Many Children Left Behind? Textbooks and Test Scores in Kenya

Michael Kremer, Paul Glewwe and Sylvie Moulin

No 149, CID Working Papers from Center for International Development at Harvard University

Abstract: A randomized evaluation suggests that a program which provided official textbooks to randomly selected rural Kenyan primary schools did not increase test scores for the average student. In contrast, the previous literature suggests that textbook provision has a large impact on test scores. Disaggregating the results by students’ initial academic achievement suggests a potential explanation for the lack of an overall impact. Textbooks increased scores for students with high initial academic achievement and increased the probability that the students who had made it to the selective final year of primary school would go on to secondary school. However, students with weaker academic backgrounds did not benefit from the textbooks. Many pupils could not read the textbooks, which are written in English, most students’ third language. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that the Kenyan education system and curricular materials are oriented to the academically strongest students rather than to typical students. More generally, many students may be left behind in societies that combine 1) a centralized, unified education system; 2) the heterogeneity in student preparation associated with rapid expansion of education; and 3) disproportionate elite power.

Keywords: Education; Economic Development; Political Economy; Randomized Evaluation; Student Academic Performance; Textbooks; Kenya (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C93 I20 O15 P16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007-08
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (21)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Many Children Left Behind? Textbooks and Test Scores in Kenya (2009)
Working Paper: Many Children Left Behind? Textbooks and Test Scores in Kenya (2007)
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