TY  - JOUR
AU  - Glewwe,Paul
AU  - Kremer,Michael
AU  - Moulin,Sylvie
TI  - Many Children Left Behind? Textbooks and Test Scores in Kenya
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 13300
PY  - 2007
Y2  - August 2007
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13300
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13300.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Paul W. Glewwe
Dept of Applied Economics, U of MN
1994 Buford Ave.
St. Paul MN  55108
E-Mail: pglewwe@umn.edu

Michael Kremer
Harvard University
Department of Economics
Littauer Center M20
Cambridge, MA 02138
Tel: 617/495-9145
Fax: 617/495-7730
E-Mail: mkremer@fas.harvard.edu

Sylvie Moulin
World Bank
1818 H Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20433
AB  - A randomized evaluation suggests that a program which provided official textbooks to randomly selected rural Kenyan primary schools did not increase test scores for the average student.  In contrast, the previous literature suggests that textbook provision has a large impact on test scores.  Disaggregating the results by students? initial academic achievement suggests a potential explanation for the lack of an overall impact.  Textbooks increased scores for students with high initial academic achievement and increased the probability that the students who had made it to the selective final year of primary school would go on to secondary school.  However, students with weaker academic backgrounds did not benefit from the textbooks.  Many pupils could not read the textbooks, which are written in English, most students? third language.  The results are consistent with the hypothesis that the Kenyan education system and curricular materials are oriented to the academically strongest students rather than to typical students.  More generally, many students may be left behind in societies that combine 1) a centralized, unified education system; 2) the heterogeneity in student preparation associated with rapid expansion of education; and 3) disproportionate elite power.
ER  -