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Does community involvement affect teacher effort? Assessing learning impacts of Free Primary Education in Kenya

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  • Atuhurra, Julius

Abstract

While the school participation impacts of the Universal Primary Education policies in Sub-Saharan Africa have been impressive, learning impacts’ assessment has received little attention. This study measures and explains the initial achievement impacts of the Free Primary Education (FPE) policy in Kenya using grade six pupils’ reading and math standardized test scores. We find large achievement declines, spillover effects to private schools and heterogeneous impacts by gender and socioeconomic status. The declines are associated with decreased teacher efforts and local community disengagement. Policy studies on pathways to increased local community involvement in public schools will lead to improved learning.

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  • Atuhurra, Julius, 2014. "Does community involvement affect teacher effort? Assessing learning impacts of Free Primary Education in Kenya," MPRA Paper 67506, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Dec 2014.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:67506
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    Cited by:

    1. Christopher Yaw Kwaah & Mikako Nishimuko, 2023. "Improving School Quality in Junior High Schools in Ghana: Teachers’ Myth and Reality of a Decentralization Policy," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(3), pages 21582440231, July.
    2. Atuhurra, Julius & Alinda, Violet, 2018. "Basic Education curriculum effectiveness in East Africa: A descriptive analysis of primary mathematics in Uganda using the ‘Surveys of Enacted Curriculum’," MPRA Paper 87583, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Atuhurra, Julius & Alinda, Violet, 2017. "Basic Education curriculum effectiveness analysis in East Africa: Using the ‘Surveys of Enacted Curriculum’ framework to describe primary mathematics and English content in Uganda," MPRA Paper 79017, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 08 May 2017.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Educational policy Learning achievement Teacher Effort Community involvement;

    JEL classification:

    • H44 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Publicly Provided Goods: Mixed Markets
    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education

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