"An Educational Decoupling….Advancing Problems"

"An Educational Decoupling….Advancing Problems"

Geographic Disparities

According to Herman Kruijer and Education International, in a survey of educational progress in Sub Saharan Africa (2010), although there has been progress with the EFA Goals and the MDG Goals, the biggest challenge lies with inequality in educational attainment within nations. 

"Disparities within the countries based on wealth, gender, race, language or ethnic group hinders progress towards (Universal Primary Education. In Burkina Faso, Chad, Ethiopia, Mali and Niger, children from the richest 20% are from three to about four times more likely to attend school than children from the poorest quintile."  (19) 

Thus, we see an educational decoupling that mirrors the socio-economic decoupling of these nations. What is not explained in the report is where, geographically, these richest 20% of children are located. More than likely, in my humble estimation, they are in the national capital, commercial capital, or at the very least regional capitals of these nations. Subsequently, we witness the "dual-track" development of the poorest nations; tiny geographic slices of these countries witnessing a boom, advancements in living conditions, access to material wealth and goods, while the vast majority of citizens outside of the major economic and political hubs are living lives of complete material stagnation, regardless of the economic policies dreamed up in the bubble capital zones. 

The general growth in educational enrollment has also resulted in large class sizes becoming the norm in most areas of these nations, urban and rural. Inclusivity has brought with it increased downward pressures on educational quality, already severely deficient beforehand. 

An Issue of Quality

“What does it say about the quality of your product that you can’t even give it away for free?"
- Karthik Muralidharan, University of California, San Diego, on the woeful state of India's public education system, and the subsequent proliferation of low-cost private schools in the nation

A fascinating investigation into the proliferation of low-cost private schools, brought about by an insufficient public system in the nation of India was published in The New York Times on December 30th, 2011. These low-cost schools have tuition rates of about $1-2/month, and are able to compete with the public system on one key factor: their teachers actually attend class. I have reported repeatedly on the epidemic of teacher absence that plagues the developing world; and when teachers, are, in fact present, there is often very little teaching occurring due to the lack of properly implemented incentive structures and oversight. Aspirations of millions of Indians, witnessing the transformation of their country's economy, lies with education, which has shown a magnifying glass on the deficiencies of the state-run system. In fact, when you "cant give it away for free," there is a serious need for reform; however, these issues that plague India are issues that plague most of the world; they are certainly not unique in this situation. What is unique, however, is the dynamic response of the private sector in meeting this need. But there are deeper lessons that need to be learned; the fact that in most cases around the world, a $1-2 monthly tuition is out of the reach of many; and that a state needs to develop efficiencies in its public provisions if it is truly going to build a healthy society; simple privatization of services is not the answer either at forming social cohesion, societal equality, or in promoting a larger sense faith in the state and an idea of nationhood.

MIT-The Incentivation of Student Test Scores in Kenya

The push for standardized testing around the world as one of the key metrics evaluating student progress, and thus, teacher effectiveness has been in full swing for some time now. In the NYC public schools where I taught for two years, as well as the Pohnpei State School system where I taught in the Peace Corps for two years, teachers were constantly faced with state and national testing for students to determine a wide range of "competencies," with testing becoming so proliferate in NYC that it seemed every other week we had at least one day dedicated to evaluation programs, significantly eroding actual, valuable class time. Although as a teacher I strive to measure progress through alternative means, such as portfolio/project and group/peer assessments, the standardized test always looms large on the periphery. While there are often perils in using standardized testing as a means of incentivising teacher motivations (the largest being that teachers will "teach to the test" and relegate actual learning to the back burner), in some instances, there are few alternatives, and providing incentives for improvements in testing can be a viable way of increasing teacher effectiveness. Thus, the folks at MIT have been looking at, and conducting randomized trials in this focal area in Western Kenya (actually in the same areas where their other work as been held in dealing with increasing teacher effectiveness through community teachers, which raises a bit of a red flag in my mind).
In Kenya, as in most of the developing world, the teacher absenteeism rate is alarmingly high (over 20%) and although universal primary education has been implemented, the largest hurdle faced is the actual quality of the education that is being offered. In most instances, it is alarmingly poor, and is often a net loss for many students who trade off helping their families with agriculture or in the household for a completely inadequate education. The biggest issue in Kenya is, as stated, "Teachers’ salaries depend on their education and experience, with no opportunity for performance-based promotion, which appears to result in a system with no incentives to teach well." 
Merit pay was offered to teachers in the test groups for improvements in their schools as a whole for the national testings. The program ran for two years, and penalized teachers for student dropouts, which is a serious issue in the region, as well.

The result was less than encouraging. Test scores did improve, but not through the means that one would have hoped (such as increased teacher attendance or decreased student dropout rates, the real core issues that were being addressed in the study). What occurred is that schools offered test-prep classes outside of the normal school day to improve the testing scores; additionally, there was no spillover when the project was ended, and thus, the sustainability factor was negligible. 

Thus, there are many issues to analyze with this trial in Kenya and the greater implications of what can be done to improve teacher absentee rates and student performance minus the critical elements of strong supervision, parental involvement, and social drive for educational advancement. Without actual, tangible societal shifts and community focused shifts, any approach will be non-sustainable. Without the larger scope of societal progress being a critical input into the process, incentives will be hollowed out and meaningless for the intended beneficiaries, ie: the students. And so, we are faced with the hard questions yet again. What is to be done? The shift needs to occur at the personnel level of the school bureaucracies; without strong incentives to work, people will not work, it is simple, whether these be intrinsic/societal/cultural or extrinsic/pay factors. Either will do; both are especially advantageous. But the lack of either is crippling, and non-permanent, non-indigenous approaches, as seen in this test case, will only offer temporary solutions, at best, and encourage deviance, at worst.

The full report can be seen here, courtesy of the MIT Poverty Action Lab Website:

http://www.povertyactionlab.org/evaluation/teacher-incentives-based-students-test-scores-kenya

Teacher Attendance: What Works Most?

 "One can build schools and clinics and stock them with books, drugs, and equipment, but if the teachers, nurses, and other providers are chronically absent, these investments will be wasted."

In looking at the core issues facing educational development and the reformation/enhancement of educational systems in the developing world, the key issues of teacher quality and teacher attendance are the most critical variables in this complex puzzle. Teachers are the human elements that have the most direct impact on the educational process and the ability to make or break an educational system, bar none. One bad student and a good teacher, no problem. Five bad students and a good teacher, no problem. Thirty great students and a bad teacher, problem. This is an issue that transcends national and demographic barriers; in the richest nations, bestowed with the most efficient educational systems, the heaviest weight and concern goes into ensuring teacher training and quality. Thus, how can quality be ensured in nations where training often doesnt exceed 6 months, and teachers are thrown into foreign communities with little support and little incentive? I have seen these trends over and over again, from the US, where I taught in the inner city of New York for two years, to Africa and Asia, where I have conduced numerous school visitations and evaluations for this project. In addressing teacher quality as the key aspect of educational reform, teacher attendance is a core, vital pillar. When visiting Mozambique this summer, I was told repeatedly by both teachers, community members, and NGO personell in the field that teachers could be, and thus often were, absent for extended periods of time with no penalization and oversight. In one case, the school principal was absent for the better part of a year, leaving the school to wither in her absence, as any hierarchical organization would most likely do, especially in a lax cultural environment. The Poverty Action Lab at MIT has been looking into the issue of teacher attendance, and have come up with some very interesting results after their randomized trials have been conducted and assessed. I am going to be digging into the results of this overall study, first looking at the most effective cost-ratio solutions to teacher attendance and quality http://www.povertyactionlab.org/policy-lessons/education/teacher-attendance                                    MIT Poverty Action Lab Site:

Innovations for Poverty Action conducted a successful trial in which supplementary community-based teachers, who make much less than full-sector teachers, were brought into the schools, to be monitored by the local community-boards. The results were positive; these contract teachers had the initial impact of lowering class sizes, which is a huge problem in developing-world nations with large scale literacy and primary education drives, which are often pushed by multi-lateral organizations (and is another subject for discussion in itself...) as well as improving overall test scores.The biggest gains are seen when the local school committees are empowered to monitor the supplementary teachers

The issue of supplementary teachers, as used in this study, brings up some red flags. The first is that the approach seems to be a band-aid; it is not dealing with the actual problem of teacher quality and teacher training, it is, rather, providing an additional fix without curing the root problem. While not negative in itself, if the educational process can be improved in such nations as Kenya where there has been free-universal primary education drives, the fix needs to come from the national level, which needs to be more focused on producing quality teacher training academies and a culture of competition and incentivization. This could be seen as a great model moving forward, a model to be built upon, and works to address two of the most critical areas, in terms of class size and teacher motivation/quality.

In the area of incentives for increasing the educational effectiveness, the randomized trials that were seen in the most positive light by the folks at MIT came in a merit-based girls scholarship program in Kenya: http://www.povertyactionlab.org/evaluation/incentives-learn-merit-based-girls-scholarship-program-kenya               Kenya Girls Scholarship Trials:
The researchers in this case looked at student motivations and progress in the classrooms of Western Kenya. In these trials, the researchers were looking to address the key issues of high primary school dropout rates (a result of the push for universal primary education and the lack of local resources to actually implement this) and scholarships to cover the small primary school fees that students must pay to cover educational and classroom expenses, which is often a cause of the high dropout rate as well. The scholarships were merit-based, and given to sixth-grade girls who scored in the top 15% of national tests. The results were skewed, and show the importance of local customs and norms in the implementation of any aid project.  In one community where there was a large pool of disadvantaged students and high public skepticism, the program did not show any effectiveness; however, in another community where there was higher rates of receptivity from the onset, the program was shown to both improve teacher effectiveness and attendance, as well as increasing test scores and parental involvement. 
What is the takeaway from this set of trials? Community involvement, that old cliche of aid and development, is absolutely essential to effectiveness of any community/school project. However, how to gain this involvement is the great puzzle; motivation must be seen in the structure of the local community, elders and chiefs must be on-board and motivated, and the leadership as a whole must have ownership, as I have seen and stated time and time again. Funding and supervision can easily come from the outside, but if there is no buy-in to the programs, there will be no net impact, which can also further the risk of an increase in future failure rates.