Both the Will and the Way

In Pakistan, primary school enrollment grew from 56% in 2002 to 72% in 2013 (UNESCO). However, quality remains poor as only one-third of third-graders are able to do single digit division and less than one-fifth are able to understand a simple paragraph in Urdu (Andrabi et al, 2007). This project seeks to address education outcomes by improving teacher quality. To do so, we partner with a private school network currently serving 250,000 students in several hundred schools across Pakistan. The goal is to rigorously test which evaluation and feedback system has the most impact on students through introducing a teacher evaluation system using both student performance and observations. Treatments will then include two dimensions: incentives, in the form of additional compensation for high-performing teachers, and skills provision, involving several weekends of training for teachers in the bottom tertile of their school. Results forthcoming.