Our findings in the area of school effectiveness have shown that
1. In India, research linking the school and household data has examined the extent to which attendance at a private school is associated with improved learning outcomes. Evidence of some positive effects of private school-attendance across selected cognitive domains at both age 8-10, and at age 15 are found in rural areas, whilst no effect is found for children in urban areas.
2. In Vietnam, analysis on school effectiveness in grade 5 has found that whilst more advantaged pupils make slightly more progress, there is also encouraging evidence of relative catch-up by minority ethnic groups. Further, school-level analysis suggest that pupils in the most disadvantaged group do not attend schools with lower than average overall student progress suggesting that the evidence that more disadvantaged pupils are ‘sorted into’ lower quality schools is relatively weak.
3. Comparative analysis in Peru and Vietnam has examined whether disadvantaged children learn less than advantaged children when both types of children are enrolled in the same school. Findings suggest no sign of discrimination against disadvantaged groups in Vietnam whilst in Peru, ethnic minority pupils and those who enter school with low cognitive skills appear to learn less than their majority or high-achieving counterparts.