Improving School Management in Low and Middle Income Countries: A Systematic Review. EdWorkingPaper No. 23-795

Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University. Brown University Box 1985, Providence, RI 02912. Tel: 401-863-7990; Fax: 401-863-1290; e-mail: annenberg@brown.edu; Web site: https://annenberg.brown.edu/

N

62

School Administration; Educational Improvement; Foreign Countries; Educational Quality; Instructional Leadership; Administrators; Administrator Characteristics; Administrator Responsibility; Administrator Evaluation; Program Effectiveness; Program Implementation; Accountability; Meta Analysis; Management Development; Administrator Qualifications; Decision Making

Sri Lanka; Ghana; Gambia; Brazil; Argentina; Uganda; United States; Mexico; Madagascar; Guatemala; India; Peru

Improving school quality in low and middle income countries (LMICs) is a global priority. One way to improve quality may be to improve the management skills of school leaders. In this systematic review, we analyze the impact of interventions targeting school leaders' management practices on student learning. We begin by describing the characteristics and responsibilities of school leaders using data from large, multi-country surveys. Second, we review the literature and conduct a meta-analysis of the causal effect of school management interventions on student learning, using 39 estimates from 20 evaluations. We estimate a statistically significant improvement in student learning of 0.04 standard deviations. We show that effect sizes are not related to program scale or intensity. We complement the meta-analysis by identifying common limitations to program effectiveness through a qualitative assessment of the studies included in our review. We find three main factors which mitigate program effectiveness: 1) low take-up; 2) lack of incentives or structure for implementation of recommendations; and 3) the lengthy causal chain linking management practices to student learning. Finally, to assess external validity of our review, we survey practitioners to compare characteristics between evaluated and commonly implemented programs. Our findings suggest that future work should focus on generating evidence on the marginal effect of common design elements in these interventions, including factors that promote school leader engagement and accountability.

As Provided

2025

ED672340