WARNING! This website is no longer actively maintained. It is an archive of 2 years work by Doug Belshaw who now blogs at dougbelshaw.com...
The Independent reports today that:
A study of 180 teachers by researchers at Bristol University reveals that the pupils of those eligible for £2,000 performance-related pay bonuses are likely to score half a grade higher in their GCSEs. The pay bonuses were introduced by Labour six years ago against a background of widespread opposition from the teaching profession.
Now anyone with half a brain would be able to see that this is sensationalist news reporting at its worst. Half a grade at GCSE? 180 teachers? Haven’t they heard of the experimenter effect or getting a decent sample to be able to generalize results? 
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