Investing in community colleges is a central part of the Biden administration's education agenda, with the goal of strengthening America's middle class and opening the benefits of education to all Americans. CCRC has conducted 25 years of research on how community colleges can more effectively educate students and set them up to successfully…

Across the nation, school policymakers are grappling with what to do about the increasing numbers of students who do not advance beyond ninth grade. National estimates put the student attrition rate before tenth grade at between 11 and 33 percent, and only about 70 percent of ninth graders make it to graduation. This policy brief focuses on one…

In these days where "accountability" is the byword, organizations more and more frequently seek to evaluate their programs. They often hire outside evaluators to help them assess the effectiveness of their programs, to find out what works and what doesn't, and to determine what programmatic changes would be beneficial. ActKnowledge, a…

This paper offers guidelines for policy makers who are responsible for establishing incentive programs for teachers. It provides a framework for: (1) identifying performance-based incentive systems; (2) examining their underlying assumptions; (3) classifying program operations (types of incentives, methods of reward delivery, timing and types of…

This report was prepared in compliance with Chapter 4, Article 2.3 of the California Education Code. Section 48644.3 directs the State Department of Education to evaluate the increase in availability of opportunity classes and programs in grades 7 through 9. The report has four sections. Section I, Introduction, chronicles events prior to…

Information compiled from 50 states is presented to help schools, districts, and states look for answers on how to best provide incentives to improve education. Five key questions are addressed: (1) Are states linking rewards to performance of teachers or students? (2) Are incentive programs creating new roles for teachers and principals? (3) Are…

The purpose of this monograph is to discuss employee incentive plans with a potential for cost containment in order to assist hospitals in providing efficient and effective delivery of health care. Based on an examination of employee incentive systems both in and outside the health care field, the information is intended to aid the administrative…

This monograph reports on a year-long critical appraisal of two of New Jersey's recent initiatives to improve the teaching profession: the Provisional Teacher Program and the Academy for the Advancement of Teaching and Management. The intent of the study was to assay whether the practical results of these initiatives are experienced as beneficial…

A summary report of the first two years of the Arizona Career Ladder Research and Evaluation Project is presented. This program, established in 1985, included the formulation of the Joint Legislative Committee on Career Ladders, which provided oversight for program implementation and development. The pilot program seeks to determine if student…

This document presents a comprehensive description of the Georgia Career Ladder program. An executive summary is offered which provides a brief overview of the program. The introduction presents essential information for understanding the mileu in which the program was conceptualized and developed. The main body of the document describes the…

The Indiana Teacher Quality and Professional Improvement Program was established in response to legislation passed in March 1985. The purpose of the law was to review the salary and reward structure for teachers and to identify and develop methods to confer honor and respect on teachers and their profession. The Teacher Quality Team of the Indiana…

The literature on incentive early retirement for faculty members is reviewed, including the findings of studies that have assessed the effectiveness of such programs. In addition to describing different types of programs and the incentives offered, attention is directed to legal issues, costs and benefits, assessing whether a program is feasible,…

Conducted by the North East Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board of Greater London, this study was designed to examine problems involved in introducing the managing productivity schemes; to consider methods of helping staff to appreciate the effects of such schemes; to identify educational and training needs in the field; and to propose schemes of…

The 1974-75 school year marked the fifth year of operation for the Division of Instructional Development at Utah State University. The model for Instructional Development (ID) consists of four parts: (1) developing faculty awareness; (2) capitalizing on faculty initiative, primarily through small-scale funding under a program of minigrants; (3)…

Articles in this special issue deal with the assessment of the impact of research and are divided into segments concerning semiquantitative approaches; qualitative approaches; and quantitative and fiscal approaches. These articles illustrate the importance of the role of motivation and associated incentives. (SLD)