Accountability in Schools

Question 1

Author of the paper?

Answer 1

Mbiti (2016).

Question 2

Consequences of low levels of accountability:

Answer 2

High rates of teacher absenteeism.
Leakages in financial transfers to schools.
Ineffective school monitoring systems.
Poor parental engagement.

Question 3

Relative to developed countries, per pupil spending in developing countries is heavily skewed towards…

Answer 3

…tertiary education, which only a select few can access.

Question 4

Does increasing school inputs improve learning outcomes?

Answer 4

Rarely.

Question 5

TANZANIAN primary schools

Answer 5

School grants that doubled per pupil spending were ineffective in increasing learning outcomes, unless the grants were coupled with teacher incentives.

Question 6

Extreme leakage in UGANDA

Answer 6

Mid 1990s: only 22%of allocated funds reached schools after local politicians diverted the funds to their election campaigns.

Question 7

Class sizes in KENYA

Answer 7

Lowering class sizes by adding more centrally hired civil service teachers did not improve student learning outcomes - existing teachers simply reduced their effort in response to the new hires.

Question 8

Increases in teacher pay

Answer 8

Likely just a transfer to teachers which doesn’t affect teacher effort because of the lack of accountability and unlikelihood of teacher dismissal.
BUT in long run it could attract better teachers.

Question 9

Absenteeism costs INDIAN taxpayers how much?

Answer 9

US$1.5 billion per year.

Question 10

Bonus payments in RURAL INDIAN schools

Answer 10

Improvements in student outcomes when teachers were awarded bonus payments based on the improvement of their students’ test scores.

Question 11

Why are teacher incentive schemes often insufficient on their own in increasing student outcomes?

Answer 11

Teachers incentives may be complementary to other classroom inputs. Teacher subject knowledge is positively correlated with student learning outcomes.

Question 12

Headteachers don’t value learning outcomes…

Answer 12

Only 11% of principles believe that learning outcomes are the most important indicator of a good school.

Question 13

Confusion about funding policies…

Answer 13

60% of principles in TANZANIA did not know how much they were eligible to receive from the government.

Question 14

Schools have limited discretion on spending…

Answer 14

95% of KENYAN schools are given specific instructions on what materials to purchase from govt officials.

Question 15

Proportion of TANZANIAN parents who knew what their child had scored on their last test?

Answer 15

20%.

Question 16

Providing information to parents in the form of report cards to improve student learning…

Answer 16

Didn’t work in INDIA… maybe because parents have limited ways to affect the education system. BUT report cards did work in INDIA when they were coupled with training programs on how to conduct summer reading camps.

Question 17

Private schools

Answer 17

Arguably more accountable because of their reliance on fees.

Question 18

Reason for high rate of private enrolment among the poor?

Answer 18

The lack of govt school options in urban slums and other disadvantaged areas.

Question 19

INDIA & PAKISTAN private school efficiency

Answer 19

Operating costs of private schools in these countries are as little as 1/4 that of govt schools - cost savings mainly come from differences in teacher hiring and pay.

Question 20

Private school outcomes are AT LEAST as good as those in public schools

Answer 20

They operate with far fewer resources and deliver as good results meaning they are much more productive.

Question 21

Why encourage the expansion of private schools?

Answer 21

School choice is only feasible if there a sufficient number of schools.
Better results.

Question 22

PAKISTAN private schools

Answer 22

Govt funded low-cost private schools which increased enrolment and led to dramatic increase in test scores.

Question 23

Number of low-cost schools receiving grants matters…

Answer 23

If very few schools receive a grant, then that school is more likely to invest in expanding access, not quality. BUT, when all schools in the market are provided finances, schools are more likely to compete on quality.