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

characteristics: they display an orderly environment, emphasize academic
achievement, set high expectations for student achievement, and are run
by teachers or principals who expend an enormous amount of effort to
produce effective teaching and encourage pupils to learn, no matter what
their family background or gender. Few schools in developing countries
display these features. (Haddad et al, 1990, p57)

Haddad et al report that

many of those who have observed the schooling process in both developed
and developing countries conclude that the most important factor
governing how well pupils do in school is school management....several

studies have identified headmaster education and experience as important
variables that affect pupils' achievement (ibid)

The issue of school management is discussed further in section 6.

5.2 Cost-effectiveness

According to Haddad et al (1990, p50)

Educational production function studies have not been able to tell us
accurately which school inputs have larger and smaller effects on
achievement. Neither have they been particularly useful in identifying
which inputs are more cost-effective than others - although "size" effects
of the inputs are often a product of such studies, they rarely measure costs
of inputs.

A review is given by Lockheed & Hanushek (1988). They point out that only a very few
possible educational investments have been subject to analysis containing both
effectiveness indicators and cost indicators, and these studies only provide examples of
how decisions could be informed by such evidence. The findings of the review are
reproduced in Appendix B. According to Lockheed & Hanushek (1988, pp 31-34)

Most research on instructional materials has focused on textbooks, and
their cost-effectiveness has been examined in several studies. Textbooks
have been found more cost-effective than (a) not having textbooks in
Nicaragua and the Philippines, (b) post-secondary teacher education in
Thailand and Brazil, and (c) a variety of other educational infrastructure
and 'software' inputs in Brazil.....The positive effect of interactive radio

education for learning mathematics and foreign or national languages has

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