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Using data on grade 3–8 tests in six states, the study analyzes how exam structure shaped what teachers prioritized. Math exams typically measured ability more precisely for marginal students, creating stronger test-prep incentives than for ELA, consistent with larger math effects across related research literatures.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":20,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/exam/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/accountability-test-prep-incentives-and-the-design-of-math-and-english-exams-march-2022/504287/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/accountability-test-prep-incentives-and-the-design-of-math-and-english-exams-march-2022/504287.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"pop out","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-29","2026-10-03",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":29},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"How do incentives for test prep differ between math and ELA in the study?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"The study finds that test-prep incentives were usually stronger in math than in ELA, driven by differences in how exam design affected educators’ incentives.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What exam design features are highlighted as important for test-prep incentives?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"The paper emphasizes two channels: the proficiency standard determines how many students sit near the proficiency margin, and the exam’s precision (influenced by question types) determines how precisely ability is measured for those marginal students.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What data are used to analyze state accountability exams?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"Data come from technical reports of grade 3–8 math and ELA exams in Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, and Texas, covering structure details and realized score distributions from 2000–2008.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},504287,1791535951,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":19,"category_name":20,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":29,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":26,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144,"preview_page_count":4},962090760408,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_085a072bc5b1113ac321206ff7593b45","Accountability, test prep incentives, and the design of math and English exams  \nEvan Riehl*  \nMeredith Welch+  \nMarch 2022  \nAbstract. We examine how incentives for test prep varied between math and English language arts (ELA) on U.S. state accountability exams. We collected data on exam structure for grade 3–8 tests in six states that are the setting for most U.S. research in literatures where accountability matters. We show that math exams typically measured ability more precisely for students on the margin of achieving proficiency. This gave educators an incentive to spend more time preparing students for math tests than for ELA tests, consistent with the common finding of larger math effects in these literatures.  \n*Riehl (corresponding author): Department of Economics, Cornell University, 266 Ives Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853 (email: [eriehl@cornell.edu](eriehl@cornell.edu)). + Welch: Department of Policy Analysis and Management, Cornell University, Martha Van Rensselaer Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853 (email: [msw274@cornell.edu](msw274@cornell.edu)). We thank Peter Bergman, Julie Cullen, Joshua Goodman, Mike Lovenheim, Seth Sanders, and several anonymous referees for helpful comments. We are grateful to Morgan Leung and Sarah Mather for excellent assistance with the data collection and analysis. All errors are our own.  \n1. Introduction  \nResearch in the economics of education often finds that accountability policies have a largereffect on math test scores than on English language arts (ELA) scores. For example, Dee and Jacob (2011) show that No Child Left Behind increased 4th grade math scores by 0 .23 standard deviations, while ELA scores increased by only 0 .06 SDs. Neal and Schanzenbach (2010), Rockoff and Turner (2010), and Rouse et al. (2013) each find that state accountability policies induced larger gains in math than in ELA.  \nThis pattern also arises in other literatures where standardized testing and accountability are important. Abdulkadiroğlu et al. (2011) show that admission to Boston charter schools raised students’ achievement by 0.42 SDs in math, and 0.25 SDs in ELA. Chetty et al. (2014a)find that the standard deviation of teacher value added in a large urban school district is roughly 50 percent larger in math than in ELA.  \nA common hypothesis for this pattern is that most math learning takes place at school, while students primarily learn English and reading at home. But Jackson et al. (2014) acknowledge: “There is no clear explanation for this fact.”  \nThis paper shows that this pattern can partly be explained by differences between math and ELA in the design of state accountability exams, which created stronger incentives for test prep in math. We collected data from the technical reports of grade 3–8 standardized exams in six states that are the setting for most research on education accountability in the United States. We show that, relative to ELA exams, math exams usually measured ability more precisely for students on the margin of achieving proficiency. This gave educators an incentive to spend more time preparing students for math tests than for ELA tests, consistent with the pattern of estimates in literatures where accountability matters.  \nWe begin the paper with a brief review of math and ELA estimates in three research areas:  \n1) accountability policies (Figlio and Loeb, 2011); 2) admission to charter schools (Eppleet al., 2016); and 3) variation in teacher value added (Koedel et al., 2015) . Accountability through standardized testing is important in each of these literatures, as it impacts funding, the renewal of school charters, and teacher employment. We show that in each research area, there is a remarkably consistent pattern of larger effects in math than in ELA.  \nNext, we develop a framework that shows how a teacher’s incentives for test prep depend on the structure of the accountability exam. Test prep increases students’ expected exam performance, but requires costly effort. Our key assumptions are th","cbCailZItmfkv9ce","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCailZItmfkv9ce","pdf",1224614,"English","# Introduction\n## Accountability and stronger math effects\n## Explanation via exam design and test-prep incentives\n## Data sources and empirical strategy\n## Main finding","[{\"question\":\"How do incentives for test prep differ between math and ELA in the study?\",\"answer\":\"The study finds that test-prep incentives were usually stronger in math than in ELA, driven by differences in how exam design affected educators’ incentives.\"},{\"question\":\"What exam design features are highlighted as important for test-prep incentives?\",\"answer\":\"The paper emphasizes two channels: the proficiency standard determines how many students sit near the proficiency margin, and the exam’s precision (influenced by question types) determines how precisely ability is measured for those marginal students.\"},{\"question\":\"What data are used to analyze state accountability exams?\",\"answer\":\"Data come from technical reports of grade 3–8 math and ELA exams in Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, and Texas, covering structure details and realized score distributions from 2000–2008.\"}]","Accountability, test prep incentives, and the design of math and English exams - March 2022 | PDF",1791065794,151]