Education

Education

1. Pritchett 2013

   • Schooling Facts
     • 1) Adult average schooling has tripled between 1950-2010
     • 2) Rapid expansion of schooling - lots of schools being built
     • 3) Even in non-democratic, repressive, corrupt, slow-growing economies, schooling is increasing
     • 4) in 2010, the average Haitian or Bangladeshi had more year of schlooing than the average Frenchman or Italian in 1960.
   • PROBLEM!
     • Learning profiles too flat
       • e.g. Andhra Pradesh, India
         • Examined a variety of interventions:
           • Performance pay
           • Increasing school grants
         • Schools randomly selected for treatment
         • Developed test (ASER) to assess student's rote learning and deeper conceptual understanding
           • ASER test
             • Literacy
             • Numeracy
             • Telling time
             • Handling $$
             • Less than 2/3 of children aged 15-16 mastered all 4 components
         • Test student in multiple grades
           • Produce cross section learning profiles
         • RESULTS
           • FLAT LEARNING PROFILES!
             • e.g. single digit addition
               • Grade 2: 35%
               • Grade 5: 61%
       • PISA standardised test
         • Average Score 2009
           • OECD: 496
           • Denmark: 503
           • Tamil Nadu: 350
           • Also more students placed in th bottom category in Tamil Nadu
         • Sampling was mostly school based
           • Don't know the learning outcome of children not in school
             • Progress may actually be exaggerated
       • WHY???
         • Barriers to universal education
           • 1) current page of educational progress is too slow and unlikely to change because system is centralised
           • Lack of evidence based planning
             • Only Education Management Information Systems (EMIS) visible goals
               • More inputs: books, teachers, buildings, etc.
                 • Perpetuates illusion of progress
           • Tendency to replicate rich countries' and educational system
           • Existing systems cannot easily change and flow of innovation unlikely
         • Centralised "spider" system - top down approach
           • Good at logistics and can crank out primary schools quickly
             • But has delivered:
               • More schooling
               • Resources for marginalised children that are not yet schooled in remote areas
           • But education needs judgement and control
             • Teaching a child with top down approach may be forcing a round peg into a square hole
           • Mostly run by government
             • Teachers are mostly civil servants
           • Nationalisation wave in 1870s -1920s beacuse
             • Increased demand for skilled labour especially during industrial revolution
             • rise of centralising ideologies and nationalisms
             • Mimicry of successful education systems especially in France and Japan
               • Why not follow them?
                 • Most OECD achieved current levels before 1970 - used to know how. They now know how to improve but not build from scratch.
           • Hasn't changed because
             • Camouflage: e.g. hiring building contractors, putting colour in textbooks to gain legitimacy as if they are creating learning
               • System perpetuates itself - it is more convenient to be blind/ignorant to parents' concerns
     • can more spending improve learning outcomes?
       • NO!
         • Countries have exactly same learning outcomes with different level of spending
           • US PPP $105,000 per child
           • Poland PPP $39,000 per child
         • Countries have different learning outcomes with same level of spending
           • Finland PPP $71,000
             • But Finland outperforms Spain by 50 points on average PISA results
           • Spain PPP $74,000
   • International assessments:
     • East Asian countries - highest scores
     • Most OECD clustered around OECD mean of 500 in PISA
     • Eastern European countries near OECD mean
     • Most developing countries score around 400 or below
   • Solution
     • "Starfish" bottom up approach
       • Qualities
         • Examples
           • Community controlled schools: Community hired teachers paid 1/5 amount as civil service teacher but produce equivalent or better learning outcomes. E.g. Andhra Pradesh
           • Private Providers of education like in Kenya (Bold et al. 2011)
           • Schools under small governmental jurisdiction
           • Putting cameras in classrooms and have teachers take date-time stamped photos >> increase student attendance and scores in India (Duflo, Hanna and Ryan 2010)
         • Open
           • have many different types of schools providing education instead of only having schools under spider control
         • Locally operated
           • Given autonomy to operate
         • Performance pressure on learning through accountability
         • professionally networked
           • communities of professional practice
         • Flexibly financed
           • finance follows students and performance rather than mainly being directed at the teachers, independent of performance