Slow down, you’re going too fast: Matching curricula to student skill levels

Lant Pritchett and Amanda Beatty

International Journal of Educational Development, 2015, vol. 40, issue C, 276-288

Abstract: Learning profiles show changes in student skills per year of schooling. Profiles are often shockingly shallow in developing countries in part because curricula move faster than the pace of learning. To demonstrate the consequences of curriculum mismatch, we construct a model that portrays learning as the result of synchronizing student skill and instructional levels. Our simulation shows that countries with identical potential learning could have divergent learning outcomes due to a gap between curricular and actual pace, and the country that goes faster has much lower cumulative learning. Paradoxically, there is greater learning potential if curricula and teachers slow down.

Keywords: International education; Development; Curriculum; Learning profiles (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (23)

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Working Paper: Slow Down, You're Going Too Fast: Matching Curricula to Student Skill Levels (2015)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:injoed:v:40:y:2015:i:c:p:276-288

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijedudev.2014.11.013

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