Comparative cost-effectiveness analysis: What works to increase student attendance around the world?

• In Event: Cost effectiveness analysis for sustainable education policy

Proposal

Evidence from a substantial body of randomized evaluations suggests that the investments that parents and students make in education is sensitive to the costs and perceived benefits of schooling. And, while this literature suggests that certain approaches may be effective at increasing schooling, policymakers seeking to improve student attendance face resource constraints. The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), a network of more than 140 affiliated professors who conduct randomized evaluations to test and improve the effectiveness of programs and policies aimed at reducing poverty, carries out comparative cost-effectiveness analyses to inform policy decisions. By integrating costing information to high-quality impact measurement, comparative cost-effectiveness analysis can highlight the types of programs that tend to be most cost-effective, and therefore serve as a useful starting point in the decision-making process.

The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) recently released a review of randomized evaluations that tested programs designed to increase student attendance, including a cost-effectiveness analysis comparing fifteen different programs in eight countries. The programs included in the analysis were chosen based on whether J-PAL had sufficient cost data to conduct an analysis. This presentation will highlight the results from this recent publication, focusing specifically on the results of the cost-effectiveness analysis. Perhaps surprisingly, the most cost-effective programs to improve student enrollment and attendance included in the analysis were those that addressed health problems. Additionally, reducing the distance to school by creating low-cost schools in areas where few schools existed were also highly cost-effective. On average, reducing the cost of school, providing cash transfers, and providing other incentives were not as cost-effective as other approaches. In addition to sharing results from the cost-effectiveness analysis, this presentation will highlight key caveats and factors to keep in mind when interpreting the results of this comparative cost-effectiveness analysis.

Around the world, education is correlated with a range of positive outcomes including higher incomes, better health, and more active participation in politics and civil society. Encouragingly, there has been a dramatic rise in the number of children enrolled in school in recent decades, with 91 percent of primary school age children enrolled in school in 2015. However, these gains do not always translate into increased achievement, and learning gaps exist in many settings. Programs have increasingly focused on increasing the quality of education students achieve beyond the goal of increasing enrollment alone.

Author

• Robert Rogers, Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL)