John H. Bishop is a member of the Department of Human Resource Studies at the New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University. He is also Executive Director of the Educational Excellence Alliance, a consortium of 300 high schools in 5 Northeastern states that are studying ways to improve school climate and student engagement. He received his Bachelors Degree from Oberlin College in 1962. After two years in the Peace Corps in Northern Nigeria, he studied Economics at the University of Michigan, obtaining a Masters in 1967 and a PhD in 1974. Professor Bishop has published numerous articles on education reform, the impact of the quality of education on the productivity of individuals and nations, the impact of the hiring, training and promotion policies of business on incentives for students to study and schools to set high standards, the determinants of and payoffs to employer training and the effectiveness of institutions which match workers and jobs. Prior to coming to Cornell in 1986, John was director of the Center for Research on Youth Employability and Associate Director: Research at the National Center for Research in Vocational Education. He has served on numerous advisory committees: the Job Training Partnership Experiment Advisory Committee, the Advisory Panel for the Office of Technology Assessment's study Training in the Workplace, Advisory Committee on Federal Workforce Quality Assessment, and Education Committee of the Competitiveness Policy Council. He chaired the Admissions and Incentives Subcommittee of the SUNY Task Group on Public Education and Co-chaired the Goal 5 Technical Planning Subgroup on International Workforce Skills of the National Education Goals Panel. He has testified before Congressional Committees numerous times--most recently on February 2, 1995 before the Senate Subcommittee on Education, Arts and Humanities chaired by Senator Jeffords. Editor's note: Within the categories below, papers are organized in reverse chronological order.
Employment Growth Tax Credits
The Job Creation Tax Credit: Dismal Projections for Employment Call for a Quick, Efficient, and Effective Response, Policy & Issue Briefs (2009)
[Excerpt] Given the extraordinary scope of the current economic crisis, no single policy can fully...
How to Restore Animal Spirits and Reduce Unemployment: A Tax Credit for Employment Growth in Fiscal 2010 and 2011, Articles & Chapters (2009)
Returning to the 64.3% employment/population ratio of 1999-2000 would necessitate an 11+ percent increase in...
Can a Tax Credit for Employment Growth in 2009 and 2010 Restore Animal Spirits and Help Jump Start the Economy?, Articles & Chapters (2008)
[Excerpt] In the last three months employment declined by 1.2 million jobs and the number...
Does the Targeted Jobs Tax Credit Create Jobs at Subsidized Firms? (with John H. Bishop and Mark Montgomery), CAHRS Working Paper Series (1991)
This paper uses the results of a survey of more than 3500 private employers to...
Applying for Entitlements: Employers and the Targeted Jobs Tax Credit (with Suk Kang), CAHRS Working Paper Series (1988)
The Targeted Jobs Tax Credit is probably the most outstanding example of a generous entitlement...
Career-Technical Education and Occupational Skills
Raising Academic Standards and Vocational Concentrators: Are They Better Off Or Worse Off? (with Ferran Mane), CAHRS Working Paper Series (2004)
This paper measures the impacts of tougher graduation requirements on course taking patterns, learning, college...
The Impacts of Career-Technical Education on High School Completion and Labor Market Success (with Ferran Mane), CAHRS Working Paper Series (2003)
[Excerpt] High school career-technical education (CTE) is a massive enterprise. Last year high school students...
Impacts of Tougher Graduation Requirements on Course Selection and Learning in High School and Post High School Experiences of Vocational Students (with Ferran Mane), CAHRS Working Paper Series (2003)
[Excerpt] The paper began with an examination of the effects of tougher graduation requirements on...
Who Participated in School-to-Work Programs in 1998? Technical Report (with Ferran Mane), CAHRS Working Paper Series (2003)
[Excerpt] This report is based on a survey of 7425 students attending high school during...
The Impacts of School-Business Partnerships on the Early Labor-Market Success of Students (with Ferran Mane), Articles & Chapters (2003)
[Excerpt] This chapter examines the effects of improved signaling of student achievement in high school...
Why U.S. High Schools Lag behind Europe and East Asia
Which Secondary Education Systems Work Best? The United States or Northern Europe, Working Papers (2010)
Northern European teenagers are 10+ percent more likely to graduate from secondary school than their...
Secondary Education in the United States: What Can Others Learn from Our Mistakes? (with Ferran Mane and Michael Bishop), CAHRS Working Paper Series (2001)
Secondary schools are the least successful component of the U.S. education system. Students learn considerably...
La educación secundaria en los Estados Unidos. ¿Qué pueden aprender otros de nuestros errores? (with Ferran Mane and Michael Bishop), Articles & Chapters (2001)
[Excerpt] El ritmo de los estudiantes estadounidenses para adquirir nuevas habilidades se desacelera durante la...
Signaling, Incentives and School Organization in France, The Netherlands, Britain and the United States: Lessons for Education Economics, CAHRS Working Paper Series (1994)
[Excerpt] What causes differences in secondary school achievement across these four nations? The first two...
Impacts of School Organization and Signaling on Incentives to Learn in France, the Netherlands, England, Scotland and the United States, CAHRS Working Paper Series (1993)
[Excerpt] Despite similar cultural roots and standards of living, the secondary education systems of France,...
Curriculum-based External Exit Exam Systems
High School Exit Examinations: When Do Learning Effects Generalize?, CAHRS Working Paper Series (2005)
This paper reviews international and domestic evidence on the effects of three types of high...
Are National Exit Examinations Important for Educational Efficiency?, Articles & Chapters (1999)
“This paper analyses effects of national or provincial exit examinations on education quality. On theoretical...
The New York State Reform Strategy: Raising the Bar Above Minimum Competency (with Ferran Mane ), CAHRS Working Paper Series (1998)
[Excerpt] Educational reformers and most of the American public believe that teachers ask too little...
The Effect of Curriculum-Based External Exit Exam Systems on Student Achievement, Articles & Chapters (1998)
[Excerpt] Two presidents, the National Governors Association, and numerous blue-ribbon panels have called for the...
Diplomas for Learning, not Seat Time: The Impacts of New York Regents Examinations (with Joan Y. Moriarty and Ferran Mane), CAHRS Working Paper Series (1997)
[Excerpt] New York State has been administering curriculum-based Regents Examinations to high school students ever...
U.S. High School Graduation Tests
Why California Needs a High School Exit Examination System: Enrollment + Motivation + Engagement => Learning , CAHRS Working Paper Series (2006)
[Excerpt] The purpose of the educational enterprise is LEARNING. Engagement is essential to achieving this...
Incentive Effects New York’s Minimum Competency Exams (with Ferran Mane), Articles & Chapters (2001)
[Excerpt] Educational reformers and the majority of the American public believe that teachers ask too...
The Role of End-of-Course Exams and Minimum Competency Exams in Standards-Based Reforms (with John H. Bishop, Ferran Mane, Michael Bishop, and Joan Moriarty), CAHRS Working Paper Series (2000)
[Excerpt] Educational reformers and most of the American public believe that most teachers ask too...
Higher Education
Nerd Harassment and Grade Inflation: Are College Admissions Policies Partly Responsible? , CAHRS Working Paper Series (1999)
[Excerpt] In the eyes of American parents, college admissions officers control the single most important...
The Growth of Female College Attendance: Causes and Prospects, CAHRS Working Paper Series (1992)
[Excerpt] This paper analyzes the response of female college attendance and completion rates to changes...
Some Thoughts on the Cost Effectiveness of Graduate Education Subsidies , Articles & Chapters (1974)
[Excerpt] How much should doctorate training be subsidized? The answer proposed is, "Doctorate training should...
Which Skills Make You More Productive and Better Paid
Are Early Investments In Computer Skills Rewarded In The Labor Market? (with Ferran Mane), CAHRS Working Paper Series (2006)
The paper assesses the relationship between investments in computer skills by adolescents and earnings at...
Expertise and Excellence, CAHRS Working Paper Series (1995)
[Excerpt] Most of one's educational career is spent learning generic skills such as reading, writing...
The Economic Consequences of Schooling and Learning, CAHRS Working Paper Series (1992)
[Excerpt] Concern about slackening productivity growth and deteriorating competitiveness has resulted in a new public...
Workforce Preparedness, CAHRS Working Paper Series (1992)
[Excerpt] Concern about slackening productivity growth and deteriorating competitiveness has resulted in a new public...
The Impact of Academic Competencies on Wages, Unemployment and Job Performance, CAHRS Working Paper Series (1991)
[Excerpt] The scientific and mathematical competence of American high school students is generally recognized to...
School Accountability
What Should Be the Federal Role In Supporting And/Or Shaping Development Of State Accountability Systems For Secondary School Achievement?, CAHRS Working Paper Series (2002)
In the 1960s U.S. participation rates in secondary education were the highest in the world....
Is Standards-Based Reform Working? … and For Whom? (with Ferran Mane and Michael Bishop), CAHRS Working Paper Series (2001)
[Excerpt] Three presidents, the National Governors Association, numerous blue ribbon panels and national teachers unions...
Welfare Reform
Is Welfare Reform Succeeding?, CAHRS Working Paper Series (1998)
Welfare Reform and the Earned Income Tax Credit have apparently caused a dramatic increase in...
Employee Training
Do Some Employers Share the Costs and Benefits of General Training? (with Suk Kang), CAHRS Working Paper Series (1996)
[Excerpt] One of the central propositions of the human capital theory of on-the-job training is...
What We Know About Employer-Provided Training: A Review of Literature, CAHRS Working Paper Series (1996)
While the importance of on-the-job training is recognized by everyone, it is a phenomenon that...
Is it Wise to Try to Force Employers to Pay All the Costs of Training at the Workplace?, CAHRS Working Paper Series (1995)
[Excerpt] This article explores the effects that these regulations have on: (a) the form of...
The Incidence of and Payoff to Employer Training: A Review of the Literature with Recommendations for Policy, CAHRS Working Paper Series (1994)
[Excerpt] The theory of on-the-job training predicts that workers should pay the full costs of...
Do Most Employers and Workers Underinvest in Training and Learning On the Job?, Articles & Chapters (1993)
"Many economists question the need for social intervention in training, arguing that the benefits accruing...
Selecting Employees
Signaling the Competencies of High School Students to Employers, CAHRS Working Paper Series (1994)
[Excerpt] The fundamental cause of the low effort level of American students, parents, and voters...
Improving Job-Worker Matching in the US Labor Market: What is the Role of the Employment Service?, CAHRS Working Paper Series (1992)
[Excerpt] Educational and political leaders are calling for improvements in the signalling and certification of...
Department Of Labor Testing: Seizing an Opportunity to Increase the Competitiveness of American Industry and to Raise the Earnings of American Workers , CAHRS Working Paper Series (1991)
[Excerpt] Greater use of tests assessing competence in verbal, mathematical, technical arenas and in specific...
The Motivation Problem in American High Schools, CAHRS Working Paper Series (1988)
American high school students devote much less time and energy to their studies than the...
School Choice
Privatizing Education: Lessons from Canada and Europe, CAHRS Working Paper Series (1998)
[Excerpt] Legislative proposals for vouchers for K-12 schooling have come before many legislatures and are...
Oversupply of College Graduates?
Is An Oversupply of College Graduates Coming?, CAHRS Working Paper Series (1997)
[Excerpt] Demand for college graduates workers was strong during the 1980s (Blackburn, Bloom and Freeman...
Overeducation, CAHRS Working Paper Series (1993)
According to manpower requirements economists, "overeducation" occurs when an individual has more schooling than is...
Is a Skills Shortage Coming? A Review of BLS Occupational Projections to 2005, CAHRS Working Paper Series (1992)
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projections of occupational employment growth have consistently underpredicted the growth...
How Accurate Are Recent BLS Occupational Projections? (with Shani Carter), Articles & Chapters (1991)
[Excerpt] At the beginning of the 1980's, some analysts predicted an increase in lower-skilled jobs...
The Worsening Shortage of College-Graduate Workers (with John H. Bishop and Shani Carter), Articles & Chapters (1991)
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projections of occupational employment growth have consistently underpredicted the...
Student Motivation and Student Culture
Are Anti-Engagement Male Peer Cultures Causing Male Underperformance in School? (with Michael M. Bishop), Working Papers (2010)
[Excerpt] Why are boys so much more likely to be academically disengaged in secondary school?...
An Economic Theory of Academic Engagement Norms: The Struggle for Popularity and Normative Hegemony in Secondary Schools (with Michael M. Bishop), CAHRS Working Paper Series (2007)
[Excerpt] Why and how do groups create norms? Kenneth Arrow proposed that “norms of social...
Drinking from the Fountain of Knowledge: Student Incentive to Study and Learn-Externalities, Information Problems and Peer Pressure, CAHRS Working Paper Series (2004)
Students face four decision margins: (a) How many years to spend in school, (b) What...
Peer Harassment: A Weapon in the Struggle for Popularity and Normative Hegemony in American Secondary Schools (with Matthew Bishop and Michael M. Bishop), CAHRS Working Paper Series (2003)
This paper addresses two of secondary education’s most serious problems—peer abuse of weaker socially unskilled...
An Economic Theory of Nerd and Slacker Harassment and it’s Role in Enforcing Social Norms in Schools, CAHRS Working Paper Series (2003)
Education Reform
Enrollment, Attendance and Engagement → Achievement: Successful Strategies for Motivating Students - Evidence of Effectiveness from Comparisons of 50 States and 45 Nations, CAHRS Working Paper Series (2004)
The purpose of the educational enterprise is LEARNING. Engagement is essential to achieving this purpose....
Educational Reform and Disadvantaged Students: Are They Better Off or Worse Off? (with Ferran Mane), CAHRS Working Paper Series (2004)
This paper analyzes the effects of increased academic standards on both average achievement levels and...
Institutional Effects in a Simple Model of Educational Production (with Ludger Woesmann ), Faculty Publications - Human Resource Studies (2004)
This paper presents a model of educational production that tries to make sense of recent...
Using High Stakes Tests to Raise Achievement, Articles & Chapters (2001)
“Educational reformers and most of the American public think that teachers ask too little of...
The Effect of National Standard and Curriculum-Based Exams on Achievement, CAHRS Working Paper Series (1997)
[Excerpt] Two presidents, the National Governors Association and numerous blue ribbon panels have called for...
Pay for Performance
The Recognition and Reward of Employee Performance, CAHRS Working Paper Series (1989)
[Excerpt] This paper examines when and to what extent an individual's relative wage depends on...
Job Performance, Turnover and Wage Growth, CAHRS Working Paper Series (1988)
The paper tests and finds strong support for the hypothesis that in the nonunion sector...
Trends
The Explosion of Female College Attendance, CAHRS Working Paper Series (1990)
[Excerpt] This paper will attempt to determine the extent to which changes in female college...
Is the Test Score Decline Responsible for the Productivity Growth Decline?, Articles & Chapters (1989)
[Excerpt] The test score decline between 1967 and 1980 was large (about 1.25 grade-level equivalents)...