The London-based Centre for the Economics of Education held a conference on teacher pay and incentives last week and several new research papers are available from the conference website. "Paying Teachers for Performance: Incentives and Selection," by Edward Lazear of Stanford University explores arguments about the effect of incentives on teacher behavior, discusses different ways of defining performance, and examines the relationship between teachers' desires for smaller classes and teacher salaries. "Evaluating the Effect of Teachers' Performance Incentives on Pupil Achievement," by Victor Lavy of Hebrew University, looks at empirical evidence from a program in Israel that offered monetary incentives to teachers as a function of student achievement. You can find the papers at http://cee.lse.ac.uk/new%20site/pages/PRPconference.htm
