School effectiveness in developing countries - A summary of the research evidence -
Education Research Paper
No. 01, 1993, 25 p.
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Section 5: General studies and
reviews of school effectiveness in
developing countries
5.1 Effectiveness
5.2 Cost-effectiveness
5.1 Effectiveness
Heyneman & Loxley (1983) studied science achievement in 16 developing and 13
industrialized countries, and found that
Children who attend primary school in countries with low per capita
incomes have learned substantially less after similar amounts of time in
school than have pupils in high income countries. At the same time, the
lower the income of the country, the weaker the influence of pupils' social
status on achievement. Conversely, in low-income countries, the effect of
school and teacher quality on academic achievement in primary school is
comparatively greater. From these data, which are more representative of
the world's population of schoolchildren than those used in previous
studies, it is possible to conclude that the predominant influence on
student learning is the quality of the schools and teachers to which
children are exposed. (p 1162)
Fuller (1987) considered more than 50 empirical studies. His review also suggests that
the school institution exerts a greater influence on achievement within
developing countries compared to industrialized nations, after accounting
for the effect of pupil background. (pp 255-256)
He reports that few studies have emphasized effect sizes or the efficiency with which a