What do private schools imply for educational provision? Insights from the LEAPS report Jishnu Das (CPR & World Bank) Tahir Andrabi (Pomona College) Asim

What do private schools imply for educational provision?

Insights from the LEAPS report

Jishnu Das (CPR & World Bank)Tahir Andrabi (Pomona College)

Asim Khwaja and Tristan Zajonc (Harvard U.)Tara Vishwanath (World Bank)

Here come private schools

Huge private sector growth starting from 1995 Currently 30 percent of all primary enrollment 3 Things about the private sector

Doubled (# schools) every 5 years from 1995 Highest current growth in rural areas Schools are cheap: A dime a day

Similar patterns in India HP (darling of the “you can have good

government schools” crowd) shows rapid private sector growth between 2000 and 2005

Question: What should policy look like in this new environment? Two issues discussed here

The grounds for regulation and certification Arguments for and against “money following

the child” (voucher schemes) (Not surprisingly, the two are related)

DATA: Pakistan LEAPS study. Multi-year study of 24,000 children over 4 years in 800 public and private schools with lots of data

LEAPS report uses only 1st year of data

Regulation and Certification

The arguments for regulation and certification “Parents cannot tell what schools are good

and what are bad: private schools are fleecing parents”

“A minimal quality standard is required since parents may not care about their children’s education”

“Private Schools earn excessive profits in a monopolistic environment”

NONE of these are true in the data

& what you need for vouchers

Parents are informed Parents care about what governments care

about The supply curve of private schools is

sufficiently elastic

#1 is probably not a problem, #2 and #3 are

Picture 1: Parents know how well their kids are doing

-.6

-.4

-.2

0.2

.4S

cale

d T

est S

core

Illiterate Literate

Poor Average Above Average Poor Average Above Average

By Literacy of Mother

Mother's Perception of Intelligence and Child's Test Score

English Urdu Math

-.6

-.4

-.2

0.2

.4S

cale

d T

est S

core

Illiterate Literate

Poor Average Above Average Poor Average Above Average

By Literacy of Mother

Mother's Perception of Intelligence and Child's Test Score

English Urdu Math

Picture 2: Parents know how good schools are

-.4

-.2

0.2

.4E

nglis

h S

cale

d T

est

Sco

re

Cannot Read Can Read

Mothers

Poor Average Above average


Fathers


By Literacy

Parental Assessment and Actual Performance of Schools in English

-.4

-.2

0.2

.4E

nglis

h S

cale

d T

est

Sco

re


Mothers



Fathers


By Literacy

Parental Assessment and Actual Performance of Schools in English

Picture 3: Private Schools are better

76 73

101

92

149143

05

01

00

15

0

Math Urdu English

Source: LEAPS Exam, 2004

School Type (Pakistan)

Unadjusted Gap Adjusted Gap

76 73

101

92

149143

05

01

00

15

0

Math Urdu English

Source: LEAPS Exam, 2004

School Type (Pakistan)

Unadjusted Gap Adjusted Gap

Picture 3: ….way better

010

020

030

040

0C

ost

in R

upee

s fo

r E

very

Per

cen

t C

orre

ct

Public Private

The Cost of Schooling

English MathUrdu

Picture 4: …the worst private schools are much better than the worst govt. schools

Public

Schools

Private

Schools

Hig

h

English Test Scores in Public and Private Schools

Best Schools (95th

Percentile)

Worst Schools 5th

Percentile)

Perfo

rman

ceLo

w

Average Score in Sample of 12000 children

Public

Schools

Private

Schools

Hig

h


Best Schools (95th

Percentile)

Worst Schools 5th

Percentile)

Perfo

rman

ceLo

w


Socio-Economic Status

LiteracyH

igh

English Test Scores for Children from Different Families

Top Wealth Decile/ Literate Parents

Bottom Wealth Decile/Illiterate Parents

Perfo

rman

ceLo

w



LiteracyH

igh




Perfo

rman

ceLo

w


When government schools fail, they fail completely

Public

Schools

Private

Schools

Hig

h


Best Schools (95th

Percentile)

Worst Schools 5th

Percentile)

Perfo

rman

ceLo

w


Public

Schools

Private

Schools

Hig

h


Best Schools (95th

Percentile)

Worst Schools 5th

Percentile)

Perfo

rman

ceLo

w



LiteracyH

igh




Perfo

rman

ceLo

w



LiteracyH

igh




Perfo

rman

ceLo

w


When government schools fail, they fail completely

Picture 5: Private schools are primarily located in competitive clusters

1

23

4

5

11

13 21

50.4

450

.445

50.4

550

.455

50.4

650

.465

GP

S L

ong

itude

Eas

t (D

ecim

al)

50.69 50.695 50.7 50.705 50.71 50.715

GPS Latitude North (Decimal)

One Village in Attock

g

g

1

23

4

5

8

6 7

50.4

450

.445

50.4

550

.455

50.4

650

.465

GP

S L

ong

itude

Eas

t (D

ecim

al)

50.69 50.695 50.7 50.705 50.71 50.715



g

g

1

23

4

5

11

13 21

50.4

450

.445

50.4

550

.455

50.4

650

.465

GP

S L

ong

itude

Eas

t (D

ecim

al)

50.69 50.695 50.7 50.705 50.71 50.715



g

g

1

23

4

5

8

6 7

50.4

450

.445

50.4

550

.455

50.4

650

.465

GP

S L

ong

itude

Eas

t (D

ecim

al)

50.69 50.695 50.7 50.705 50.71 50.715



g

g

So, profits are low. The median profit in a private school is the annual wage of a male teacher—this is the opportunity cost for the principal of the school

But: Competitive clustering also means that private schools can be far from the poor

-.5

0.5

1%

Priv

ate

and

Sch

ool W

ealth

Ind

ex

School Locations and Number of Nearby Schools

% Private Schools School Wealth Index

This matters: parents care about distance

.4.5

.6.7

.8.9

% E

nrol

led

05

1015

Per

cent

of

All

Sch

ools

0 .5 1 1.5Distance to Closest School

Frequency of Distance to School GirlsBoys

Distance and Enrollment

….and teacher supply is a huge issue.0

5.1

.15

.2P

rob

ab

ilit

y

0 5 10 15 20Exposure in Years

Girls Primary School Exposure Girls Secondary School Exposure

Boys Primary School Exposure Boys Secondary School Exposure

Figure II. Probabil i ty of Private School w/ Exposure to Governm ent Schools

Concluding thoughts

Find little evidence for regulating private schools

But are cautiously optimistic about vouchers… New schools will need to set up in poor areas Which may be an issue given teacher supply

constraints

A longer term plan

Vouchers, but transitioning (and perhaps permanent govt. schools)

By the way…

What should we do about those govt. schools?

Teachers, teachers, teachers

1231

1619

6178

52990

2,0

00

4,0

00

6,0

00

Sal

ary

in R

s.

Private Public

Unadjusted Adjusted Unadjusted Adjusted

Teacher Compensation


0.19

0.04

0.290.26

0.19

0.940

.2.4

.6.8

1P

ropo

rtion

of T

each

ers

Private Public

B.A. M.A. Any Training B.A. M.A. Any Training

Teacher Education and Training


.2.3

.4.5

Chi

ld E

ngl

ish

Tes

t Sco

res

.7 .75 .8 .85 .9 .95Teacher English Test Scores

Private Teachers Public Teachers

Private and Public SchoolsTeacher and Child Test Scores

The English Test score of a teacher with secondary education

The English Test score of a teacher with a bachelors


This is the gap in child test-scores between children with teachers who have a secondary-

education versus a bachelor’s degree

This is the gap in child test-scores between children in public and private schools, both with

teachers who have a secondary education

This is the average salary of a teacher in the public sector

This is the average salary of a teacher in the private sector

Additional Slides 1Table 1.1: What do Children Know in Mathematics

Subject The Question

Percentage who answered correctly

Corresponding Grade for

Curriculum

Mathematics 4 + 6 89 K & I Mathematics 36 + 61 86 K & I Mathematics 8 – 3 65 K & I Mathematics 5 x 4 59 II Mathematics 238 - 129 32 II Mathematics Read and Write the time (Clock shows

3:40) 24 II

Mathematics 384 6 19 III Mathematics 4 x 32 50 III Mathematics Fractions: ½ + 3/ 2 19 III Mathematics Read a diagram of a scale to answer

which part is heavier 12 III

Mathematics Fractions: 7/ 5 – ¾ 1 IV Notes: Questions are from the Pakistan LEAPS exam. Columns 3, 4, and 5 report the percentage of children who answered the question correctly in all schools, government schools, and private schools.

Additional Slides 2Pakistani and Indian Children: Subtraction and Division

0.0

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Cannot Subtract

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I Indian States Performing Worse than the tested children

Pakistani and Indian Children: Subtraction and Division

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ra &

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Hav

eli

% C

hil

dre

n w

ho

can

no

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act/

div

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Cannot Subtract

Cannot Divide


Documents

What do private schools imply for educational provision? Insights from the LEAPS report Jishnu Das (CPR & World Bank) Tahir Andrabi (Pomona College) Asim