Ending Poverty through Education: New Evidence from India and Africa
University of California, Washington Center
1608 Rhode Island Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20036 (map)
9:00 am - 12:30 pm
Which programs work to improve educational outcomes? Education experts from UC San Diego, Harvard, University of Texas, and Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) will share the results from rigorous evaluations of education programs in India and Africa. Come learn what works, what doesn’t, and how effective programs can be translated into policy and implemented nationwide.
Find more details here and photos on CEGA's website.
AGENDA
9:00 am – 9:30 am
Coffee, Welcome
9:30 am – 10:15 am
Achieving Universal Quality Education in India: Challenges and Opportunities
Karthik Muralidharan from the University of California, San Diego will present results from nearly 10 years of primary field research conducted on the quality of primary education in India. He will also discuss policy challenges and options for effectively implementing the recently passed "Right to Education" Act in India.
Papers Presented:
- The Impact of Diagnostic Feedback to Teachers on Student Learning: Experimental Evidence from India
- Teacher Absence in India: A Snapshot
- Contract Teachers: Experimental Evidence from India
- When Can School Inputs Improve Test Scores?
- Teacher Performance Pay: Experimental Evidence from India
10:15 am – 10:45 am
Primary and Pre-Primary Education in India: Integrating Approaches into Existing Educational Contexts (presentation)
Leigh Linden from the University of Texas will review the results of three primary and pre-primary education projects in India, and discuss how integrating particular treatments into the existing educational context affects the estimated treatment effects.
Papers Presented:
- How to Teach English in India: Testing the Relative Productivity of Instruction Methods within the Pratham English Language Education Program
- Compliment or Substitute? The Effect of Technology on Student Achievement in India
10:45 am – 11:00 am
Question and Answer Session
11:00 am – 11:30 am
Girls' Scholarships in Kenya = Education as Liberation?
Michael Kremer from Harvard University will discuss a girls' scholarship program implemented in the early 2000's in Kenya, and how over a decade later, women's social and political attitudes and decisions have shifted with more education.
Paper Presented:
11:30 am – 12:00 pm
From India to Ghana: How Research Revived Remedial Education
Annie Duflo, Executive Director of Innovations for Poverty Action, will speak on a pioneering evaluation of a remedial education project in Ghana. The Teacher Community Assistant Initiative, first developed in India, has been adapted, re-evaluated, and scaled-up across India, resulting in 33 million children reached through the Read India program. The program is now being piloted and tested in Ghana.
12:00 pm – 12:30 pm
Question and Answer Session, Closing
Presenters: Karthik Muralidharan (UC San Diego), Leigh Linden (University of Texas), Michael Kremer (Harvard), Annie Duflo (Innovations for Poverty Action)
Partners: Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA), The University of California Washington D.C. Program (UCDC)