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The Incentive Effects of the Top 10% Plan


Kalena E. Cortes


Texas A&M University - George Bush School of Government and Public Service; Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

Lei Zhang


Tsinghua Univesrsity

July 17, 2011


Abstract:     
This paper investigates the incentive effects of the Texas Top 10% Plan on high school students’ academic achievement. The Top 10% Plan substantially improved the probability of admissions to state flagship public universities for students from low-performing Texas high schools. We find that under the Top 10% policy, low-performing high schools – 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th quintiles in the school achievement distribution – experience a larger increase in academic achievement, as measured by 10th-grade TAAS pass rates, relative to schools in the top quintile. Furthermore, this pattern holds for students of all races. Sensitivity analyses show that our findings are not a result of pre-existing trends, school accountability requirements, or strategic choice of high schools.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 35

Keywords: Incentives, College Admissions, Texas Top 10% Plan, Student Academic Achievement

JEL Classification: H31, I21, I28, J15, J24

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Date posted: March 23, 2011 ; Last revised: September 8, 2011

Suggested Citation

Cortes, Kalena E. and Zhang, Lei, The Incentive Effects of the Top 10% Plan (July 17, 2011). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1791123 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1791123

Contact Information

Kalena E. Cortes
Texas A&M University (TAMU) - George Bush School of Government and Public Service ( email )
College Station, TX 77843
United States
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany
Lei Zhang (Contact Author)
Tsinghua Univesrsity ( email )
National Institute for Fiscal Studies
Beijing, 100084
China
HOME PAGE: http://sites.google.com/site/zlei89/
Feedback to SSRN (Beta)


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