Amita Chudgar

National Income, Income Inequality, and the Importance of Schools: A Hierarchical Cross-National Comparison:

The international and comparative education literature is not in agreement over the role of schools in student learning. The authors reexamine this debate across 25 diverse countries participating in the fourth-grade application of the 2003 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study. The authors find the following: (a) In most cases, family background is more important than schools in understanding variations in student performance; (b) schools are nonetheless a significant source of variation in student performance, especially in poor and unequal countries; (c) in some cases, schools may bridge the achievement gap between high and low socioeconomic status children. However, schools’ ability to do so is not systematically related to a country’s economic or inequality status.

The Challenge of Universal Elementary Education in Rural India: Can Adult Literacy Play a Role?

Many Indian children, especially those in rural areas, do not complete elementary education. Indeed, many never enroll in school, and many drop out after only a few years of schooling. An even larger proportion of India’s adults are illiterate. In the wake of the millennium development goals (MDGs) and conversations about Education for All, India’s government has focused its educational policy on increasing school enrollment and retention. Meanwhile, it has paid comparatively limited attention to adult illiteracy. In a developing economy with scarce resources, it is understandably difficult to spend to meet multiple social needs simultaneously. I suggest, however, that a stronger focus on adult literacy may support, rather than compete with, the nation’s goal of achieving universal elementary enrollment and completion. In this article, I use two nationally representative data sets from rural India to explain why. The article is divided into five sections. In the first section, I review India’s school enrollment situation. In the second section, I review the adult illiteracy problem, which has received comparatively limited attention. In the final sections, I present and discuss empirical analyses of the relationship between adult illiteracy and (a) current elementary school enrollment and (b) elementary school completion, present and discuss results, and conclude.

Science and Mathematics Achievement and the Importance of Classroom Composition: Multicountry Analysis Using TIMSS 2007

In this multicountry analysis, we generate a student-level measure of socioeconomic status (SES) “mixing” to understand the benefits or pitfalls of placing low-SES children with diverse peers. We conduct this analysis separately for equal and unequal countries that provide the same curriculum to all children regardless of ability level, and we find some surprising similarities. For example, lower mathematics and science test scores are associated with low-SES children in mixed classrooms. We then apply this analysis to the United States, a rich but unequal country where ability-based tracking is common. For the United States, we find that the cross-national patterns are reversed for mathematics, and socioeconomic mixing is beneficial for low-SES children; however, the results for science are not significant.

Teacher Labor Force and Teacher Education in India: An Analysis of a Recent Policy Change and its Potential Implications

Purpose – This chapter discusses an education law recently enacted in India – The Right of Children to Free and Compulsary Education – its implementation plan and potential implications, focusing on the teacher labor force composition and the teacher education system. The Right to Education Act specifies acceptable pupil–teacher ratios, levels of teacher vacancy in the school, qualifications required for teacher appointments, and terms and conditions for teacher hiring, among other things.Methodology – This study draws on government documents and reports to conduct a systematic analysis of existing data and historical trends. It generates an understanding of how this policy shapes the demand for teachers, the quality of the existing system, and its ability to respond to these increased demands.Findings – These policy changes intended to increase equity in teacher distribution may in the near future exacerbate inequities in access to quality teachers and teaching across India. The policy creates important and urgent changes in the Indian teacher labor force, and by extension, it demands changes in the Indian teacher education system. But that system may be unprepared to meet these goals. Therefore, the chapter underscores the need for reform in Indias teacher education system, if this policys mandate to provide equal access to quality education to all Indian children is to be fulfilled.Value – This chapter explains and analyzes a recent, large-scale teacher policy reform in a regionally diverse, developing nation with an urgent need to improve the quality of education received by its children.

Does inequality influence the impact of schools on student mathematics achievement? A comparison of nine high-, medium-, and low-inequality countries

In this chapter, we seek to contribute to a line of international and comparative research that began with Heyneman and Loxleys 1983 study examining the importance of schools across national contexts. In their influential paper, Heyneman and Loxley found that in lower-income societies, schools (rather than families) constitute the predominant influence in explaining student achievement. Similar studies followed, often with results challenging Heyneman and Loxleys original findings. We argue that one reason for inconsistencies among these studies is the failure to account for the distribution of income. Until recently, few studies had examined whether school effects vary across countries with different levels of income inequality. Yet emerging evidence suggests that inequality plays an important role in determining the extent to which schools “matter” for student learning. In this study, we employ hierarchical linear modeling and two related yet distinct measures of inequality to examine how inequality relates to within- and between-country variations in student performance. We also explore whether, in certain countries, schools are differently able to help children from higher- and lower-Socio Economic Status (SES) groups. To capture sufficient variation in country context, we use data from nine diverse countries participating in the fourth grade application of the 2003 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). Our findings indicate that schools are important in their own right, and especially important in unequal countries. However, schools may affect SES-based achievement gaps only in countries with high income and resource inequality, accompanied by heterogeneous classrooms in terms of SES composition.

Association between Contract Teachers and Student Learning in Five Francophone African Countries.

This article investigates the association between studying with a contract teacher and a student’s academic outcomes, using data from five Francophone African countries for two grade levels and two subjects. Based on this analysis, the evidence for or against this form of teacher hiring is inconclusive. The results indicate that these relationships vary depending on the country context, and the attributes of teacher demographics, working conditions, and preferences that are accounted for.

How Are Private School Enrolment Patterns Changing across Indian Districts with a Growth in Private School Availability

Abstract The private school sector in India has grown significantly but the equity implications of this growth are not well understood. Traditionally private schools have been patronised by more educated and better-off families. Evidence also suggests a preference for enrolling male children in private schools. With the growth in the private school sector it is unclear whether these conventional patterns of private enrolment are changing. The (uneven but ongoing) implementation of the Right to Education (RTE) Act will likely create further opportunities for private school access. If research finds that access to the private sector remains uneven across the society in spite of this growth, then it may offer a note of caution against relying on private provision, and it may also provide an indication of the potentially significant and continued importance of public provision of education. In this paper we use district-level data from 2005–2006 and 2011–2012 to estimate how private enrolment patterns have changed alongside an appreciable growth in number of private schools. While 2011–2012 is too soon to evaluate the impact of RTE (as most states were still drafting rules and regulations) we identify states that eventually adapted clearer RTE regulations to investigate if private school enrolment patterns were changing differently in these states. The data show that a large growth in the private sector has not made patterns of private school enrolment more equitable in rural areas. In urban districts the data indicate a declining caste gap in private enrolment and a decline in the private enrolment gap between poor and non-poor students in states which eventually went on to adopt clearer RTE regulations.

Factors Affecting School Participation in Turkey: An Analysis of Regional Differences.

There are thousands of children who remain out of school at both primary and secondary levels in Turkey. The current disparities in access to education in Turkey are mostly driven by systematic regional differences and high gender inequalities. Although several existing studies have paid close attention to gender-based inequities in school access, none of the existing studies have attempted to systematically understand regional differences in schooling. This study therefore intends to address this gap in the literature. Results of the study indicated several key factors, such as gender, household poverty and gender role attitudes, that contributes to the regional inequalities in access to education in Turkey. Based on these findings, suggestions for policy makers and future research were made.

Good Teachers for All: Toward a More Just Distribution of Teachers

We begin this chapter by discussing key areas where the misalignment of demand and supply results in an inequitable distribution of teachers. These areas include the use or lack of salary and incentives, seniority-based transfers, and improper or corrupt practices. We then offer examples from our research of promising efforts to align the demand and supply sides to ensure greater access by marginalized children to qualified teachers. We discuss the importance of ensuring equity in teacher assignments and transfers, recognizing and acting on teacher preferences, carefully designing incentives, giving voice to marginalized children and their communities, investing in local infrastructure and human capital, and involving civil society to act as an intermediary between the demand and supply sides. Using these examples as a foundation for future action, we offer a set of recommendations to work toward more equitable access of marginalized children to qualified teachers. Finally, we discuss the study’s limitations and offer areas for future research.

Setting the Study Context: India, Mexico, and Tanzania

In this chapter, we provide background information related to India, Mexico, and Tanzania and we describe our research approach to examining teacher distribution in these countries. We first describe levels of economic development and social inequality, which determine the resources available to employ teachers and the degree to which disadvantaged populations have access to these resources. We then describe each country’s geography, as the difficulties of living and teaching in remote rural areas with few amenities constrain education officials’ efforts to recruit and deploy teachers to these areas. This is followed by a discussion of relevant aspects of these education systems and key issues related to teacher deployment and distribution. To further set the stage for the subsequent analysis, we describe the methodology of our study, including our comparative approach and our data collection and analysis strategies.