New Evidence on Learning Trajectories in a Low-Income Setting
Using a unique longitudinal data set collected from primary school students in Pakistan, this paper documents four new facts about learning in low-income countries. First, children’s test scores increase by 1.19 standard deviation between Grades 3...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2021
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/742091616678503240/New-Evidence-on-Learning-Trajectories-in-a-Low-Income-Setting http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35350 |
| Summary: | Using a unique longitudinal data set
collected from primary school students in Pakistan, this
paper documents four new facts about learning in low-income
countries. First, children’s test scores increase by 1.19
standard deviation between Grades 3 and 6. Second, going to
school is associated with greater learning. Children who
drop out have the same test score gains prior to dropping
out as those who do not but experience no improvements after
dropping out. Third, there is significant variation in test
score gains across students, but test scores converge over
the primary schooling years. Students with initially low
test scores gain more than those with initially high scores,
even after accounting for mean reversion. Fourth,
conditional on past test scores, household characteristics
explain little of the variation in learning. To reconcile
the findings with the literature, the paper introduces the
concept of “fragile learning,” where progression may be
followed by stagnation or reversals. The implications of
these results are discussed in the context of several
ongoing debates in the literature on education in low- and
middle-income countries. |
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