Accountability in Schools Flashcards
(23 cards)
Author of the paper?
Mbiti (2016).
Consequences of low levels of accountability:
High rates of teacher absenteeism.
Leakages in financial transfers to schools.
Ineffective school monitoring systems.
Poor parental engagement.
Relative to developed countries, per pupil spending in developing countries is heavily skewed towards…
…tertiary education, which only a select few can access.
Does increasing school inputs improve learning outcomes?
Rarely.
TANZANIAN primary schools
School grants that doubled per pupil spending were ineffective in increasing learning outcomes, unless the grants were coupled with teacher incentives.
Extreme leakage in UGANDA
Mid 1990s: only 22%of allocated funds reached schools after local politicians diverted the funds to their election campaigns.
Class sizes in KENYA
Lowering class sizes by adding more centrally hired civil service teachers did not improve student learning outcomes - existing teachers simply reduced their effort in response to the new hires.
Increases in teacher pay
Likely just a transfer to teachers which doesn’t affect teacher effort because of the lack of accountability and unlikelihood of teacher dismissal.
BUT in long run it could attract better teachers.
Absenteeism costs INDIAN taxpayers how much?
US$1.5 billion per year.
Bonus payments in RURAL INDIAN schools
Improvements in student outcomes when teachers were awarded bonus payments based on the improvement of their students’ test scores.
Why are teacher incentive schemes often insufficient on their own in increasing student outcomes?
Teachers incentives may be complementary to other classroom inputs. Teacher subject knowledge is positively correlated with student learning outcomes.
Headteachers don’t value learning outcomes…
Only 11% of principles believe that learning outcomes are the most important indicator of a good school.
Confusion about funding policies…
60% of principles in TANZANIA did not know how much they were eligible to receive from the government.
Schools have limited discretion on spending…
95% of KENYAN schools are given specific instructions on what materials to purchase from govt officials.
Proportion of TANZANIAN parents who knew what their child had scored on their last test?
20%.
Providing information to parents in the form of report cards to improve student learning…
Didn’t work in INDIA… maybe because parents have limited ways to affect the education system. BUT report cards did work in INDIA when they were coupled with training programs on how to conduct summer reading camps.
Private schools
Arguably more accountable because of their reliance on fees.
Reason for high rate of private enrolment among the poor?
The lack of govt school options in urban slums and other disadvantaged areas.
INDIA & PAKISTAN private school efficiency
Operating costs of private schools in these countries are as little as 1/4 that of govt schools - cost savings mainly come from differences in teacher hiring and pay.
Private school outcomes are AT LEAST as good as those in public schools
They operate with far fewer resources and deliver as good results meaning they are much more productive.
Why encourage the expansion of private schools?
School choice is only feasible if there a sufficient number of schools.
Better results.
PAKISTAN private schools
Govt funded low-cost private schools which increased enrolment and led to dramatic increase in test scores.
Number of low-cost schools receiving grants matters…
If very few schools receive a grant, then that school is more likely to invest in expanding access, not quality. BUT, when all schools in the market are provided finances, schools are more likely to compete on quality.
