The Effect of Primary-School Quality on Academic Achievement Across Twenty-nine High- and Low-Income Countries

Abstract

Most previous research on effects of schooling has concluded that the effect of school or teacher quality on academic achievement is less than that of family background or other characteristics of students that predate entry into school. However, the evidence for that generalization is derived mainly from a few of the world's school systems (mostly in Europe, North America, and Japan). This paper explores diverse influences on pupil achievement in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. Children who attend primary school in countries with low per capita incomes have learned substantially less after similar amounts of time in school than have pupils in high income countries. At the same time, the lower the income of the country, the weaker the influence of pupils' social status on achievement. Conversely, in low-income countries, the effect of school and teacher quality on academic achievement in primary school is comparatively greater. From these data, which are more representative of the world's population of schoolchildren than those used in previous studies, it is possible to conclude that the predominant influence on student learning is the quality of the schools and teachers to which children are exposed.