DETERMINANTS OF EDUCATION OUTCOMES IN SELECTED DEVELOPED AND DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

• Sponsoring Institution: State Agricultural Experiment Station
• Project Status: COMPLETE
• Funding Source: STATE
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 1020188
• Project Start Date: Jul 1, 2019
• Project End Date: Jun 30, 2024
• Program Code: [(N/A)]- (N/A)

Recipient Organization
UNIV OF MINNESOTA
(N/A)
ST PAUL,MN 55108

Performing Department
Applied Economics

Non Technical Summary
At the United Nations on September 25, 2015, 193 countries agreed to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals for developing countries, with a target year of 2030 for achieving all 17 goals (United Nations, 2016). The research project proposed here is most directly relevant to the fourth goal: Quality Education. It is also relevant to at least three other goals, including the first (No Poverty), the fifth (Gender Equality) and the eighth (Decent Work and Economic Growth). Despite the importance of education in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in developing countries, much remains to be learned about the determinants of education outcomes, particularly the likely impact of different government policies. For example, much remains unknown about the impact of different education policies on student learning (Glewwe and Muralidharan, 2016), and given that developing countries spend about $1 trillion each year on education there are almost certainly inefficiencies that waste billions of dollars each year. In the past 30 years, and especially the last 15 years, much has been learned through rigorous research on the determinants of education outcomes in developing countries, but even more remains to be learned. Continued research on these topics can provide information that will help governments in developing countries reduce these inefficiencies by informing them of the relative effectiveness (and relative cost-effectiveness) of different education policies. Certainly, the need for better policies is great; for example, in many developing countries (e.g. Indonesia, Jordan, Morocco and South Africa) about half or more of the Grade 8 students who participated in the 2015 TIMSS international assessment of mathematics and science skills scored in the lowest category for mathematics achievement, compared to 10% or less of Grade 8 students in developed countries (Mullis et al., 2016). Finally, there are also problems with education in the United States and other developing countries. Perhaps the most worrisome problems are the gaps in educational performance by race, ethnic group and wealth. These issues are discussed in the various chapters of Hanushek, Machin and Woessmann (2016).

Animal Health Component

100%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

(N/A)

Applied

100%

Developmental

(N/A)

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
606	6120	3010	100%

Knowledge Area
606 - International Trade and Development;

Subject Of Investigation
6120 - International economy and sectors thereof;

Field Of Science
3010 - Economics;

Keywords

education

years of schooling

student learning

developing countries

developed countries

Goals / Objectives
This project has two major goals:Investigate the determinants of educational outcomes (enrollment, grade attainment, learning of cognitive skills and acquisition of non-cognitive skills) in selected developing countries, with particular emphasis on the impact of different government education policies (such as teacher training programs, new curriculum and pedagogy, teacher pedagogical skills, and provision of eyeglasses), and how these impacts may differ in urban and rural areas.Investigate the impact of educational policies on the educational outcomes of low-income children in the United States.

Project Methods
Research on education in developing countries depends heavily on the data available. In particular, econometric and statistical estimates of the determinants of those outcomes often suffer from omitted variable bias because they are based on data sets that contain only some of the variables needed for analysis. Fortunately, the investigator for this research project has been involved in the collection of very detailed data on education in two developing countries (Peru and Vietnam) that overcome most of the deficiencies in other data sets from developing countries. The investigator is also conducting new research in India and Nepal that involves the implementation of several randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in those countries.India. I am collaborating with a former Ph.D. student, a current Ph.D. student, and a graduate student at Harvard's Graduate School of Education to conduct an RCT evaluation of a new mathematics curriculum for primary school students in the state of Karnataka, India. This is being funded by an organization in India and implemented by the JPAL (MIT's Poverty Action Lab) in India. The data will be available for analysis in 2020.Nepal. Along with a former Ph.D. student, as well as a faculty member at Tufts University, the investigator recently received a small grant to evaluate an in-service teacher training program for math and science secondary school teachers in Nepal. The funding has been obtained from the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3IE). This research will take place over a period of two years, and possible longer if more funds are obtained. The analysis will start in the summer of 2019, based on data collected from late 2017 to early 2019.Peru. The investigator was recently invited by Peru's Ministry of Education to participate in a series of evaluations of education policies in that country. Thus far he is involved in only one evaluation, an RCT that evaluates the impact of providing coaches to teachers in multi-grade schools in remote rural areas. The long range plan is to be involved in several evaluations, as well as one or more conferences in Peru to present the results to the Ministry of Education and other interested groups.Vietnam. The investigator, and a team of other researchers (including a faculty member in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota), recently succeeded in winning a very large grant (about $5.8 million) from the Research to Improve Systems of Education (RISE) initiative, which is funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID). The purpose of this research, which will take place over a period of six years, is twofold: 1. Use existing data from Vietnam to understand why its educational performance is so much higher than that of almost all other developing countries; and 2. Evaluate two new programs that are being, or will soon be, implemented in Vietnam. A very large new data collection effort was started in 2017, and will continue until 2021. Data analysis for the new data will start in late 2019.United States. The investigator, along with one current Ph.D. student, is involved in a new evaluation of programs to help disadvantaged children in Minneapolis, and possibly St. Paul, which is funded by the University of Minnesota's "Grand Challenges" program. Data analysis will begin in mid to late 2019. More specifically, the investigator will conduct an impact evaluation of the Northside Achievement Zone (NAZ) in North Minneapolis, and will also investigate the impact of the "Choice Is Yours" program that allowed low income students in Minneapolis public schools to enroll in public schools in suburban districts to the west of Minneapolis. Other programs may also be evaluated if adequate data to do so can be obtained.Research on education in developing countries depends heavily on the data available. In particular, econometric and statistical estimates of the determinants of those outcomes often suffer from omitted variable bias because they are based on data sets that contain only some of the variables needed for analysis. Fortunately, the investigator for this research project has been involved in the collection of very detailed data on education in two developing countries (Peru and Vietnam) that overcome most of the deficiencies in other data sets from developing countries. The investigator is also conducting new research in India and Nepal, and possibly in Indonesia, that involves the implementation of several randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in those countries.

Progress 10/01/21 to 09/30/22

Outputs
Target Audience:I have presented the results of this research to the following audiences between October 1, 2021 and September 30, 2022: 1. October 28, 2021. I gave a (virtual) presentation for the Vietnam Institute of Education Sciences (part of Vietnam'sMinistry of Education and Training) conference on "Measurement and Assessment in Education for Sustainable Development". I presented a summary of my education research, including research on education in Vietnam, with some recommendation for future research. The conferenceparticipants were mostly higher level staff in Vietnam'sMinistry of Education and Training, plus some representatives from international aid organizations and local academics and researchers. 2. November 2, 2021. I gave a short virtual presentation summarizing two papers on education in Vietnam (one that uses the 2012 and 2015 PISA dataand another that uses the Young Lives data) for the "Education Forum" organized by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The main conference participants were officials from Austrialia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). 3. December 2, 2021. I gave (virtually) the "keynote lecture" for the 2021 Philippine Education Conference, which is organized by the Private Education Assistance Committee (PEAC) of the Philippines. The conference participants were officials of the Department of Education in the Philippines, as well as school principals and school teachers. 4. June 20, 2022. I presented an overview of my Vietnam education research at the RISE (Research to Improve Systems of Education) meetings at Oxford University. The meeting participants were mostly researchers from univerisities in the U.S. and Europe. 5. August 9, 2022. I presented a research paper on education in Nepal in South Korea at Seoul National University, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development. The seminar participants were faculty and graduate students at Seoul National University. 6. August 11, 2022. I presented a new paper on education inVietnam (Value Added/Black Box paper) at another conference organized by the Vietnam Institute for Education Science(VNIES) in Hanoi, Vietnam.The conferenceparticipants were mostly higher level staff in Vietnam's Ministry of Education and Training, plus some representatives from international aid organizations and local academics and researchers. 7. August 12, 2022. I presented a paper on the impact ofCovid-19 on education in Vietnam, at the same VNIES conference.The conferenceparticipants were mostly higher level staff in Vietnam's Ministry of Education and Training, plus some representatives from international aid organizations and local academics and researchers. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?My book on impact evalutation methods was published by the World Bank. I will use this book to train others in these methods, both in developing countries and in classes that I teach. Here is the citation for the book: Glewwe, Paul, andPetra Todd, with contributions from Qihui Chen, Joan DeJaeghere, Sarah Humpage and Maurya West-Meyers. Impact Evaluation in Developing Countries: Theory, Methods and Practice. The World Bank, Washington D.C., 2022. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results are primarily disseminated via publications and conference presentations, which are explained above. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?I will continue to work on the papers for the first goal, after receiving referee reports. I will also submit new papers for publication oneducation in Vietnam and Nepal. I have also secured funding for a study of the impact of eyeglasses on student learning in Sierra Leone. For the second goal I will continueworking on the data from theHopkins school districtand I will renew efforts to obtain data from the Rochester school district.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? For the first goal, twopapers wereaccepted and published in journals in 2022. In addition, I have submitted three other papers for publication, and I have received "revise and resubmits" for all three papers. One has already been revised and resubmitted. For the second goal, with other researchers I am starting to analyze data on racial disparities and education outcomesfor the Hopkins School District. Similar research is planned using data fromthe Rochester School District, but we have still not received data from that district.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Glewwe, Paul, Yang Song and Xianqiang Zou. 2022. Labor Market Outcomes, Cognitive Skills, and Noncognitive Skills in Rural China Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization (January, 2022) 193:294-311.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Aturupane, Harsha, Paul Glewwe, Mari Shojo, Tomoko Utsumi, and Suzanne Wisniewski. 2022 The Impact of Sri Lankas School-Based Management Program on Teachers Pedagogical Practices and Student Learning: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of Development Effectiveness 14(4):285-305.

Progress 10/01/20 to 09/30/21

Outputs
Target Audience:I have presented the results of this research to the following audiences between October 1, 2019 and September 30, 2020: 1. April 9, 2021. Seminar participants (virtual seminar)at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. The participants were primarily faculty and graduate students in the Department of Economics. 2. May 1, 2021. Conference participants (virtual presentation)at Midewest International Economic Development Conference, held (virtually) at Northwestern University. Participants were primarily economics professors and graduate students. 3. May 12, 2021. Conference participants (virtual conference) at the"Covid-19 and Longitudinal Research: Opportunities and Challenges" conferenceorganized by the Young Lives program at Oxford University. 4. July 9, 2021. Participants in a (virtual) "Side Event" that took place during the "High-Level Political Forum" of the UN (the side event was called "Opportunities and challenges of Public Policies for the Life Cycle: The case of the Social Protection System in Paraguay"). About 130 people participated, most of whom were government officials from Paraguay. 5. July 12-26, 2021. Taught (virtually) an Impact Evaluation course for 10 days for staff at Vietnam'sMinistry of Education. Participants also included university professors and students in Vietnam. 6. August 6, 2021. Seminar participants at the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development at Seoul National University. Theparticipants were primarily departmental faculty and graduate students. 7. September 24, 2021. Seminar participants in my department's Trade and Development Seminar. Participants were primarily departmental faculty and graduate students. Changes/Problems:No major changes or problems. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results are primarily disseminated via publications and conference presentations, which are explained above. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?I will continue to work on the papers for the first goal, after receiving referee reports. I will also submit 3 new paper, all on education in Vietnam. For the second goal I will work on getting "buy-in" from school district officials in Hopkins and Rochester.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? For the first goal, one paper was accepted and published in a journalin 2021, and one book chapter was accepted but will not be published until 2022. In addition, I have submitted five other papers for publication, but I have not yet heard if they are accepted. For the second goal, the data to evaluate the North Side Acheivement Zone (NAZ) was deemed inadequate to do an evaluation, but I am starting to work with others on an evaluation of the "Choice is Yours" program, and with others I am discussing possible research on factors that affect student learning for the Hopkins School District and the Rochester School District.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Ross, Phillip, Paul Glewwe, Daniel Prudencio and Bruce Wydick. 2021. Developing Educational and Vocational Aspirations through International Child Sponsorship: Evidence from Kenya, Indonesia, and Mexico World Development 140 (April 2021) 105336.
• Type: Book Chapters Status: Accepted Year Published: 2021 Citation: Glewwe, Paul, Celestine Siameh, Bixuan Sun and Suzanne Wisniewski. Forthcoming. School Resources and Educational Outcomes in Developing Countries, in B. McCall, ed., The Routledge Handbook of the Economics of Education. Routledge.

Progress 10/01/19 to 09/30/20

Outputs
Target Audience:I have presented the results of this research to the following audiences between October 1, 2019 and September 30, 2020: January3-4, 2020. Conference participants at the ASSA (Allied Social Science Associations)annual meetings. These participants were primarily academic economists. January29, 2020. Seminar participants at the Stanford UniversityRural Education Action Program office. These participants were primarily graduate students, post-doctoral researchers and faculty. February7, 2020. Paris School of Economics "Informal Development Seminar". The participants were primarily economics faculty and graduate students. April 21, 2020. Université Catholique Louvain (Belgium). This was a virtual presentation. The participants were primarily economics faculty and graduate students. May 5, 2020. University of Bologna (Italy). This was a virtual presentation. The participants were primarily economics faculty and graduate students. September,17, 2020. Department of Economics, Panthéon-Sorbonne University (Paris). This was a virtual presentation. The participants were primarily economics faculty and graduate students. Changes/Problems:The main problem is that the data on disadvantaged children in Minnesota turned out to be incomplete. We are trying to find other data sources that may allow us to move forward with this project. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?As mentioned above, I co-taught a 4-day course on impact evaluation methods in Kathmandu, Nepal, Jan. 7-10, 2020. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?As explained above, I have presented the results at academic conferences and university seminars. The results for the Nepal education study were presented in Nepal on January 7, 2020, as part of the training course on impact evaluation in that country. The participants in that course were primarily government officials from the Ministry of Education and the National Planning Commission. A similar presentation of research results was planned for August of 2020 in Vietnam, but this has been postponed until January of 2021. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?1. Submit for publications papers on education in India, Nepal, Peru, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. 2. Finish a book chapter on education in developing countries (edited by Brian McCall at University of Michigan). 3. Finish data collection in Vietnam in April of 2021. 4. Hopefully obtain funding for a new project evaluating the impact on learning of providing eyeglasses to primary and secondary school students in Sierra Leone. 5. The study on disadvantaged children in Minnesota has been delayedbecause of the low quality of the data we obtained.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? I was able to get several draft papers ready for publication, threeof which were submitted for publication. One paper (on investigating the reasons for Vietnam's success in the PISA international education asessments) was rejected, another paper (one developing children's educational and vocational aspirations in Indonesia, Kenya and Mexico) was just accepted for publication in World Development, and a third (that evaluates a school-based management program in Sri Lanka) recently received a "revise and resubmit decision). Other papers, on education in India, Nepal, Peru and Vietnam, are almost finished and will be submitted for publication in early 2021. In addition to preparing papers, I co-taughta 4-day course on impact evaluation methods in Kathmandu, Nepal, on Jan. 7-10, 2020.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Glewwe, Paul. 2020. The Role of Theory and Randomized Trials for Education Policy in Developing Countries. World Development 127 (March).
• Type: Book Chapters Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Glewwe, Paul, Rongjia Shen, Bixuan Sun and Suzanne Wisniewski. 2020. Teachers in Developing Countries, in S. Bradley and C. Green, eds., The Economics of Education: A Comprehensive Overview, 2nd edition. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
• Type: Book Chapters Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Glewwe, Paul, Sylvie Lambert and Qihui Chen. 2020. Education Production Functions: Updated Evidence from Developing Countries, in S. Bradley and C. Green, eds., The Economics of Education: A Comprehensive Overview, 2nd edition. Amsterdam: Elsevier.

Progress 07/01/19 to 09/30/19

Outputs
Target Audience:I have presented results from this research project to the following audiences between July 1,2019,and September 30, 2019: 1. Participants in the Research to Improve Systems of Education (RISE) Vietnam Team's Advisory Board Meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam, on August 15, 2019. Most participants were from Vietnam's Miniistry of Education and Training, although there were also several members of international aid agencies such as the World Bank. 2. Member's of Nepal's Ministry of Education and National Planning Commission, at a workshop on my Nepal education research, on August 9, 2019. Changes/Problems:No changes or problems, since this project is only 3 months old. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results of my research have been presented to Vietnam's Ministry of Education and Training and to Nepal's Ministry of Education and National Planning Commission. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?1. I will finish the Nepal research by sending the final report to the funding agency (International Initiative for Impact Evaluation - 3ie) and submitting one or more papers based on the report to academic journals. 2. I will continue working on the Vietnam research by collecting another round of data in April of 2020 and continuing to work on several papers based on that data and other data. 3. I will have new data from India from an impact evaluation of a mathematics pedagogy program and will write a first draft of an impact evaluation of that program 4. I will submit a paper using data from Peru, that is being used to evaluate another teacher training program, to an academic journal. 5. I will get started on research to evaluate programs that are designed to help disadvantaged children in Minnesota.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? This period covers only three months, so there are fewer accomplishments then usual. The main accomplishment was to get my book on impact evaluation to be accepted and prepared for publication by the World Bank. It will be published in the first few months of 2020. Other accomplishments were presenting draft research paper results to high level officials at Vietnam's Ministry of Education and Training. and presenting the final results ot the Nepal education evaluation (of a nationwide teacher training program in Nepal) to Nepal's Ministry of Education and National Planning Commission.

Publications

• Type: Books Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2020 Citation: Glewwe, Paul, and Petra Todd. 2020 "Impact Evaluation in Developing Countries: Theory, Methods and Practice. The World Bank, Washington DC.