Thread by @IndiaSpend

A comprehensive school management programme implemented in Madhya Pradesh government schools did not improve their functioning or students’ learning, says a working paper on the impacts of the programme. More in this thread:

The study, co-authored by @karthik_econ of @UCSanDiego & @singhabhi from @handels_sse, analysed the impact of a school management prog developed by the MP govt in collaboration with education services provider Ark across 1,774 randomly selected elementary schools

Although this flagship education reform showed no change in student learning or teacher absenteeism, it has been expanded to 600,000 schools nationally and is expected to cover 1.6 million schools eventually, the study says

In India, poor school management and governance along with frequent teacher absences could contribute to low learning outcomes & this programme tried addressing these issues, the study says

Learning outcomes are poor across India. In rural Bhopal, the district with MP’s capital, 54.9% of Grade I school students could not even read letters, found the 2020 Annual Survey of Education report: indiaspend.com/education/why-…

The MP programme included comprehensive assessments, detailed school ratings & customised school improvement plans--considered global “best practices”, the authors say. But it did not make schools or teachers accountable nor did it include incentives for better performance

The programme was designed to only facilitate schools to conduct school assessments and create school improvement plans. These plans and assessments did not change anything on the ground, the authors say

The authors also find no evidence of improved pedagogy, use of textbooks, workbooks or an increased likelihood of teachers checking students homework

The programme did not improve teacher or student attendance as schools that implemented the programme did no better than schools that did not

Here is a link to the complete study: econweb.ucsd.edu/~kamurali/pape…