Improving School Management in Low and Middle Income Countries: A Systematic Review

Gautam Anand (), Aishwarya Atluri (), Lee Crawfurd, Todd Pugatch and Ketki Sheth ()
Additional contact information
Gautam Anand: Global School Leaders
Aishwarya Atluri: J-PAL
Ketki Sheth: University of Tennessee

No 16252, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Improving school quality in low and middle income countries (LMICs) is a global priority. One way to improve quality may be to improve the management skills of school leaders. In this systematic review, we analyze the impact of interventions targeting school leaders' management practices on student learning. We begin by describing the characteristics and responsibilities of school leaders using data from large, multi-country surveys. Second, we review the literature and conduct a meta-analysis of the causal effect of school management interventions on student learning, using 39 estimates from 20 evaluations. We estimate a statistically significant improvement in student learning of 0.04 standard deviations. We show that effect sizes are not related to program scale or intensity. We complement the meta-analysis by identifying common limitations to program effectiveness through a qualitative assessment of the studies included in our review. We find three main factors which mitigate program effectiveness: 1) low take-up; 2) lack of incentives or structure for implementation of recommendations; and 3) the lengthy causal chain linking management practices to student learning. Finally, to assess external validity of our review, we survey practitioners to compare characteristics between evaluated and commonly implemented programs. Our findings suggest that future work should focus on generating evidence on the marginal effect of common design elements in these interventions, including factors that promote school leader engagement and accountability.

Keywords: school management; school principals; head teachers; systematic review; meta-analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I21 I25 I28 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 63 pages
Date: 2023-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev, nep-edu, nep-inv and nep-ure
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Published - published in: Economics of Education Review, 2023, 97, 102464

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Related works:
Journal Article: Improving school management in low and middle income countries: A systematic review (2023)
Working Paper: Improving School Management in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review (2023)
Working Paper: Improving school management in low and middle income countries: A systematic review (2023)
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