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Can Your Child Read and Count? Measuring Learning Outcomes in East Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Sam Jones
  • Youdi Schipper
  • Sara Ruto
  • Rakesh Rajani

Abstract

The last 15 years have seen major changes to education systems in East Africa. Superficially, there is much to commend. Net primary enrolment rates have risen to over 90% alongside significant improvements in gender equity. Nonetheless, there are growing concerns that better access is not adding up to more learning. This paper introduces unique test score data collected by Twaweza's Uwezo initiative for over 600,000 children across East Africa, including children enrolled and not enrolled in school. Using these data we show that many children in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda remain functionally illiterate or innumerate, despite having completed multiple years of school.

Suggested Citation

  • Sam Jones & Youdi Schipper & Sara Ruto & Rakesh Rajani, 2014. "Can Your Child Read and Count? Measuring Learning Outcomes in East Africa," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 23(5), pages 643-672.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:jafrec:v:23:y:2014:i:5:p:643-672.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/jae/eju009
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    Cited by:

    1. Jones, Sam, 2016. "How does classroom composition affect learning outcomes in Ugandan primary schools?," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 66-78.
    2. Holzapfel, Sarah & Janus, Heiner, 2015. "Improving education outcomes by linking payments to results: an assessment of disbursement-linked indicators in five results-based approaches," IDOS Discussion Papers 2/2015, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
    3. Buhl-Wiggers, Julie & Jones, Sam & Thornton, Rebecca, 2021. "Boys lagging behind: Unpacking gender differences in academic achievement across East Africa," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    4. Paul Anand & Jere R. Behrman & Hai-Anh H. Dang & Sam Jones, 2018. "Inequality of opportunity in education: Accounting for the contributions of Sibs, schools and sorting across East Africa," Working Papers 480, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    5. Lucas, Adrienne M. & Chidothe, Margaret & Wilson, Nicholas L., 2019. "Effects of adult health interventions at scale on children’s schooling: Evidence from antiretroviral therapy in Zambia," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 107-120.
    6. Fredrick M. Wamalwa & Justine Burns, 2017. "Gender and birth order effects on intra-household schooling choices and education attainments in Kenya," Working Papers 708, Economic Research Southern Africa.
    7. Paul Anand & Jere R. Behrman & Hai‐Anh H. Dang & Sam Jones, 2019. "Does sorting matter for learning inequality?: Evidence from East Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2019-110, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    8. Bietenbeck, Jan & Ericsson, Sanna & Wamalwa, Fredrick M., 2019. "Preschool attendance, schooling, and cognitive skills in East Africa," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    9. Paul Anand & Jere R Behrman & Hai-Anh H Dang & Sam Jones, 2022. "Decomposing Learning Inequalities in East Africa: How Much Does Sorting Matter?," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 36(1), pages 219-243.
    10. Atuhurra, Julius F., 2016. "Does community involvement affect teacher effort? Assessing learning impacts of Free Primary Education in Kenya," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 234-246.
    11. Crespin-Boucaud, Juliette & Hotte, Rozenn, 2021. "Parental divorces and children’s educational outcomes in Senegal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    12. Isaac Mbiti & Karthik Muralidharan & Mauricio Romero & Youdi Schipper & Constantine Manda & Rakesh Rajani, 2019. "Inputs, Incentives, and Complementarities in Education: Experimental Evidence from Tanzania," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 134(3), pages 1627-1673.
    13. Sandefur, Justin, 2018. "Internationally comparable mathematics scores for fourteen african countries," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 267-286.
    14. Filmer, Deon, 2023. "Long-lived consequences of rapid scale-up? The case of free primary education in six Sub-Saharan African countries," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    15. Beatty, Amanda & Berkhout, Emilie & Bima, Luhur & Pradhan, Menno & Suryadarma, Daniel, 2021. "Schooling progress, learning reversal: Indonesia’s learning profiles between 2000 and 2014," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    16. Sam Jones, 2020. "Testing the Technology of Human Capital Production: A General‐to‐Restricted Framework," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 82(6), pages 1429-1455, December.
    17. Wamalwa, Fredrick M. & Burns, Justine, 2018. "Private schools and student learning achievements in Kenya," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 114-124.
    18. Kaila, Heidi & Sahn, David E. & Sunder, Naveen, 2018. "Early Life Determinants of Cognitive Ability: A Comparative Study on Madagascar and Senegal," IZA Discussion Papers 11550, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. Brian Nalumenya & Matteo Rubinato & Michael Kennedy & Jade Catterson & Hilary Bakamwesiga & Matthew Blackett, 2023. "Water Management Education in the East African Region: A Review of the Challenges to Be Addressed," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-22, July.
    20. Avvisati, Francesco & Givord, Pauline, 2023. "The learning gain over one school year among 15-year-olds: An international comparison based on PISA," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).

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