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This paper examines the contribution of classroom students' seating positions to learning gains. Data were gathered from a sample of 1907 grade six students who sat for the same seat twice over an interval of about 10 months. They were drawn from a random selection of 72 low and high performing primary schools. Results of a multi-level regression show that seating in the front row in a classroom led to higher learning gains of between 5 percent and 27 percent compared to seating in other rows that are farther away from the chalkboard. The policy implication to education is that student's seating position can be manipulated in a way that it optimizes learning gains for slow learners.

This paper examines the contribution of quality mathematics teaching to student achievement gains. Quality of mathematics teaching is assessed through teacher demonstration of the five strands of mathematical proficiency, the level of cognitive task demands, and teacher mathematical knowledge. Data is based on 1907 grade 6 students who sat for the same test twice over an interval of about 10 months. The students were drawn from a random selection of 72 low-and high-performing primary schools. Multi-level regression shows the effects of quality mathematics teaching at both individual and school levels, while controlling for other variables that influence achievement. Results show that students in low-performing schools gained more by 6 % when mathematics instruction involved high-level cognitive task demands, with two thirds of all the lessons observed demonstrating the strands of mathematics proficiency during instruction. The implication to education is that quality of mathematics instruction is more critical in improving learning gains among low-performing students.

Background Good health is a fundamental huma right, a valued asset, and a prerequisite for improved productivity. However, high poverty can lead to under utilization or lack of utilization of health care leading to poor health. Thus, poverty reduction and improvement of health care utilization are important in ensuring enjoyment of good health. Since 1982, poverty has remained above 40 per cent despite Kenya’s commitment to poverty reduction. Kenya’s health indicators have also not been impressive and health care utilization has remained low. Evidence shows that those who fell sick and reported lack of finances as the main reason for not seeking medical attention constituted 44 per cent, 38 per cent and 21.4 per cent in 2003, 2007 and 2013, respectively. These statistics point to poor health care utilization due to poverty. In Kenya, studies have concentrated on small segments of the population or parts of the country hence limiting generalization of the findings. Objective The objective of this paper was to determine the effect of poverty on health care utilization in Kenya. Method The study used a Negative Binomial Regression and the 2013 Kenya Household Expenditure and Utilization Survey dataset. The study also used Two Stage Residual Inclusion approach and a Control Function Approach to test and control for potential endogeneity and unobserved heterogeneity problems, respectively. Results The estimation results showed that reduction in poverty increased health care utilization. Other factors that had a positive and statistically significant effect on health care utilization were household size, early levels of education, and distance to the nearest health facility. Conclusion The study concludes that health care utilization is negatively affected by poverty other factors held constant. Thus, policies and strategies aimed at reducing poverty are needed. In particular the study recommends introduction of universal health care for all.

There is a growing public concern in Kenya over the persistent gap between those schools that are consistently ranked at the top and those ranked at the bottom of the annual Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination league tables. This has raised the issue of inequality in educational opportunity. Our primary concern in this paper is to understand some of the classroom-school factors that may explain the persistent differences in achievement between the top and bottom schools. We focus on time-on-task (the length of exposure to any particular teaching and learning task) and curriculum content, and ask whether this explains the difference in performance. We test the following hypotheses: differences exist on teachers' time-on-task between low and high performing schools; greater teacher time-on-task has a positive effect on student gain score; and greater content coverage has a positive effect on student achievement. For the student achievement gains, we use item response theory test scores of 1889 Grade 6 pupils from 70 schools in Kenya. Data on time-on-task were generated from 70 maths lessons observed in these schools, while content coverage was developed from students' maths note books for the entire period they were in Grade 6. The study was conducted by a team of researchers at the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) with funding from Google.org. Using two level hierarchical modelling, we control for pupil, teacher and school factors. Results show that exposure to content is positively correlated with pupil gain scores (gain score is the difference in score between test at time t1 and test at time t2 of the same pupil taught by the same teacher). Maths teachers in both bottom and top performing schools spend the same proportion of time-on-task. However, we do not find that time-on-task is related to achievement in this sample.