Identifying Conditions for an Effective Educational Technology Program Innovative Technologies.
Towards identifying policies to address educational quality
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Transcript of Towards identifying policies to address educational quality
Programme to Support Pro-Poor Policy DevelopmentA partnership between the Presidency, Republic of South Africa and the European Union
Towards identifying policies to address
educational quality
Servaas van der BergDepartment of Economics, Stellenbosch
UniversityPSPPD Project – 28 March 2011
Programme to Support Pro-Poor Policy DevelopmentA partnership between the Presidency, Republic of South Africa and the European Union
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IssuesSA school performance in perspective:• Schools and the labour market• Weak performance, even in African context• Poverty cannot explain this – SA’s poor fare worse than Africa’s
poor• The school system has two parts, one functioning fairly well, the
other extremely weakly• Resources bring little improvement in weak schools, due to
functionality issues
Features of poorly functioning schools:• Slow macro pacing, poor use of instructional time, low
curriculum coverage• Low cognitive demand, weak assessment, little feedback• Lack of textbooks/workbooks/reading material (some
teachers think textbooks and workbooks are ‘not applicable’ in FP; libraries seldom function)
• Problems with second language teaching and learningPolicy directions
SA’s dualistic school system and labour marketHigh productivity jobs &
incomes• ±10% of labour force – mainly
professional, managerial & skilled jobs • Requires graduates, good quality
matric, or good vocational skills • Historically mainly whites
Low productivity jobs & incomes• Often manual or low skill jobs• Limited or low quality education • Minimum wage can exceed their
productivity
High quality schools• ±10% of schools, mainly ex-white,
but racial composition changed• Produce strong cognitive skills • Teachers well qualified, schools
function well, good assessment, parents involved
Low quality schools• Produce very weak cognitive skills• Teachers less qualified, de-motiva-
ted, many schools dysfunctional, weak assessment, little parental involvement, strong union presence
• Mainly former black (DET) schools
• Big demand for good schools, despite fees
• A few schools cross the divide
• Vocational training
• Affirmative action
• Some talented, motivated or
lucky students manage the
transition
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Education affects labour market outcomes
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 150.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
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3.0
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Education (years)
Log o
f w
age p
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hour
(condit
ional)
Log of wage, 2005(conditional)
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 150.00.10.20.30.40.50.60.70.80.91.0
Education (years)
Em
plo
ym
ent
pro
babilit
y(c
ondit
ional)
Employment probability, 2005(conditional)
• Good education provides access to top end of labour market – (better) jobs, higher wages
• Skills shortage at top end causes a wage premium
• Oversupply of unskilled workers depresses wages at bottom end
• Race between demand and supply of skills will determine skills premium
• This premium and the distribution of educational attainment are currently central to SA income inequality
Programme to Support Pro-Poor Policy DevelopmentA partnership between the Presidency, Republic of South Africa and the European Union
Education also determines individual prospects – with a potential vicious circle of weak education and poverty
2. Cognitive ability in early
childhood3. Educational performance in
early school years
4. Educational achievement
at matric5. Ultimate educational attainment and quality
6. Labour market
performance
1.SES at birth
Programme to Support Pro-Poor Policy DevelopmentA partnership between the Presidency, Republic of South Africa and the European Union
Black matriculants, 1982-2007 (’000)
Endorsements (University exemptions)
Other matric passes
Total
1982 7 27 341992 34 117 1512007 51 241 292Growth rate p.a. 1982-1992
17.1% 15.8% 16.1%
Growth rate p.a. 1992-2007
2.7% 4.9% 4.5%
Potentially holds back economic growth and black social mobility
Programme to Support Pro-Poor Policy DevelopmentA partnership between the Presidency, Republic of South Africa and the European Union
Literacy score in PIRLS 2006
565
500
405
302
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
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Hon
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ong
Can
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Net
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m (
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ark
Can
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Nov
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ith
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ago
Iran
Ind
ones
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atar
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outh
Afr
ica
Programme to Support Pro-Poor Policy DevelopmentA partnership between the Presidency, Republic of South Africa and the European Union
% below low international benchmark (400) in PIRLS 2006 (Gr.4; in SA Gr.5)
1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 5 6 6 6 7 7 7 7 8 8 8 9151618
343640
46
677274
78
0
20
40
60
80
Hon
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ong
Lux
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Net
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Bel
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These are “very low reading achievers”, “at serious risk of not learning how to read” (Trong 2009) – yet quite a number of them eventually pass matric
Programme to Support Pro-Poor Policy DevelopmentA partnership between the Presidency, Republic of South Africa and the European Union
Mean Maths score in TIMMS 2003
0
100
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% of SA students exceeding performance at 75th percentile of developed countries
(“who would ‘make it’ economically in developed countries")
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Mean Reading scores (SACMEQ III)
Mala
wi
Zam
bia
Leso
tho
Moza
mbiq
ue
Uganda
South
Afr
ica
Nam
ibia
Zim
babw
e
SA
CM
EQ
III
Bots
wana
Zanzi
bar
Kenya
Sw
azi
land
Mauri
tius
Seyc
helle
s
Tanza
nia
300
350
400
450
500
550
600
Me
an
Re
ad
ing
sco
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Mean Reading score for poorest 25% (SACMEQ III)
Zam
bia
South
Afr
ica
Mala
wi
Leso
tho
Moza
mbiq
ue
Nam
ibia
Uganda
Zim
babw
e
Bots
wana
SA
CM
EQ
III
Zanzi
bar
Seyc
helle
s
Mauri
tius
Kenya
Sw
azi
land
Tanza
nia
350
400
450
500
550
600
Me
an
Re
ad
ing
sco
re
Programme to Support Pro-Poor Policy DevelopmentA partnership between the Presidency, Republic of South Africa and the European Union
Lowess regression on schools’ average maths score, SA & other SACMEQ countries
Programme to Support Pro-Poor Policy DevelopmentA partnership between the Presidency, Republic of South Africa and the European Union
Schools’ average maths score, SA vs. other SACMEQII countries
Programme to Support Pro-Poor Policy DevelopmentA partnership between the Presidency, Republic of South Africa and the European Union
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100110
Indian
Coloured
Aggregate Matric Average
Kernel density curves of matric average by race, 2005
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PIRLS reading scores by school type
0.0
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.00
2.0
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.00
4.0
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kden
sity
re
ad
ing te
st s
core
0 200 400 600 800reading test score
African language schools English/Afrikaans schools
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Gr.6 reading test scores by SES quintile
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0 20 40 60Total numeracy score NSES 2009
African lnaguage students in ex-DET schoolsAfrican language students in ex-white schools
Afrikaans/English language students in ex-white schools
kernel = epanechnikov, bandwidth = 1.5053
NSES2009
Numeracy score by ex-dept & home languageNumeracy score by former dept & home language, NSES
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Literacy achievement by former department and grade, NSES
0.0
1.0
2.0
3.0
4K
ern
el D
ensity
0 20 40 60 80 100Literacy score
DET (B) 2007 DET (B) 2008DET (B) 2009 HOA (W) 2007HOA (W) 2008 HOA (W) 2009
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1020
3040
50N
umer
acy
scor
e
-2 -1 0 1 2Socio-economic status
African language in ex-white schools Ex-DET schoolsAfrikaans/English lin ex-white schools
NSES2009Numeracy score by SES & ex-dept & homelanguage
Gap explains middle class flight to ex-white schools
Numeracy score by SES, former dept and home language
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School & individual SES & Maths score, SACMEQIII
400
500
600
700
800
Lin
ear
pre
dic
tion
(Mat
hs)
-2 -1 0 1 2Mean School SES (Average SES of students in the class)
Quintile 1 Quintile 2Quintile 3 Quintile 4Quintile 5
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Results from NSESMacro-pacing:• Maths topics covered: 75% of HOA but just 26% of DET
learners were in schools where more than 25 different maths topics were covered
• Literacy/language exercises: 33 in DET schools, 75 in HoA schools • Some teachers may cover new topics slowly to accommodate prior
learning deficits• However, insufficient curriculum coverage a major indicator of
inefficiency
Resources: Only weak evidence that pupil-teacher ratios, class sizes, teacher knowledge and access to textbooks and information technology improve outcomes
Teacher and management “efficiency” variables have a significant positive effect on learner performance, e.g. • Existence of curriculum planning for a full year• A functional timetable• Good-quality inventories for learning and teaching support materials
(LTSM)• Low teacher absenteeism, up-to-date assessment records • Various measures of curriculum coverage
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Some findings from WCED Grade 3 project
Low cognitive demand:• Teachers, principals, curriculum advisors & parents
are oblivious of the level of under-achievement• To correct their behaviour, teachers must first
realise there is something to correct• Setting incentives/structures to ensure appropriate
assessment practices is thus crucial• Few principals take instructional leadership in FP
seriouslyCurriculum advisors: • Do not observe classrooms & teaching• Focus on teaching methods (form) rather than
content and coverage (substance)Teachers confused about curriculum
documents to use
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Classroom observations: Literacy & numeracy
Literacy• Limited opportunities to handle books• Limited teaching of reading and writing• Read and write mainly isolated words• Little emphasis on comprehension of text• Little elaboration on learner responses • Reading largely collectivised• Little vocabulary & spelling development or
teaching of phonicsNumeracy• Teachers lack theory of how children develop
number concepts• Use mainly concrete methods for solving problems• Everyday knowledge obscures learning of
mathematics• Extremely slow pace• Low conceptual level of instruction
Programme to Support Pro-Poor Policy DevelopmentA partnership between the Presidency, Republic of South Africa and the European Union
WCED study: % of Gr. 3 learners who could verbally answer questions below (in home language)
But ¾ of Gr.3 teachers said they covered times tables 3+ days per week
Yet barely half of teachers were confident that most of their learners could correctly answer “2 times 4”
2 x 2 5 x 5 2 x 3 10 x 10 2 x 2 3 x 6 2 x 3 4 x 5 2 x 4 6 x 6Learner 1 Learner 2 Learner 3 Learner 4 Learner 5
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100% 95%
27%
72%
34%
98%
36%
71%
50%
69%
17%
Programme to Support Pro-Poor Policy DevelopmentA partnership between the Presidency, Republic of South Africa and the European Union
Teacher views on % of class at appropriate level in Numeracy for grade
at beginning and end of year
Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 3 End of Grade 30%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
47%
79%
56%
85%
55%
84%
22%
Grade 1 teacher
Grade 2 teacher
Grade 3 teacher
% achieving WCED standard in tests
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School level CASS and exam marks for Maths HG 2005, and trend line
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PIRLS
Classroom practices & homework frequency • Different classroom practices may bring different
benefits in low-SES schools: • In African-language schools, regular classroom
exercises as well as diagnostic testing had positive and significant impacts on reading
• A limited homework impact is found for African-language schools (though individuals who spend more time on reading homework of their own accord perform better)
• Extended learning time is not common in African-language schools (fewer than 40% provide this facility). However, if it is provided and if more than 75% of learners take part in it, then there is a significant, positive impact on test performance
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PIRLS: Parental involvement
At household level, positive effects on reading scores come from: • Help with homework• Parents’ education• Regular joint reading activities at home• Parent-child communication in language of test
School SES may affect the nature, quality and impact of parent involvement:• If parents doubt their own ability to make useful
contributions they are less likely to become involved, or their involvement may not be of sufficient depth
• This may explain the minor impact of parental involvement in poorer schools
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SACMEQ results & policy conclusions
• At least one year of quality pre-school education will assist poorer learners especially
• Poor learners have less access to textbooks – evidence shows more textbooks can improve reading performance
• Practical policies should be explored that encourage teachers to prescribe homework and enable learners to complete it
• Teachers’ subject expertise has only a small positive impact• At Grade 6 level policy should perhaps
rather focus on helping teachers to convey subject material
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How weak is teacher subject knowledge?
In SACMEQ III, Maths teachers participated in a Maths tests & English teachers in a reading testExample of one answer on a Maths test:
• Most Grade 6 Maths teachers (57%) thought the answer was 15 percent (presumably they just calculated 75 minus 60 =15 !!!)
• Only 24% of Maths teachers got this right, i.e. answered 25%
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Policy directionsImportance of accountability structures in public
sector:• In schools, accountability needs to focus on time,
coverage, assessment• Principals need to take instructional leadership
seriouslyImportance of information:• Teachers must know
• Appropriate level of cognitive demand• Required level and pace of coverage are
• Parents/children need to know how they perform• Testing and information flows are thus crucial
• Feedback is crucial – to convert data into information, to allow accountability
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Policy directions (cont.)
Specific interventions:• Quality pre-schools• Books (textbooks, workbooks, readers, library
books) from early grades• But library model of provision within schools has
collapsed – alternative models need attention• Homework• Assessment practices – cross-marking, etc.• Teacher subject knowledge – long term issue
(recruitment, entry requirements)• Appointment and contracts of principals
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Taking library books home from school
SACMEQII2000
SACMEQIII2007
Yes 49% 32%No 32% 9%No library books available 18% 59%