Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0

Author-Name: Benedikt Siegler
Author-X-Name-First: Benedikt
Author-X-Name-Last: Siegler


Title: What triggers school improvement? Evidence from a court induced change in Florida's A+ accountability plan

	
Abstract: In 2006, the Florida Supreme Court ended the state funded voucher program
which allowed students of repeatedly failing public schools to transfer to a private
school. This gives us the unique opportunity to evaluate the incentive character
of a private school competition threat in school accountability systems. Using
administrative student-level data from Florida and a difference-in-discontinuities
approach, I analyze whether this reduction in sanction threats led failing schools
to lower their effort in raising educational performance. Results indicate that
the termination of the voucher program did not attenuate the overall incentive
effect of the sanction regime. This leads to conclude that the public school
choice option, which remained unaffected by the court’s decision, is a sufficient
deterrent. This finding has important policy implications.

Length: 33 pages

Creation-Date:  2013-04

File-URL: http://www.bgpe.de/texte/DP/135_Siegler.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf

File-Function: First version, 2013

Number: 135

Classification-JEL: H75, I20, I28

Keywords: School accountability, Sanction threats, School choice, Florida public schools, Difference-in-Discontinuities

Handle: RePEc:bav:wpaper:135_Siegler