Date of Graduation

Spring 5-20-2016

Document Type

Restricted Thesis - USF access only

Degree Name

Master of Science in International and Development Economics (MSIDEC)

College/School

College of Arts and Sciences

Department/Program

Economics

First Advisor

Yaniv Stopnitzky

Abstract

Abstract: Educational quality is arguably more important than education level or access to schooling in developing rural, low-growth areas, since economic vitality necessitates high human capital. Evaluating a promising remedial intervention for low-performers in Tamil Nadu’s rural public schools (India), Isha Government School Adoption Program, employing a Conditional Difference-in-Differences strategy with Propensity Score Stratification and controlling for program selection bias, I ask, “Do secondary students receiving academic remediation, after controlling for endogenous student, school and family characteristics, on average, make significant math and language test score gains?” Combined, substantial effect sizes and highly significant, large coefficients reinforce program impact within a short duration (4 months): test score gains peak at 28.8 percentage points (upper bound), and don't fall below 18.8 percentage points (lower bound) under multiple specifications. In demonstrating privately-run remediation works well in public schools, complementing existing infrastructure, results comport with other remedial program evaluations and suggest benefits from private-public models justify costs.

Comments

JEL: I210, I000, I240

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