DSpace Collection:https://ir.iimcal.ac.in:8443/jspui/handle/123456789/9972024-03-29T05:07:09Z2024-03-29T05:07:09ZSchooling responses to income changes: Evidence from unconditional cash transfers in RwandaSabates, RicardoBhutoria, AditiSabates-Wheeler, RachelDevereux, Stephenhttps://ir.iimcal.ac.in:8443/jspui/handle/123456789/47652024-03-27T05:47:55Z2019-01-01T00:00:00ZTitle: Schooling responses to income changes: Evidence from unconditional cash transfers in Rwanda
Authors: Sabates, Ricardo; Bhutoria, Aditi; Sabates-Wheeler, Rachel; Devereux, Stephen
Abstract: This paper explores the short and medium term impacts of unconditional cash transfers on school-related choices for children of beneficiary households in Rwanda. We draw on an independent evaluation of the Concern Worldwide Graduation Programme, which supported beneficiaries with monthly cash transfers and livelihood training. Our study finds that the programme enabled poor households to overcome income constraints and, consequently, allowed them to make investments in education. However, since school attendance already exceeded 80 percent at baseline due to the government’s focus on universal access to basic education, the programme was unable to induce additional educational access. Thus, for children who remain out of school, income effects and policy efforts were found to be ineffective.
Description: Ricardo Sabates
University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Aditi Bhutoria
Indian Institute of Management Calcutta.
Harvard Kennedy School, United States of America.
Rachel Sabates-Wheeler
Institute of Development Studies, United Kingdom.
Stephen Devereux
Institute of Development Studies, United Kingdom; Volume 93, Pages 177-1872019-01-01T00:00:00ZAccess to educational technology and its implications on learning outcomes of 15-year olds in Saudi Arabia empirical evidence from OECD PISA 2018 in the context of COVID-19.Bhutoria, AditiAljabri, Nayyafhttps://ir.iimcal.ac.in:8443/jspui/handle/123456789/47642024-03-26T05:38:26Z2020-01-01T00:00:00ZTitle: Access to educational technology and its implications on learning outcomes of 15-year olds in Saudi Arabia empirical evidence from OECD PISA 2018 in the context of COVID-19.
Authors: Bhutoria, Aditi; Aljabri, Nayyaf
Abstract: Fueled by the increasing availability and sophistication of digital technology, applications of Educational Technology (EdTech) have gained popularity at home and school. EdTech applications have been argued to address global education challenges by increasing access to education, identifying and teaching at the right level, managing class-sizes, and enhancing teacher development. The COVID-19 global health emergency has accelerated interest in how technology may support learning given that the mode of schooling is likely to be seriously impacted in the short-, medium, and potentially long-term. According to the Educational Production Function (EPF) theory evolved after the Coleman report (1966), more emphasis should be laid upon input factors that can be controlled by policymakers like the educational physical environment available to students. EdTech access is one such input factor. Education policymakers across the world, including Saudi Arabia, are now relying upon online portals and digital gadgets to provide lessons at home. Given this context, the current paper has used the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 dataset administered on a representative group of 15-year olds in the Kingdom and applied the EPF model to understand the role of EdTech access at home in improving learning outcomes. The paper finds a positive and statistically significant association between the availability and usage of EdTech resources with students' academic performance on subjects like reading, mathematics, and science. In addition, the paper shows that EdTech use varies across student subgroups in Saudi Arabia. For instance, students belonging to higher income households benefit more from EdTech usage. Further, female students outperform male students in both EdTech usage and test scores. Based on such findings, the paper concludes with key policy recommendations to inform a holistic EdTech response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Description: Aditi Bhutoria
Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, India.
Aljabri, Nayya
Education and Training Evaluation Commission (ETEC), Saudi Arabia.2020-01-01T00:00:00ZManagerial practices and school efficiency: a data envelopment analysis across OECD and MENA countries using TIMSS 2019 dataBhutoria, AditiAljabri, Nayyafhttps://ir.iimcal.ac.in:8443/jspui/handle/123456789/47632024-03-26T05:09:10Z2022-01-01T00:00:00ZTitle: Managerial practices and school efficiency: a data envelopment analysis across OECD and MENA countries using TIMSS 2019 data
Authors: Bhutoria, Aditi; Aljabri, Nayyaf
Abstract: School-level inefficiencies and mismanagement can have serious repercussions for human resource development and labor market outcomes. This paper investigates the extent and consequences of existing technical inefficiency of schools with respect to their resource- and people-management aspects at a cross-country level across Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) regions. It employs a non-radial Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) alongside a second stage Tobit regression model using datasets in the latest Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2019. The analysis covers 5164 schools across 26 countries. In the first stage of DEA analysis, it is evident that technical inefficiencies exist similarly across schools of both OECD and MENA nations, irrespective of the method used for efficiency calculation. While availability of educational resources is a necessary condition for improving learning outcomes, it is surely not sufficient. In the second stage of the Tobit regression, the model confirms that improved utilization of the existing resources through better educational management systems can yield higher cognitive achievement at the school-level. The empirical findings also reveal that discipline maintained within the student body at school is one of the most important and significant factors associated with higher school level input- and output-efficiency across both MENA and OECD regions. Moreover, different aspects of people management, particularly target setting, student as well as teacher motivation, and parental involvement in school management are found to be positively associated with school-level technical efficiency across the two regions, albeit in varying degrees. Overall, educational management policies should shift focus from solely providing higher quantity of resources to improving the technical efficiency of schools through enhanced school-level management, by encouraging disciplinary action, as well as by supporting stakeholder incentives that foster motivation and participation.
Description: Aditi Bhutoria
Indian Institute of Management Calcutta. Kolkata
Education and Training Evaluation Commission, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Nayyaf Aljabri
Education and Training Evaluation Commission, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Department of Educational Administration, College of Education, Taibah University, Medina, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.2022-01-01T00:00:00ZPatterns of cognitive returns to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) use of 15-year-olds: Global evidence from a Hierarchical Linear Modeling approach using PISA 2018Bhutoria, AditiAljabri, Nayyafhttps://ir.iimcal.ac.in:8443/jspui/handle/123456789/47622024-03-26T04:29:43Z2022-01-20T00:00:00ZTitle: Patterns of cognitive returns to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) use of 15-year-olds: Global evidence from a Hierarchical Linear Modeling approach using PISA 2018
Authors: Bhutoria, Aditi; Aljabri, Nayyaf
Abstract: Existing literature shows varying impacts of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on learning outcomes depending on the type and quality of technology used. However, current research on the optimal level of ICT use for the cognitive development of students is scarce and has remained country-specific, primarily focusing on developed economies. This paper undertakes a cross-country comparison across 79 nations, investigating ICT use and its association with cognitive gain patterns as determined by reading, mathematics, and science test scores of 15-year-olds. The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 dataset collected by the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has been used by applying two-stage regression analysis. The first stage involves a three-level Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) factoring for data nested at the student-, school-, and country-level. The second stage of the empirical model involves a heterogeneity analysis to evaluate variance in ICT use patterns across different groups of countries, clustered on the basis of their level of ICT development. The results show a positive impact of ICT engagement on the test scores of students across all the subjects. However, returns to ICT use tend to start diminishing after the engagement level of students crosses a medium threshold of using ICT several times within a week. Furthermore, the heterogeneity analysis supports conspicuous diminishing patterns in ICT use irrespective of the economic status of the students. Cross-country comparisons show that diminishing returns to ICT use are more prominent in countries with well-developed ICT infrastructure than in less-developed ones. Where diminishing returns hold, excessive use of ICT in education is not an optimal choice, and significant cognitive gains can be achieved by using the complementarity between traditional learning techniques with ICT-based learning in different blended settings.
Description: Aditi Bhutoria,
Indian Institute of Management Calcutta,.
Strategic Advisor, EdTech Hub, UK.
Nayyaf Aljabri
Education and Training Evaluation Commission, King Khalid Bin Abdulaziz Road, Al-Nakheel Al-Gharbi District, Riyadh, 11683, Saudi Arabia2022-01-20T00:00:00Z