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Equivalent Years of Schooling : A Metric to Communicate Learning Gains in Concrete Terms

Author

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  • Evans,David
  • Yuan,Fei
Abstract
In the past decade, hundreds of impact evaluation studies have measured the learning outcomes of education interventions in developing countries. The impact magnitudes are often reported in terms of"standard deviations,"making them difficult to communicate to policy makers beyond education specialists. This paper proposes two approaches to demonstrate the effectiveness of learning interventions, one in"equivalent years of schooling"and another in the net present value of potential increased lifetime earnings. The results show that in a sample of low- and middle-income countries, one standard deviation gain in literacy skill is associated with between 4.7 and 6.8 additional years of schooling, depending on the estimation method. In other words, over the course of a business-as-usual school year, students learn between 0.15 and 0.21 standard deviation of literacy ability. Using that metric to translate the impact of interventions, a median structured pedagogy intervention increases learning by the equivalent of between 0.6 and 0.9 year of business-as-usual schooling. The results further show that even modest gains in standard deviations of learning -- if sustained over time -- may have sizeable impacts on individual earnings and poverty reduction, and that conversion into a non-education metric should help policy makers and non-specialists better understand the potential benefits of increased learning.

Suggested Citation

  • Evans,David & Yuan,Fei, 2019. "Equivalent Years of Schooling : A Metric to Communicate Learning Gains in Concrete Terms," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8752, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:8752
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Kaiser, Tim & Lusardi, Annamaria & Menkhoff, Lukas & Urban, Carly, 2022. "Financial education affects financial knowledge and downstream behaviors," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(2), pages 255-272.
    2. Heleen Hofmeyr, 2020. "South Africa’s Pro-Girl Gap in PIRLS and TIMSS: How Much Can Be Explained?," Working Papers 17/2020, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    3. Alasino, Enrique & Ramírez, María José & Romero, Mauricio & Schady, Norbert & Uribe, David, 2024. "Learning losses during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from Mexico," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    4. Piza, Caio & Zwager, Astrid & Ruzzante, Matteo & Dantas, Rafael & Loureiro, Andre, 2024. "Teacher-led innovations to improve education outcomes: Experimental evidence from Brazil," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 234(C).
    5. Crawfurd, Lee, 2021. "Accounting for repetition and dropout in contemporaneous cross-section learning profiles: Evidence from Rwanda," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    6. Boruchowicz, Cynthia & Parker, Susan W. & Robbins, Lindsay, 2022. "Time use of youth during a pandemic: Evidence from Mexico," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Educational Sciences; Educational Institutions&Facilities; Inequality; Rural Labor Markets; Labor Markets;
    All these keywords.

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