 2011. "Priceless: The Nonpecuniary Benefits of Schooling," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 25(1), pages 159-184, Winter.
    9. Mauricio Romero & Álvaro Riascos & Diego Jara, 2014. "A derivation of the optimal answer-copying index and some applications," Documentos CEDE 12061, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Figlio, D. & Karbownik, K. & Salvanes, K.G., 2016. "Education Research and Administrative Data," Handbook of the Economics of Education,, Elsevier.
    2. Bolletta, Ugo, 2021. "A model of peer effects in school," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 1-10.
    3. Burgess, Simon & Metcalfe, Robert & Sadoff, Sally, 2021. "Understanding the response to financial and non-financial incentives in education: Field experimental evidence using high-stakes assessments," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    4. Calvano, Emilio & Immordino, Giovanni & Scognamiglio, Annalisa, 2022. "What drives segregation? Evidence from social interactions among students," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    5. Shilan Feng & Ya Tan & Zhi Wang & Qinghua Zhang, 2024. "Spatial Structure of Peer Networks and Academic Achievement Based on a Random Control Trial Experiment," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 32(3), pages 67-97, May.
    6. Luca Paolo Merlino & Max Friedrich Steinhardt & Wren-Lewis Liam, 2022. "The long run impact of childhood interracial contact on residential segregation," Working Papers halshs-03754124, HAL.
    7. Bach, Maximilian & Fischer, Mira, 2020. "Understanding the Response to High-Stakes Incentives in Primary Education," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 261, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    8. Barrera-Osorio, Felipe & Cilliers, Jacobus & Cloutier, Marie-Hélène & Filmer, Deon, 2022. "Heterogenous teacher effects of two incentive schemes: Evidence from a low-income country," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    9. Utteeyo Dasgupta & Subha Mani & Smriti Sharma & Saurabh Singhal, 2022. "Effects of Peers and Rank on Cognition, Preferences, and Personality," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 104(3), pages 587-601, May.
    10. Koch, Alexander & Nafziger, Julia & Nielsen, Helena Skyt, 2015. "Behavioral economics of education," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 3-17.
    11. Banerjee, R. & Blunch, N-H & Cassese, D. & Gupta, N. D. & Pin, P., 2024. "The Effectiveness of Teamwork for Student Academic Outcomes: Evidence from a Field Experiment," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 2463, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    12. Roland G. Fryer, 2011. "Teacher Incentives and Student Achievement: Evidence from New York City Public Schools," NBER Working Papers 16850, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Allen, James & Mahumane, Arlete & Riddell, James & Rosenblat, Tanya & Yang, Dean & Yu, Hang, 2022. "Teaching and incentives: Substitutes or complements?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    14. Li, Tao & Han, Li & Zhang, Linxiu & Rozelle, Scott, 2014. "Encouraging classroom peer interactions: Evidence from Chinese migrant schools," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 29-45.
    15. Garcia-Brazales, Javier, 2022. "Unlearning Traditionalism: The Long-Run Effects of Schools on Gender Attitudes," EconStor Preprints 232502, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, revised 2022.
    16. Francesca Marchetta & Tom Dilly, 2019. "Supporting Education in Africa: Opportunities and Challenges for an Impact Investor," Working Papers hal-02288103, HAL.
    17. Kemp, Jack, 2022. "The Educational Impact of Weakening Teachers’ Unions : Evidence from Wisconsin," Warwick-Monash Economics Student Papers 39, Warwick Monash Economics Student Papers.
    18. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/1jgbspo1909q48svne93o55rca is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Barrera-Osorio, Felipe & Raju, Dhushyanth, 2017. "Teacher performance pay: Experimental evidence from Pakistan," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 75-91.
    20. Jalava, Nina & Joensen, Juanna Schrøter & Pellas, Elin, 2015. "Grades and rank: Impacts of non-financial incentives on test performance," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 161-196.
    21. Lombardi, María, 2019. "Is the remedy worse than the disease? The impact of teacher remediation on teacher and student performance in Chile," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:ck9z6. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: OSF (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://arabixiv.org .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.