A randomized evaluation of a school library program on children’s language skills is conducted. The program had little impact on students’ scores on a language test administered 16 months after implementation. The estimates are sufficiently precise to rule out effects larger than...

We conduct a randomized controlled trial of an Indian school library program. Overall, the program had no impact on students' scores on a language skills test administered after 16 months. The estimates are sufficiently precise to rule out effects larger than 0.053 and 0.037 standard deviations,...

Commitment devices offer an opportunity to restrict future choices. However, if severe restrictions deter participation, weaker restrictions may be a more effective means of changing behavior. We test this using a school-based commitment savings device for educational expenses in Uganda. We...

We evaluate a program that aims to improve children's reading skills by providing classes with age-appropriate reading material and incentivizing children to read through a 31 day read-a-thon. During the read-a-thon, the program significantly increases the propensity of children to read, causing...

We evaluate the causal effects of a program that constructed high quality "girl-friendly" primary schools in Burkina Faso, using a regression discontinuity design 2.5 years after the program started. We find that the program increased enrollment of all children between the ages of 5 and 12 by 20...

We conduct a randomized evaluation of the effect of village-based schools on children's academic performance using a sample of 31 villages and 1,490 children in rural northwestern Afghanistan. The program significantly increases enrollment and test scores among all children, eliminates the 21...

Mathematica's evaluation looked at early childhood developing programming, policy development, and investments; (2) efforts to enhance infrastructure to expand and sustain investments in service quality and support parent choice and decision making; and (3) efforts to integrate programs and...

This report summarizes a rigorous randomized evaluation of a teamwork and goal-setting intervention in Bihar, India, that uses incentives and lessons from motivational theory to encourage teams of frontline health workers to improve maternal and child health in their communities.

Mathematica's evaluation looked at early childhood developing programming, policy development, and investments; (2) efforts to enhance infrastructure to expand and sustain investments in service quality and support parent choice and decision making; and (3) efforts to integrate programs and...

Low-quality or nonexistent sanitation affects health and hinders economic development, especially in the world's poorest countries. To address this issue, the Water and Sanitation Program, a partnership administered by the World Bank and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, launched a...