The Differing Provision of Ed-Tech Demonstration and E-Learning in Europe, Asia, and America

This chapter explores examples of the digital divide within diverse countries and across the globe, and presumptions about the West's preparedness for online learning are questioned. The scale of the effects of the pandemic are used to highlight the juxtaposition of the great potential of online learning with the stark reality that though the West can debate the extent of their e-learning during the spread of the coronavirus while poorer nations have great swathes of disconnected and vulnerable youth without the interventions of their teachers, the fact is that there is little evidence that all the conditions of effective online learning exist throughout the world. Ed-tech demonstration of affordable internet, different approaches to learning online, availability of digital equipment, teacher incentives and training, and providing quiet places to study at home, as well as other initiatives to resolve some of these issues in Europe and the wider world are explored and questioned.

EVALUATION OF EDUCATION PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION SCIENCE-BASED MADRASAH ALIYAH

This research aims to evaluate the SAIN-based Madrasah Aliyah (MA) education program in Brebes, Central Java. The education program aims to improve the competence of human resources in improving ability. The evaluation model used in this study is the CIPP model (context, input, process, and product) of the qualitative research approach model introduced by Stufflebeam. The results showed that madrasah sains education program has been running well in accordance with the educational program that has been compiled. However, in the implementation of Madrasah SAIN education, there are still some shortcomings both in the field of funding (low teacher incentives), facilities and infrastructure (there are no adequate laboratories) and about the development of low human resources competencies of teachers.

Paying for Whose Performance? Teacher Incentive Pay and the Black–White Test Score Gap

Teacher performance pay is often introduced with the goal of reducing gaps in test scores across groups, yet little is known about how well they achieve this aim. We ask, “Do test score-based teacher incentives impact the Black–White test score gap?” Using student–teacher matched data and a difference-in-differences approach in which the performance of a teacher’s students before and after the policy is compared, we find that performance pay increases the conditional Black–White gap. The effect is particularly evident when bonuses are large, consistent with a causal response to performance pay.

What Do Local Government Education Managers Do to Boost Learning Outcomes?

Decentralization reforms have shifted responsibility for public service delivery to local government, yet little is known about how their management practices or behavior shape performance. We conducted a comprehensive management survey of mid-level education bureaucrats and their staff in every district in Tanzania, and employ flexible machine learning techniques to identify important management practices associated with learning outcomes. We find that management practices explain 10 percent of variation in a district's exam performance. The three management practices most predictive of performance are: i) the frequency of school visits; ii) school and teacher incentives administered by the district manager; and iii) performance review of staff. Although the model is not causal, these findings suggest the importance of robust systems to motivate district staff, schools, and teachers, that include frequent monitoring of schools. They also show the importance of surveying subordinates of managers, in order to produce richer information on management practices.

Teacher Incentives and Student Performance: Evidence from Brazil

This paper provides evidence on a large-scale teacher incentive program in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, which awarded group bonuses to teachers and school staff conditional on improvements in student performance. By using a difference-in-differences (DD) and tripledifferences (DDD) framework with a series of alternative counterfactual groups, I show that the program had positive effects on student achievement up to seven years after the program implementation, although improvements vary across grades and subjects. While it could be expected that free-riding effects increase with the number of teachers in schools, limiting the impact of the program, this does not seem to be the case.

Understanding School Principal Attrition and Mobility Through Hierarchical Generalized Linear Modeling

Despite a growing body of turnover literature, much remains unknown about the factors predicting career transitional behaviors of school principals. To bridge this gap, we examined variations in principal, school, and district characteristics influencing administrator leaver and mover behaviors, using Hierarchical Generalized Linear Modeling. Our findings revealed that class size, support staff, parental involvement, teacher incentives, unionization, and many other district-level policies offset turnover, thereby contributing to retention. Furthermore, predictors of principal mover behavior differed from those of principal leaver behavior, suggesting that different forms of exit paths may need different policy tools to improve retention.