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Beyond Short-term Learning Gains: The Impact of Outsourcing Schools in Liberia after Three Years

Author

Listed:
  • Mauricio Romero

    (ITAM)

  • Justin Sandefur

    (Center for Global Development)

Abstract

After one year, outsourcing the management of ninety-three randomly-selected government primary schools in Liberia to eight private operators led to modest learning gains (Romero, Sandefur, & Sandholtz, in press). In this paper, we revisit the program two years later. After the first year, treatment effects on learning gains plateaued (e.g., the intention-to-treat effect on English was .18σ after one year, and .16σ after three years, equivalent to 4 words per minute additional reading fluency for the cohort that started in first grade). Looking beyond learning gains, the program reduced corporal punishment (by 4.6 percentage points from a base of 51%), but increased dropout (by 3.3 percentage points from a base of 15%) and failed to reduce sexual abuse. Behind these average effects, the identity of the contractor mattered. Despite facing similar contracts and settings, some providers produced uniformly positive results, while others present stark trade-offs between learning gains, access to education, child safety, and financial sustainability.

Suggested Citation

  • Mauricio Romero & Justin Sandefur, 2019. "Beyond Short-term Learning Gains: The Impact of Outsourcing Schools in Liberia after Three Years," Working Papers 521, Center for Global Development.
    • Handle: RePEc:cgd:wpaper:521
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    Cited by:

    1. Hoadley, Ursula, 2024. "How do structured pedagogy programmes affect reading instruction in African early grade classrooms?," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    2. Emma Duchini & Victor Lavy & Stephen Machin & Shqiponja Telhaj, 2025. "Personnel policy in public sector organizations: evidence from England's academy schools," CEP Discussion Papers dp2129, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    3. Wayne Aaron Sandholtz & Wayne Sandholtz, 2023. "The Politics of Public Service Reform: Experimental Evidence from Liberia," CESifo Working Paper Series 10633, CESifo.
    4. Crawfurd, Lee & Evans, David K. & Hares, Susannah & Sandefur, Justin, 2023. "Live tutoring calls did not improve learning during the COVID-19 pandemic in Sierra Leone," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • L32 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise - - - Public Enterprises; Public-Private Enterprises
    • L33 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise - - - Comparison of Public and Private Enterprise and Nonprofit Institutions; Privatization; Contracting Out

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