On the design of non-monetary incentives in schools

We analyze the impact of non-monetary incentives on performance in a mathematics test in secondary schools. While we apply predetermined incentives in two treatments, in a third treatment, pupils can choose one from four incentives - a medal, homework voucher, parent letter or surprise. Overall, we find no impact of non-monetary incentives on test scores. Our estimates are small and statistically not distinguishable from zero. However, due to a lack of power we cannot rule out the possibility of effect sizes that would have positive effects on test score if incentives are self-chosen and negative effects if incentives are predetermined. Nevertheless, we find that pupils who could choose their incentive significantly increased their self-reported learning effort.