Student outcomes in Philippine elementary schools: An evaluation of four experiments

Policymakers in most developing countries are concerned about high dropout rates and poor student learning in primary education. The government of the Philippines initiated the Dropout Intervention Program in 1990-92 as part of its effort to address these issues. Under this program, four experimental interventions were randomly assigned to 20 schools in selected low-income areas. Pre- and post-intervention data were collected from these schools, as well as from 10 control schools, in order to evaluate the program's impact on dropout behavior and student learning. The economic justification for replication appears to be strongest for the interventions that provided teachers with learning materials, which helped them to pace lessons according to students' differing abilities, and the initiated parent-teacher partnerships, which involved parents in the schooling of their children. The justification was weakest for the school feeding intervention. In addition to the results specific to the Philippines, this research demonstrated the feasibility of monitoring and evaluating interventions in the education sector in other developing countries, including the use of randomized control designs.