Randomized evaluations of educational programs in developing countries: Some lessons

Abstract

Randomized evaluations of educational programs in developing countries can provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of different interventions. This study reviews recent randomized evaluations of educational programs in developing countries, focusing on increasing school participation, providing educational inputs, and reforming education. The findings suggest that school participation can be substantially increased by inexpensive health programs, reducing the cost of school to households, or providing meals. However, simply providing more resources may have a limited impact on school quality in the context of existing education systems characterized by misallocation of budgets and weak teacher incentives. Decentralizing budgets to school committees or providing incentives based on test scores had little impact in Kenya, but a school-choice program in Colombia yielded significant benefits for participants. Randomized evaluations are feasible and can provide credible evidence for informing education policy and improving the practice and political economy of randomized evaluations. – AI-generated abstract.