Automatic Promotion and Student Dropout: Evidence from Uganda, Using Propensity Score in Difference in Differences Model

Okurut, Jeje Moses

doi:10.5539/jel.v7n2p191

Cited by 8 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…The author found significant effects of the AP policy on literacy and numeracy in primary 3 and primary 6, larger effects in rural areas compared to urban areas, and similar effects for boys and girls (Okurut, 2015). In addition, the author found some effect on dropout among male and female students in rural areas in primary grade three, but not in urban areas and not in primary grade six (Okurut, 2018).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Policies and interventions to remove gender‐related barriers to girls' school participation and learning in low‐ and middle‐income countries: A systematic review of the evidence

Psaki

Haberland

Mensch

et al. 2022

Campbell Systematic Reviews

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Background Gender disparities in education continue to undermine girls' opportunities, despite enormous strides in recent years to improve primary enrolment and attainment for girls in low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs). At the regional, country and subnational levels gender gaps remain, with girls in many settings less likely to complete primary school, less likely to complete secondary, and often less likely to be literate than boys. The academic and policy literatures on the topic of gender‐related barriers to girls' education are both extensive. However, there remain gaps in knowledge regarding which interventions are most likely to work in contexts with different combinations of barriers. Objectives This systematic review identified and assessed the strength of the evidence of interventions and exposures addressing gender‐related barriers to schooling for girls in LMICs. Search Methods The AEA RCT Registry, Africa Bibliography, African Education Research Database, African Journals Online, DEC USAID, Dissertation Abstracts, EconLit, ELDIS, Evidence Hub, Global Index Medicus, IDEAS‐Repec, Intl Clinical Trials Registry, NBER, OpenGrey, Open Knowledge Repository, POPLINE, PsychINFO, PubMed, Research for Development Outputs, ScienceDirect, Sociological Abstracts, Web of Science, as well as relevant organization websites were searched electronically in March and April of 2019. Further searches were conducted through review of bibliographies as well as through inquiries to authors of included studies, relevant researchers and relevant organizations, and completed in March 2020. Selection Criteria We included randomized controlled trials as well as quasi‐experimental studies that used quantitative models that attempted to control for endogeneity. Manuscripts could be either published, peer‐reviewed articles or grey literature such as working papers, reports and dissertations. Studies must have been published on or after 2000, employed an intervention or exposure that attempted to address a gender‐related barrier to schooling, analyzed the effects of the intervention/exposure on at least one of our primary outcomes of interest, and utilized data from LMICs to be included. Data Collection and Analysis A team of reviewers was grouped into pairs to independently screen articles for relevance, extract data and assess risk of bias for each included study. A third reviewer assisted in resolving any disputes. Risk of bias was assessed either through the RoB 2 tool for experimental studies or the ROBINS‐I tool for quasi‐experimental studies. Due to the heterogeneity of study characteristics and reported outcome measures between studies, we applied the GRADE (Grading of Recommendation, Assessment, Development and Evaluation) approach adapted for situations where a meta‐analysis is not possible to synthesize the research. Results Interventions rated as effective exist for three gender‐related barriers: inability to afford tuition and fees, lack of adequate food, and insufficient academic support. Promising inter...

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Policies and interventions to remove gender‐related barriers to girls' school participation and learning in low‐ and middle‐income countries: A systematic review of the evidence

Psaki

Haberland

Mensch

et al. 2022

Campbell Systematic Reviews

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“…Reversing the common trend of establishing the effect of repetition on outcomes, Okurut (2018) estimates the impact of grade promotion on school dropout in Uganda 10 . Uganda adopted the practice of automatic promotion in the public school system without compelling the private sector to do so.…”

Section: Repetition and Dropoutmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Cost of Repetition in South Africa

et al. 2019

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An almost unnoticed problem in the South African education system is the high rate of grade repetition. In this report, a combination of household and administrative datasets is used to identify patterns in learner repetition and dropout in South African schooling and the costs associated with these issues. According to the most conservative estimate, the number of learners in public schools repeating in grades 1 to 12 could have been 1 180 000. In monetary terms, this implies that the cost of having repeaters in the public education system was at least R20 billion (in 2018 prices), absorbing 8% of the total national budget allocated to basic education in 2018/2019. At least a half of these repetition costs is attributed to the high prevalence of repetition in the secondary school phase, with the largest number of repeaters located in grade 10 (at least 1 in every 5 grade 10 learners repeat). Despite the promulgation of repetition policy that limits the number of times learners can repeat a school phase, repetition trends in the past decade display a strong inertia, especially in higher grades. To monitor these trends better, and to track the implementation of these policies, significant improvements will need to be made to the quality of reporting on repeaters and dropout in EMIS data. While repetition is a problem, it is merely a symptom of a weakly functioning education system. The repetition debate is thus secondary to the need to address the quality of the education provided in our schools, and particularly in the foundation phase. Quality improvements will also make it easier to implement sensible policies on repetition and to provide remediation and support where these are needed. Moreover, by freeing resources currently needed to deal with repetition, improved education quality would also make remediation more feasible. Acknowledgment: This paper was produced as a study for the DG Murray Trust and funded by this trust. FOREWORD The DG Murray Trust (DGMT), a philanthropic organisation that focuses its support strongly on human development, has expressed concern about school dropout and is actively involved in interventions to prevent such dropout. Against this background, DGMT requested Resep to investigate this issue and highlight the costs of repetition, as repetition at earlier grades largely acts as a precursor to drop out from the school system. It is the combination of repetition and dropout rather than inadequate demand for education that stops many from continuing to higher levels of education. This study aims to contribute to an understanding of the cost of repetition and dropout in terms of their impact on the affected individuals and on society, and their wider impact on productivity, social mobility, and fiscal costs. Data for this study were made available by the Department of Basic Education and the Northern Cape Provincial Department of Education. The researchers wish to thank them for making the data available and hope that this study would be of benefit to them and indeed the full educatio...

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“…Koppensteiner (2014) analyzed Brazilian primary schools using the difference-in-differences approach and demonstrated that the automatic promotion reduced the repetition rates in the 4th grade. Okurut (2018) also examined the influence of automatic promotion on dropouts in Uganda's primary schools using the difference-in-differences approach, clarifying that the contribution of this policy to the reduction of the dropout rate in the third grade. Conversely, Ahmed and Mihiretie (2015) compared the repetition and dropout rates and learning performance before and after the introduction of automatic promotion in Ethiopia.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It has therefore been suggested that the educational circumstances of the poor have not improved sufficiently, despite the implementation of free basic education (Kadzamira and Rose, 2003; IJCED 23,4 Assaad and Krafft, 2015). In addition, automatic promotion was confirmed to exert a positive influence in urban schools, but not in rural schools (Okurut, 2018). It has been mentioned that socioeconomically disadvantaged individuals are more likely to repeat grades and to drop out (Levy, 1971;Patrinos and Psacharopoulos, 1992;Sajjad et al, 2012); such disadvantaged students may not be able to benefit fully from education policies, and their situations may not improve.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Socioeconomic status (SES) and the benefits of the “continuous assessment and progression system (CAPS)” in lower secondary education in Myanmar

Yoshida

2021

IJCED

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PurposeThis study investigated the trends of repetition and dropout rates in Myanmar's lower secondary education before and after the introduction of the “Continuous Assessment and Progression System (CAPS)” and probed the dependence of these tendencies on high-, middle- and low- socioeconomic status (SES). The obtained results were then examined to extract effective policy implications for the achievement of universal secondary education as specified in the Sustainable Development Goals.Design/methodology/approachBefore and after the CAPS introduction at four government secondary schools, grade repetition and dropout rate trends were examined with respect to differences in students' SES. The analysis utilised a sample of 7,272 students from target secondary schools in urban Yangon Region, Myanmar.FindingsIt was found that since the introduction of CAPS, the grade repetition rates had fallen significantly in all SES groups, so was effective regardless of students' SES. The results also demonstrated the influence of unequal CAPS on dropout rates: in the middle-SES group, significant falls to nearly zero post-CAPS implementation. The high-SES group was at ceiling pre- and post-CAPS, so was unaffected. However, in the low-SES group, high dropout rates persisted, indicating that the poor socioeconomic backgrounds of these students significantly reduced the benefits of CAPS.Originality/valueRather than using cross-sectional data such as education statistics, this study used longitudinal data based on academic enrollment registries that included information on individual enrollment statuses, which allowed for the relationships between grade repetition, school dropout, education policies and socioeconomic circumstances to be elucidated.

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Automatic Promotion and Student Dropout: Evidence from Uganda, Using Propensity Score in Difference in Differences Model

Cited by 8 publications

References 24 publications

Policies and interventions to remove gender‐related barriers to girls' school participation and learning in low‐ and middle‐income countries: A systematic review of the evidence

Policies and interventions to remove gender‐related barriers to girls' school participation and learning in low‐ and middle‐income countries: A systematic review of the evidence

The Cost of Repetition in South Africa

Socioeconomic status (SES) and the benefits of the “continuous assessment and progression system (CAPS)” in lower secondary education in Myanmar

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