Despite massive investments in teacher professional development (PD) programs in developing countries, there is little evidence on their effectiveness. We present the results of a large-scale, randomized evaluation of a high-profile PD program in China, in which teachers were randomized to receive PD; PD plus follow-up; PD plus evaluation of their command of the PD content; or no PD. Precise estimates indicate that PD and associated interventions failed to improve teacher and student outcomes. A detailed analysis of the causal chain shows teachers find PD content to be overly theoretical, and PD delivery too rote and passive, to be useful. 

There is a significant gap in academic achievement between rural and urban students in China. Policymakers have sought to close this gap by improving the quality of teaching in rural areas through teacher professional development (PD) programs. However, there is limited evidence on the effectiveness of such programs. In this paper, we evaluate the impact of a PD program-National Teacher Training Program (NTTP)  and find that the NTTP has no effect on math achievement. We also find that while the program has a positive effect on math teaching knowledge of teachers, it has no significant effect on teaching practices in the classroom. Taken together, these results indicate that teachers may have improved their knowledge for teaching from NTTP, but did not apply what they learned to improve teaching practices or student learning.

Abstract: Growing evidence suggests that teachers in developing countries often have weak or misaligned incentives for improving student outcomes. In response, policymakers and researchers have proposed performance pay as a way to improve student outcomes by tying concrete measures like achievement scores to teacher pay. While evidence from randomized experiments generally indicates that performance pay programs are effective at improving student achievement in developing countries, there has been considerable variation in how much these programs affect student achievement. The goals of this study are to: (1) examine the impacts of different teacher performance pay designs on student achievement, both for the average student and for students across the baseline achievement distribution; and (2) examine the mechanisms through which different teacher performance pay designs affect student achievement (for the average student and for students across the baseline achievement distribution). The sample includes a total of 8,892 students and their grade 6 mathematics teachers from 216 schools from 16 nationally-designated "poverty" counties in Yulin Prefecture (Shaanxi Province) and Tianshi Prefecture (Gansu Province) in rural, northwest China. To test the impacts of the different teacher performance pay designs, researchers designed a cluster-randomized controlled trial. In this trial, schools were randomly allocated to 4 different treatment arms: (1) control--no teacher incentive pay; (2) levels incentive--performance pay contract stipulating rewards based on student achievement levels on endline tests; (3) gains incentive--performance pay contract based on student achievement gains from baseline and endline tests; and (4) pay-for-percentile incentive--performance pay contract stipulating rewards based on student growth percentiles. Surveys were used to collect information from the students, teachers, and school administrators. Findings reveal that: (1) Only "pay-for-percentile" incentives had a positive, statistically significant impact on average student achievement; (2) Teacher incentives based on "levels" or "gains" were ineffective; (3) "Gains" incentives led teachers to only focus on certain types of students, which led to negligible learning (on average) across all students; and (4) Pay-for-percentile incentives led to score gains across all students (on average). The results of this study may have important implications for how Teacher Performance Pay Policy can be implemented in China and in other developing countries.

Abstract: We present results of a randomized trial testing alternative approaches of mapping student achievement into rewards for teachers. Teachers in 216 schools in western China were assigned to performance pay schemes where teacher performance was assessed by one of three different methods. We find that teachers offered “pay-for-percentile” incentives (Barlevy and Neal 2012) outperform teachers offered simpler schemes based on class average achievement or average gains over a school year. Moreover, pay-for-percentile incentives produced broad-based gains across students within classes. That teachers respond to relatively intricate features of incentive schemes highlights the importance of close attention to performance pay design. 

Abstract: Recent attention has been placed on whether integrating Information Communication Technology (hereafter, ICT) into education can effectively improve learning outcomes. However, the empirical evidence of the impact of programmes that adopt ICT in schooling is mixed. Theory suggests it may be due to differences in whether or not the ICT pro-grammes are integrated into a teaching programme of a class. Unfortunately, few empirical studies compare the relative effectiveness of programmes that integrate ICT into teaching with the ones that do not. In order to understand the most effective way to design new programmes that attempt to utilize ICT to improve English learning, we conducted a clustered randomized controlled trial (RCT) with some schools receiving ICT that was in-tegrated into the teaching programme of the class; with some schools that received ICT without having it integrated into the teaching programme; and with other schools being used as controls. The RCT involved 6304 fifth grade students studying English in 127 rural schools in rural China. Our results indicate that when the programme is integrated into the teaching programme of a class it is effective in improving student test scores relative to the control schools. No programme impact, however, is found when the ICT programme is not integrated into the teaching program. We also find that when ICT programmes are inte-grated into teaching, the programmes work similarly for students that have either high or low initial (or baseline) levels of English competency. When ICT programmes are not in-tegrated with teaching, they only raise the educational performance of English students who were performing better during the baseline.

 Supplemental Tables to the paper: "Impact of Teacher Professional Development Program on Student Achievement in China"

Students in rural China are dropping out of secondary school at troubling rates. While there is considerable quantitative research on this issue, no systematic effort has been made to assess the deeper reasons behind student decision making through a mixed-methods approach. This article seeks to explore the prevalence, correlates and potential reasons for rural dropout throughout the secondary education process. It brings together results from eight large-scale survey studies covering 24,931 rural secondary students across four provinces, as well as analysis of extensive interviews with 52 students from these same study sites. The results show that the cumulative dropout rate across all windows of secondary education may be as high as 63 per cent. Dropping out is significantly correlated with low academic performance, high opportunity cost, low socioeconomic status and poor mental health. A model is developed to suggest that rural dropout is primarily driven by two mechanisms: rational cost-benefit analysis or impulsive, stress-induced decision making. 

Abstract: Independent reading—unassigned reading for personal pleasure—has been shown to be an important driver of reading skills and academic success. Children that commonly read for pleasure exhibit higher academic performance. However, little research has been done on independent reading in rural China, where the education system is charged with schooling tens of millions of students. Many rural students fall behind their urban counterparts in school, with potentially troubling implications for China’s ongoing development. This article explores the prevalence of independent reading and its associations with reading ability and academic performance among rural students. Using a mixed methods approach, we analyze quantitative data from a survey of 13,232 students from 134 rural schools and interviews with students, teachers, principals, and caregivers. We find that independent reading is positively and significantly correlated with reading ability as well as standardized math and Chinese tests scores. Despite such correlations, only 17 percent of students report reading for pleasure for an hour a day. Interview findings suggest that inaccessible bookstores, curriculum constraints, unsupportive home environments, low availability of appealing and level-appropriate books, and insufficient school investment in reading resources may explain the low prevalence of independent reading.

The goal of this study is to examine whether promising a conditional cash transfer (conditional on matriculation) at the start of junior high school increases the rate at which disadvantaged students matriculate into high school. Based on a randomised controlled trial (RCT) involving 1418 disadvantaged (economically poor) students in rural China, we find that a CCT voucher has no effect on increasing high school matriculation for the average disadvantaged student. The CCT voucher also has no differential impact on students at any point in the distribution of baseline academic achievement. This result suggests that CCTs, while shown to be effective in many contexts, do not always work.