Can governments contract out school management at scale? In 2016 the Government of Punjab transfe... more Can governments contract out school management at scale? In 2016 the Government of Punjab transferred management of over 4,000 failing primary schools to private operators. Schools remained free to students. Private operators received a government subsidy per enrolled student of less than half per-student spending in government schools. This paper evaluates the effects on performance of converted schools. Comparing early converters to later converters, we estimate that enrolment in treated schools increased by over 60 percent, and test scores declined sharply.
There is a wide perception amongst global elites that coordination between international donors f... more There is a wide perception amongst global elites that coordination between international donors for education is a major constraint. In this paper we contribute to this debate with data on the views and preferences of officials from aid recipient governments. We survey over 900 senior government officials working on education in 36 lowand middle-income countries. We use a set of discrete choice and survey experiments to document the preferences and knowledge of senior government officials. We document a misalignment in priorities between national officials and prevailing global norms. Finally, we discuss potential explanations for this misalignment, and test whether an information treatment with new research can shift views on specific reforms.
Supplemental Material, sj-docx-1-ppq-10.1177_13540688211021053 for Discrimination by politicians ... more Supplemental Material, sj-docx-1-ppq-10.1177_13540688211021053 for Discrimination by politicians against religious minorities: Experimental evidence from the UK by Lee Crawfurd and Ukasha Ramli in Party Politics
Using a sample of 1,211 households in Pakistan, we examine the effects of COVID-19 on three key d... more Using a sample of 1,211 households in Pakistan, we examine the effects of COVID-19 on three key domains: education, economic, and health-related. First, during school closures, 66 percent of surveyed households report not using technology for learning at all. Wealth disparities mar access to distance learning, and richer households are 39 percent more likely to use technology for learning compared to the poorest households. This has implications for learning remediation as children head back to school. Second, more than half of the respondents report a reduction in income and one-fifth report being food insecure during the lockdown in the first week of May, 2020. Only one-fifth of households reporting a reduction in income and one-fifth of respondents reporting a reduction in the number of meals consumed report being covered by the federal government's cash transfer program. Third, while a majority of respondents (90 percent) report adopting precautionary measures such as face m...
Can governments contract out the management of schools to private operators at scale? This paper ... more Can governments contract out the management of schools to private operators at scale? This paper estimates the effect of a school reform in Punjab, Pakistan, in which 4,276 poorly performing public primary schools (around 10 percent of the total) were contracted out to private operators in a single school year. These schools remain free to students and the private operator receives a per-student subsidy equivalent to less than half of spending in government schools. Using a difference-indifference framework we estimate that enrolment in converted schools increased by over 60 percent. Converted schools see a slight decline in overall average test scores, but this may be a composition effect rather than a treatment effect. Schools with the same number or fewer students as in the previous year saw no change in average test scores.
How did children learn while schools were closed during 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic? In low... more How did children learn while schools were closed during 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic? In low-income countries where internet access is scarce, distance learning is often passive, via TV or radio, with little opportunity for teacher-student interaction. In this paper we evaluate the effectiveness of live tutoring calls from teachers, using a randomized controlled trial with 4,399 primary school students in Sierra Leone. Tutoring calls increased engagement in educational activity but had no effect on mathematics or language test scores, for girls or boys. We also make a methodological contribution, testing the reliability of student assessments conducted by phone. Phone-based assessments have sensible properties, but we find suggestive evidence that scores are higher than with in-person assessments, and there is differential item functioning across survey modes for most individual questions. www.cgdev.org Lee Crawfurd, David K. Evans, Susannah Hares, and Justin Sandefur
The types of workers recruited into teaching and their allocation across classrooms can greatly i... more The types of workers recruited into teaching and their allocation across classrooms can greatly influence a country's stock of human capital. This paper considers how markets and non-market institutions determine the quantity, wages, skills, and spatial distribution of teachers in developing countries. Schools are a major source of employment in developing countries, particularly for women and professionals. Teacher compensation is also a large share of public budgets. Teacher labor markets in developing countries are likely to grow further as teacher quality becomes a greater focus of education policy, including under the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Theoretical approaches to teacher labor markets have emphasized the role of non-market institutions, such as government and unions, and other frictions in teacher employment and wages. The evidence supports the existence and importance of such frictions in how teacher labor markets function. In many countries, larg...
It is designed to generate new evidence and understanding of how best to support equitable access... more It is designed to generate new evidence and understanding of how best to support equitable access and improved learning outcomes for all Nigerian children through innovation and the sustainable development of basic education systems. It is a consortium of leading organisations in international development and education managed by Oxford Policy Management (OPM) and including the Institute of Development Studies (IDS).
The Routledge Handbook of the Economics of Education
The types of workers recruited into teaching and their allocation across classrooms can greatly i... more The types of workers recruited into teaching and their allocation across classrooms can greatly influence a country's stock of human capital. This paper considers how markets and non-market institutions determine the quantity, wages, skills, and spatial distribution of teachers in developing countries. Schools are a major source of employment in developing countries, particularly for women and professionals. Teacher compensation is also a large share of public budgets. Teacher labor markets in developing countries are likely to grow further as teacher quality becomes a greater focus of education policy, including under the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Theoretical approaches to teacher labor markets have emphasized the role of non-market institutions, such as government and unions, and other frictions in teacher employment and wages. The evidence supports the existence and importance of such frictions in how teacher labor markets function. In many countries, large gaps in pay and quality exist between teachers and other professionals; teachers in public and private schools; teachers on permanent and temporary contracts; and teachers in urban and rural areas. Teacher supply increases with wages, though teacher quality does not necessarily increase. However, most evidence comes from studies of shortterm effects among existing teachers. Evidence on effects in the long-term, on the supply of new teachers, or on changes in non-pecuniary compensation is scarcer.
Emiliana Vegas surveys strategies used by the world's developing countries to fill their classroo... more Emiliana Vegas surveys strategies used by the world's developing countries to fill their classrooms with qualified teachers. With their low quality of education and wide gaps in student outcomes, schools in developing countries strongly resemble hard-to-staff urban U.S. schools. Their experience with reform may thus provide insights for U.S. policymakers. Severe budget constraints and a lack of teacher training capacity have pushed developing nations to try a wide variety of reforms, including using part-time or assistant teachers, experimenting with pay incentives, and using school-based management. The strategy of hiring teachers with less than full credentials has had mixed results. One successful program in India hired young women who lacked teaching certificates to teach basic literacy and numeracy skills to children whose skills were seriously lagging. After two years, student learning increased, with the highest gains among the least able students. As in the United States, says Vegas, teaching quality and student achievement in the developing world are sensitive to teacher compensation. As average teacher salaries in Chile more than doubled over the past decade, higher-quality students entered teacher education programs. And when Brazil increased educational funding and distributed resources more equitably, school enrollment increased and the gap in student test scores narrowed. Experiments with performance-based pay have had mixed results. In Bolivia a bonus for teaching in rural areas failed to produce higher-quality teachers. And in Mexico a system to reward teachers for improved student outcomes failed to change teacher performance. But Vegas explains that the design of teacher incentives is critical. Effective incentive schemes must be tightly coupled with desired behaviors and generous enough to give teachers a reason to make the extra effort. School-based management reforms give decisionmaking authority to the schools. Such reforms in Central America have reduced teacher absenteeism, increased teacher work hours, increased homework assignments, and improved parent-teacher relationships. These changes, says Vegas, are especially promising in schools where educational quality is low.
Can governments contract out school management at scale? In 2016 the Government of Punjab transfe... more Can governments contract out school management at scale? In 2016 the Government of Punjab transferred management of over 4,000 failing primary schools to private operators. Schools remained free to students. Private operators received a government subsidy per enrolled student of less than half per-student spending in government schools. This paper evaluates the effects on performance of converted schools. Comparing early converters to later converters, we estimate that enrolment in treated schools increased by over 60 percent, and test scores declined sharply.
There is a wide perception amongst global elites that coordination between international donors f... more There is a wide perception amongst global elites that coordination between international donors for education is a major constraint. In this paper we contribute to this debate with data on the views and preferences of officials from aid recipient governments. We survey over 900 senior government officials working on education in 36 lowand middle-income countries. We use a set of discrete choice and survey experiments to document the preferences and knowledge of senior government officials. We document a misalignment in priorities between national officials and prevailing global norms. Finally, we discuss potential explanations for this misalignment, and test whether an information treatment with new research can shift views on specific reforms.
Supplemental Material, sj-docx-1-ppq-10.1177_13540688211021053 for Discrimination by politicians ... more Supplemental Material, sj-docx-1-ppq-10.1177_13540688211021053 for Discrimination by politicians against religious minorities: Experimental evidence from the UK by Lee Crawfurd and Ukasha Ramli in Party Politics
Using a sample of 1,211 households in Pakistan, we examine the effects of COVID-19 on three key d... more Using a sample of 1,211 households in Pakistan, we examine the effects of COVID-19 on three key domains: education, economic, and health-related. First, during school closures, 66 percent of surveyed households report not using technology for learning at all. Wealth disparities mar access to distance learning, and richer households are 39 percent more likely to use technology for learning compared to the poorest households. This has implications for learning remediation as children head back to school. Second, more than half of the respondents report a reduction in income and one-fifth report being food insecure during the lockdown in the first week of May, 2020. Only one-fifth of households reporting a reduction in income and one-fifth of respondents reporting a reduction in the number of meals consumed report being covered by the federal government's cash transfer program. Third, while a majority of respondents (90 percent) report adopting precautionary measures such as face m...
Can governments contract out the management of schools to private operators at scale? This paper ... more Can governments contract out the management of schools to private operators at scale? This paper estimates the effect of a school reform in Punjab, Pakistan, in which 4,276 poorly performing public primary schools (around 10 percent of the total) were contracted out to private operators in a single school year. These schools remain free to students and the private operator receives a per-student subsidy equivalent to less than half of spending in government schools. Using a difference-indifference framework we estimate that enrolment in converted schools increased by over 60 percent. Converted schools see a slight decline in overall average test scores, but this may be a composition effect rather than a treatment effect. Schools with the same number or fewer students as in the previous year saw no change in average test scores.
How did children learn while schools were closed during 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic? In low... more How did children learn while schools were closed during 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic? In low-income countries where internet access is scarce, distance learning is often passive, via TV or radio, with little opportunity for teacher-student interaction. In this paper we evaluate the effectiveness of live tutoring calls from teachers, using a randomized controlled trial with 4,399 primary school students in Sierra Leone. Tutoring calls increased engagement in educational activity but had no effect on mathematics or language test scores, for girls or boys. We also make a methodological contribution, testing the reliability of student assessments conducted by phone. Phone-based assessments have sensible properties, but we find suggestive evidence that scores are higher than with in-person assessments, and there is differential item functioning across survey modes for most individual questions. www.cgdev.org Lee Crawfurd, David K. Evans, Susannah Hares, and Justin Sandefur
The types of workers recruited into teaching and their allocation across classrooms can greatly i... more The types of workers recruited into teaching and their allocation across classrooms can greatly influence a country's stock of human capital. This paper considers how markets and non-market institutions determine the quantity, wages, skills, and spatial distribution of teachers in developing countries. Schools are a major source of employment in developing countries, particularly for women and professionals. Teacher compensation is also a large share of public budgets. Teacher labor markets in developing countries are likely to grow further as teacher quality becomes a greater focus of education policy, including under the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Theoretical approaches to teacher labor markets have emphasized the role of non-market institutions, such as government and unions, and other frictions in teacher employment and wages. The evidence supports the existence and importance of such frictions in how teacher labor markets function. In many countries, larg...
It is designed to generate new evidence and understanding of how best to support equitable access... more It is designed to generate new evidence and understanding of how best to support equitable access and improved learning outcomes for all Nigerian children through innovation and the sustainable development of basic education systems. It is a consortium of leading organisations in international development and education managed by Oxford Policy Management (OPM) and including the Institute of Development Studies (IDS).
The Routledge Handbook of the Economics of Education
The types of workers recruited into teaching and their allocation across classrooms can greatly i... more The types of workers recruited into teaching and their allocation across classrooms can greatly influence a country's stock of human capital. This paper considers how markets and non-market institutions determine the quantity, wages, skills, and spatial distribution of teachers in developing countries. Schools are a major source of employment in developing countries, particularly for women and professionals. Teacher compensation is also a large share of public budgets. Teacher labor markets in developing countries are likely to grow further as teacher quality becomes a greater focus of education policy, including under the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Theoretical approaches to teacher labor markets have emphasized the role of non-market institutions, such as government and unions, and other frictions in teacher employment and wages. The evidence supports the existence and importance of such frictions in how teacher labor markets function. In many countries, large gaps in pay and quality exist between teachers and other professionals; teachers in public and private schools; teachers on permanent and temporary contracts; and teachers in urban and rural areas. Teacher supply increases with wages, though teacher quality does not necessarily increase. However, most evidence comes from studies of shortterm effects among existing teachers. Evidence on effects in the long-term, on the supply of new teachers, or on changes in non-pecuniary compensation is scarcer.
Emiliana Vegas surveys strategies used by the world's developing countries to fill their classroo... more Emiliana Vegas surveys strategies used by the world's developing countries to fill their classrooms with qualified teachers. With their low quality of education and wide gaps in student outcomes, schools in developing countries strongly resemble hard-to-staff urban U.S. schools. Their experience with reform may thus provide insights for U.S. policymakers. Severe budget constraints and a lack of teacher training capacity have pushed developing nations to try a wide variety of reforms, including using part-time or assistant teachers, experimenting with pay incentives, and using school-based management. The strategy of hiring teachers with less than full credentials has had mixed results. One successful program in India hired young women who lacked teaching certificates to teach basic literacy and numeracy skills to children whose skills were seriously lagging. After two years, student learning increased, with the highest gains among the least able students. As in the United States, says Vegas, teaching quality and student achievement in the developing world are sensitive to teacher compensation. As average teacher salaries in Chile more than doubled over the past decade, higher-quality students entered teacher education programs. And when Brazil increased educational funding and distributed resources more equitably, school enrollment increased and the gap in student test scores narrowed. Experiments with performance-based pay have had mixed results. In Bolivia a bonus for teaching in rural areas failed to produce higher-quality teachers. And in Mexico a system to reward teachers for improved student outcomes failed to change teacher performance. But Vegas explains that the design of teacher incentives is critical. Effective incentive schemes must be tightly coupled with desired behaviors and generous enough to give teachers a reason to make the extra effort. School-based management reforms give decisionmaking authority to the schools. Such reforms in Central America have reduced teacher absenteeism, increased teacher work hours, increased homework assignments, and improved parent-teacher relationships. These changes, says Vegas, are especially promising in schools where educational quality is low.
Can governments contract out the management of schools to private operators at scale? This paper ... more Can governments contract out the management of schools to private operators at scale? This paper estimates the effect of a school reform in Punjab, Pakistan, in which 4,276 poorly performing public primary schools (around 10 percent of the total) were contracted out to private operators in a single school year. These schools remain free to students and the private operator receives a per-student subsidy equivalent to less than half of spending in government schools. Using a difference-in-difference framework we estimate that enrolment in converted schools increased by over 60 percent. Converted schools see a slight decline in overall average test scores, but this may be a composition effect rather than a treatment effect. Schools with the same number or fewer students as in the previous year saw no change in average test scores.
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