Selection, Gender and the Impact of Schooling Type in the Dhaka Slums John C. Ham 1 Saima Khan 2 1 New York University, Abu Dhabi 2 National University of Singapore May 30, 2018 Ham & Khan (2018) Selection, Gender & School Type May 30, 2018 1 / 58
Overview Overview I: What we do � In joint work with Saima Khan, between 2015-2016, we collected unique data set on 4 - 12 year olds in two Dhaka slums. ◮ First such study of education for Urban Bangladesh. ◮ First to study JAAGO - new school-type with a framework previously available to elites only. ◮ First to examine relative impact of JAAGO, Govt. and NGO schools in Dhaka slums. Ham & Khan (2018) Selection, Gender & School Type May 30, 2018 2 / 58
Overview Overview I: What we do (contd) � Allow for selection across 3 different school-types (JAAGO, Govt. and NGO schools), based on detailed background information and 2 measures of fluid intelligence (IQ). ◮ Controlling for IQ is especially important for Treatment Effects; Not usually done. � Estimate the impact of the different school-types on student achievement, by gender, after controlling for these variables. ◮ Focus on gender since the literature documents substantial gender difference. Ham & Khan (2018) Selection, Gender & School Type May 30, 2018 3 / 58
Overview Overview II: Results � Evidence of Selection ◮ On average, JAAGO and Govt. schools get ‘better’ students than NGO schools in their student body, in terms of family expenditure, parents’ schooling, & child’s fluid intelligence. � Controlling for Selection ◮ Only controlling for family background (as done in most studies) does not eliminate the selection problem; ◮ Including measures of fluid intelligence reduces impact of school-type by 20 − 50 %. Ham & Khan (2018) Selection, Gender & School Type May 30, 2018 4 / 58
Overview Overview II: Results (contd) � Strong evidence of Gender Heterogeneity across school-types. ◮ JAAGO vs. Govt: Girls are better off at JAAGO, but boys perform equally well at both school-types. ◮ Govt. vs. NGO: Boys are better off at Govt. schools, but girls perform equally well at both school-types. ◮ JAAGO vs. NGO: Both genders better off at JAAGO. Ham & Khan (2018) Selection, Gender & School Type May 30, 2018 5 / 58
Overview Overview II: Results (contd) � Evidence of gender disparity within each school-type. ◮ JAAGO schools: girls and boys perform equally well. ◮ NGO schools: girls and boys perform equally well. ◮ Govt schools: boys substantially outperform girls. � Helps to explain the gender difference in aggregate data. Ham & Khan (2018) Selection, Gender & School Type May 30, 2018 6 / 58
Overview Presentation Outline Motivation 1 Context, Research Question and Data Collection 2 Evidence of Selection 3 Methodology 4 Results 5 Conclusion 6 Ham & Khan (2018) Selection, Gender & School Type May 30, 2018 7 / 58
Motivation Motivation In the context of Bangladesh: 1. Little evidence about impact of school-type on achievement and gender differential (especially for urban Bangladesh). 2. High enrolment but poor learning outcomes. ◮ Students who have completed Grade 5 : 25% & 33% acquired grade 5 level competency in Bengali & Maths -based on a 2011 nationwide survey of Government Primary School students [ World Bank, 2013 ] Ham & Khan (2018) Selection, Gender & School Type May 30, 2018 8 / 58
Motivation Motivation (contd) 3. Gender parity in primary school enrolment, but not achievement. [ World Bank (2013), ADB Country Gender Assessment Bangladesh (2010), Amin and Chandrasekar (2009) ]. ◮ Girls lag behind boys in terms of learning outcomes at both primary and secondary level. ◮ We find similar pattern even after controlling for family background and fluid intelligence in government schools. Ham & Khan (2018) Selection, Gender & School Type May 30, 2018 9 / 58
Motivation Motivation (contd) In a wider context: � Similar low student achievement and wide gender gap in Pakistan [ Das, Pandey and Zajonc (2012), The Economist (Jan 4, 2018) ] � Pakistan has started to undertake reforms that mainly include: ◮ privatization/ outsourcing to charities; ◮ school voucher programs; ◮ addressing the problem of ”ghost” teachers. Ham & Khan (2018) Selection, Gender & School Type May 30, 2018 10 / 58
Motivation Motivation (contd.) � While there is some overlap with the JAAGO framework, to the best of our knowledge, Pakistan has not tried out the JAAGO school-type. � Given this situation in both Bangladesh and Pakistan (combined population of 356 million), it is important to consider alternative schooling models like JAAGO. Most field experiments consider only one deviation from current system. JAAGO is a dramatic break from the existing system. Ham & Khan (2018) Selection, Gender & School Type May 30, 2018 11 / 58
Motivation Motivation (contd) � Given our results, introducing JAAGO helps to equalize gender outcomes. ◮ Within school-type comparison (after controlling from X’s): � Boys and girls do equally well (badly) in NGO schools; � But boys outperform girls at Govt schools. ◮ On an average, boys do better because some of them go to government schools. ◮ However, at JAAGO girls do better than if they attended government or NGO schools. ◮ Thus, JAAGO may help attain gender parity in terms of both enrolment and achievement. Ham & Khan (2018) Selection, Gender & School Type May 30, 2018 12 / 58
Context, Research Question and Data Collection Presentation Outline Motivation 1 Context, Research Question and Data Collection 2 Evidence of Selection 3 Methodology 4 Results 5 Conclusion 6 Ham & Khan (2018) Selection, Gender & School Type May 30, 2018 13 / 58
Context, Research Question and Data Collection School-type Characteristics � We examine the impact of 3 types of schools: 1. JAAGO schools; 2. Government schools; 3. NGO (including charity schools). � No madrassahs (can be very different from above 3 school-types). Ham & Khan (2018) Selection, Gender & School Type May 30, 2018 14 / 58
Context, Research Question and Data Collection School-type Characteristics � What does JAAGO do? ◮ Its medium of instruction - English (comparable to English medium private schools available to the country’s elites). ◮ Addresses problems of ”ghost teachers” - strict administrative monitoring. ◮ Hires teachers based on merit. ◮ Has higher share of female teachers. ◮ Has longer school days and a longer school year. ◮ Does not use rote learning. ◮ Does not use corporal punishment. Ham & Khan (2018) Selection, Gender & School Type May 30, 2018 15 / 58
Context, Research Question and Data Collection Characteristics Across the 3 School-types Characteristics JAAGO Govt. NGO School School School Instruction in English � × × Minimum teacher qualification - Bachelors Degree � × × Teachers require strong command over English � × × High level in-service training × � × High share of female teachers � × � High teacher absenteeism (low teacher effort) × � NA High headmaster absenteeism (low monitoring) × � NA High teacher salary × � × Small class size � × � Longer school days � × × Longer school year � × × Corporal punishment × � × Ham & Khan (2018) Selection, Gender & School Type May 30, 2018 16 / 58
Context, Research Question and Data Collection Research Questions 1. What type of students are being drawn to, and accepted, by each school-type? ◮ Is there selection across school-types for boys and girls? 2. What is the impact of school-type on test scores by gender, after controlling for selection? (i). JAAGO vs. Government (ii). JAAGO vs. NGO (iii). Government vs. NGO 3. Within each school-type, how do boys and girls perform after controlling for selection? We will use propensity score matching, adjusted for choice based sampling, to control for selection. Ham & Khan (2018) Selection, Gender & School Type May 30, 2018 17 / 58
Context, Research Question and Data Collection Data Collection � Between 2015-2016, collected our own stratified (by school type) data on 1816 slum children (aged 4 - 12) attending the 3 types of schools. ◮ JAAGO schools - 576 children; ◮ Government schools - 598 children; ◮ NGO schools - 642 children. � Used choice based sampling to ensure sufficient number of JAAGO students show up in the sample (common for sampling of rare events).We collect the data by sub-neighbourhoods. We start with a street with a JAAGO student, then collect other students. We adjust the standard errors for this cluster sampling. Ham & Khan (2018) Selection, Gender & School Type May 30, 2018 18 / 58
Context, Research Question and Data Collection Data Collection (contd) � Took many steps, including 100% audio auditing, to insure data quality. � We are now collecting Wave 2 so we can do d-in-d matching. ◮ Hope to do several more waves to create a panel dataset Ham & Khan (2018) Selection, Gender & School Type May 30, 2018 19 / 58
Evidence of Selection Presentation Outline Motivation 1 Context, Research Question and Data Collection 2 Evidence of Selection 3 Methodology 4 Results 5 Conclusion 6 Ham & Khan (2018) Selection, Gender & School Type May 30, 2018 20 / 58
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