Beyond the Basics: Improving Post-Primary Content Delivery through Classroom Technology

Sabrin A. Beg, Adrienne M. Lucas, Waqas Halim, Umar Saif

NBER Working Paper No. 25704
Issued in March 2019, Revised in January 2020
NBER Program(s):Children, Development Economics, Economics of Education

Using an RCT in middle schools in Pakistan, we test the effect of a government- implemented in-class technology and brief teacher training intervention on student achievement in grade level mathematics and science. After only 4 months of exposure, student's combined math and science score increased by 0.3 standard deviations on both project and government tests, 59 percent more than the control group. Students were also more likely to pass the provincial high-stakes exams. Increased attendance by both students and teachers indicate technology can increase other inputs. At the 200 school scale, this program is extremely cost-effective.

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Supplementary materials for this paper:

• randomized controlled trials registry entry

Acknowledgments

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Document Object Identifier (DOI): 10.3386/w25704