Improving Education Through Assessment, Innovation, and Evaluation Henry Braun, Anil Kanjee, Eric Bettinger, and Michael Kremer © 2006 by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences All rights reserved. ISBN: 0-87724-058-2 The views expressed in this volume are those held by each contributor and are not necessarily those of the Officers and Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences or its Project on Universal Basic and Secondary Education. Please direct inquiries to: American Academy of Arts and Sciences 136 Irving Street Cambridge, MA 02138-1996 Telephone: (617) 576-5000 Fax: (617) 576-5050 Email:
[email protected] Visit our website at www.amacad.org Contents v PREFACE 1 CHAPTER 1 Using Assessment to Improve Education in Developing Nations Henry Braun and Anil Kanjee 47 CHAPTER 2 Evaluating Educational Interventions in Developing Countries Eric Bettinger 73 CHAPTER 3 Expanding Educational Opportunity on a Budget: Lessons from Randomized Evaluations Michael Kremer 99 CONTRIBUTORS Preface How is progress toward the goal of universal basic and secondary education measured? If measurable progress is being made, to what can it be attrib- uted? How can we identify effective strategies for increasing access to school- ing or for improving the quality of what is taught? As part of the American Academy’s project on Universal Basic and Secondary Education, we asked these questions of Henry Braun, Anil Kanjee, Eric Bettinger, and Michael Kremer. Although assessment is often seen as a tool to measure the progress of individual students, it also allows individuals, communities, and countries to track the quality of schools and educational systems.