In many low-income countries, teachers do not master the subject they are teaching, and children learn little while attending school. Using unique data from nationally representative surveys of schools in seven Sub-Saharan African countries, this paper proposes a methodology to assess the effect...

Four different classroom observation instruments - from the Service Delivery Indicators, the Stallings Observation System, the Classroom Assessment Scoring System, and the Teach classroom observation instrument - were implemented in about 100 schools across four regions of Tanzania. The research...

What goes on inside the classroom is central to student learning. Despite its importance, low- and middle-income countries rarely measure teaching practices, in part due to a lack of access to adequate classroom observation tools and the high transaction costs associated with administering them....

After spending five to six years sitting in a classroom almost every day for anywhere between 4 to 7 hours a significant share of students in low and middle-income countries are not able to read, write or do basic arithmetic. What is going on inside these classrooms? A growing body of evidence...

What is the most effective way to increase primary school enrolment and student learning? We argue that innovations in governance of social services may yield the highest return since social service delivery in developing countries is often plagued by inefficiencies and corruption. We examine...

We discuss existing shortfalls and inequalities in the accumulation of human capital—knowledge, skills, and health. We analyze their immediate and systemic causes, and assess the scope for public intervention. The broad policy goals should be to improve: the quality, and not just the quantity,...