Arbeitspapier
Understanding the response to high-stakes incentives in primary education
This paper studies responses to high-stakes incentives arising from early ability tracking. We use three complementary research designs exploiting differences in school track admission rules at the end of primary school in Germany's early ability tracking system. Our results show that the need to perform well to qualify for a better track raises students' math, reading, listening, and orthography skills in grade 4, the final grade before students are sorted into tracks. Evidence from self-reported behavior suggests that these effects are driven by greater study effort but not parental responses. However, we also observe that stronger incentives decrease student well-being and intrinsic motivation to study.
- Language
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Englisch
- Bibliographic citation
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Series: WZB Discussion Paper ; No. SP II 2020-202
- Classification
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Wirtschaft
Education and Research Institutions: General
Education: Government Policy
Education: Other
- Subject
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Student Effort
Tracking
Incentives
- Event
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Geistige Schöpfung
- (who)
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Bach, Maximilian
Fischer, Mira
- Event
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Veröffentlichung
- (who)
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Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung (WZB)
- (where)
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Berlin
- (when)
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2020
- Handle
- Last update
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10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET
Data provider
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Object type
- Arbeitspapier
Associated
- Bach, Maximilian
- Fischer, Mira
- Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung (WZB)
Time of origin
- 2020