School Effectiveness in Developing Countries - A Summary of the Research Evidence

developing countries. They recommend the provision of good textbooks and teacher
guides as a "promising avenue" for policy-makers. Computers in the classroom,
however, are regarded as a "blind alley". Although they can be effective in the right
conditions, the costs are much too high.

Several pieces of research on the effectiveness of textbooks have been carried out. For
example, Heyneman et al (1984) evaluated a textbook program in the Philippines, which
they describe as a large-scale investment in school quality improvement. The program
reduced the ratio of pupils per book per subject from an average of 10:1 to 2:1. Three
subjects and two grades were involved. The overall effect of the first year investment in
textbooks was to raise the national level of academic achievement as follows:

The improvements in achievement are measured in S.D. units, and this represents a
sizeable impact. In the case of grade 2 Pilipino, Heyneman et al found evidence that the
textbooks may have been too difficult. Further improvements were not observed by a
further improvement of the pupil-textbook ratio to 1:1. Another interesting finding of
this evaluation was that

the effect of a school quality intervention appears to be the most
pronounced among the children who are most impoverished and whose
home backgrounds are the most underprivileged. (p 150)

Lockheed et al (1986) analysed longitudinal data from a sample of eighth grade
mathematics classrooms in Thailand, and concluded:

This paper confirms that textbooks contribute to student learning in
developing countries and identifies two important mechanisms whereby
this contribution may be made: by substituting for postsecondary teacher
education, and by delivering a more comprehensive curriculum. We found
little evidence that textbooks enabled teachers to make better use of
classroom time, however, or that they encouraged the assignment or
completion of homework. (p379)

They argued also that educational policies favouring postsecondary education for
teachers of lower secondary school may not be appropriate under conditions in which
essential teaching materials are lacking.

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