Parental Human Capital and Effective School Management: Evidence from the Gambia

52 Pages Posted: 20 Apr 2016

See all articles by Moussa Pouguinimpo Blimpo

Moussa Pouguinimpo Blimpo

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Moussa Blimpo

University of Toronto - Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy

David Evans

World Bank

Nathalie Lahire

World Bank Group

Date Written: April 13, 2015

Abstract

Education systems in developing countries are often centrally managed in a top-down structure. In environments where schools have different needs and where localized information plays an important role, empowerment of the local community may be attractive, but low levels of human capital at the local level may offset gains from local information. This paper reports the results of a four-year, large-scale experiment that provided a grant and comprehensive school management training to principals, teachers, and community representatives in a set of schools. To separate the effect of the training from the grant, a second set of schools received the grant only with no training. A third set of schools served as a control group and received neither intervention. Each of 273 Gambian primary schools were randomized to one of the three groups. The program was implemented through the government education system. Three to four years into the program, the full intervention led to a 21 percent reduction in student absenteeism and a 23 percent reduction in teacher absenteeism, but produced no impact on student test scores. The effect of the full program on learning outcomes is strongly mediated by baseline local capacity, as measured by adult literacy. This result suggests that, in villages with high literacy, the program may yield gains on students' learning outcomes. Receiving the grant alone had no impact on either test scores or student participation.

Keywords: Educational Institutions & Facilities, Educational Sciences, Economics of Education

Suggested Citation

Blimpo, Moussa Pouguinimpo and Blimpo, Moussa and Evans, David and Lahire, Nathalie, Parental Human Capital and Effective School Management: Evidence from the Gambia (April 13, 2015). World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 7238, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2594083

Moussa Pouguinimpo Blimpo (Contact Author)

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Moussa Blimpo

University of Toronto - Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy ( email )

Toronto, Ontario
Canada

HOME PAGE: http://https://sites.google.com/site/mpblimpo/

David Evans

World Bank ( email )

1818 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20433
United States

Nathalie Lahire

World Bank Group ( email )

1818 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20433
United States

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