School Management and Public-Private Partnerships in Uganda

This paper presents the first internationally benchmarked estimates of school management quality in Africa

Abstract

Can the quality of school management explain differences in student test scores? This paper presents the first internationally benchmarked estimates of school management quality in Africa (based on the “World Management Survey”). The level and distribution of management quality is similar to that found in other low and middle-income countries (India and Brazil). It combine this data with individual student panel data, and demonstrate that differences in school management quality matter for student value-added - a standard deviation difference in management is associated with a 0.06 standard deviation difference in test scores. Finally, it contributes to understanding the role of the private sector in education in a lowincome setting. Contrary to common perception, it finds no difference between the quality of school management in government, private, or public-private partnership (PPP) schools (despite the higher level of autonomy available to them). An exception is an internationally-owned chain of PPP schools, which are as well managed as schools in the UK.

This work is paer of the is Department for International Development’s ‘Research on Improving Systems of Education’ (RISE) Programme

Citation

Crawfurd, L. School Management and Public-Private Partnerships in Uganda. RISE Working Paper 17/013

RISE Working Paper 17/013 - School Management and Public-Private Partnerships in Uganda

Updates to this page

Published 1 July 2017