Abstract
We study a randomized evaluation of a merit scholarship program in which Kenyan girls who scored well on academic exams had school fees paid and received a grant. Girls showed substantial exam score gains, and teacher attendance improved in program schools. There were positive externalities for girls with low pretest scores, who were unlikely to win a scholarship. We see no evidence for weakened intrinsic motivation. There were heterogeneous program effects. In one of the two districts, there were large exam gains and positive spillovers to boys. In the other, attrition complicates estimation, but we cannot reject the hypothesis of no program effect.
Highlights
IN many education systems, those who perform well on exams covering the material of one level of education receive free or subsidized access to the level of education
We find evidence for positive program impacts on academic performance: girls who were eligible for scholarships in program schools had significantly higher test scores than comparison schoolgirls
We focus on the intention to treat (ITT) sample, restricted sample, and longitudinal sample
Summary
IN many education systems, those who perform well on exams covering the material of one level of education receive free or subsidized access to the level of education. Evidence from Busia district, where there were positive test score gains overall, that boys experienced significant test score gains even though they were ineligible for the scholarship, together with the gains among low-scoring girls, suggests positive externalities to student effort, either directly among students or through the program’s impact on teacher effort. The program did not lead to adverse changes in student attitudes toward school or increase extra test preparation tutoring; program school test score gains remained large in the year following the competition, after incentives were removed This suggests that the test score improvements reflect real learning. Our study differs from the Israeli one in several ways, including our estimation of externality impacts, larger school sample size, and richer data on school attendance and student attitudes and time use, which allow us to better illuminate potential mechanisms for the test score results
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