Remedying Education: Evidence from Two Randomized Experiments in India

63 Pages Posted: 20 Apr 2006

See all articles by Abhijit V. Banerjee

Abhijit V. Banerjee

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Department of Economics

Esther Duflo

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Department of Economics; Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL); National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development (BREAD)

Shawn Allen Cole

Harvard Business School

Leigh L. Linden

The University of Texas at Austin; National Bureau of Economic Research; Jameel Poverty Action Lab; Innovations for Poverty Action; Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA); Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development (BREAD)

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Date Written: January 2006

Abstract

Many efforts to improve school quality by adding school resources have proven to be ineffective. This paper presents the results of two experiments conducted in Mumbai and Vadodara, India, designed to evaluate ways to improve the quality of education in urban slums. A remedial education program hired young women from the community to teach basic literacy and numeracy skills to children lagging behind in government schools. We find the program to be very effective: it increased average test scores of all children in treatment schools by 0.14 standard deviations in the first year, and 0.28 in the second year, relative to comparison schools. A computer-assisted learning program provided each child in the fourth grade with two hours of shared computer time per week, in which students played educational games that reinforced mathematics skills. The program was also very effective, increasing math scores by 0.35 standard deviations the first year, and 0.47 the second year. These results were not limited to the period in which students received assistance, but persisted for at least one year after leaving the program. Two instrumental variable strategies suggest that while remedial education benefited the children who attended the remedial classes, their classmates, who did not attend the remedial courses but did experience smaller classes, did not post gains, confirming that resources alone may not be sufficient to improve outcomes.

Keywords: Computer aided education, India, program evaluation, remedial education

JEL Classification: I21, O11

Suggested Citation

Banerjee, Abhijit V. and Duflo, Esther and Cole, Shawn Allen and Linden, Leigh L., Remedying Education: Evidence from Two Randomized Experiments in India (January 2006). CEPR Discussion Paper No. 5446, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=897926

Abhijit V. Banerjee

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Department of Economics ( email )

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Esther Duflo (Contact Author)

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Department of Economics ( email )

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Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) ( email )

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National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

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Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

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Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development (BREAD) ( email )

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Shawn Allen Cole

Harvard Business School ( email )

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Leigh L. Linden

The University of Texas at Austin ( email )

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Jameel Poverty Action Lab ( email )

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Innovations for Poverty Action ( email )

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