An Eclectic Approach to Estimating the Determinants of Achievement in Kenyan Primary Schools
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Date
2000-06
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A.A.U
Abstract
This paper estimates the determinants of achievement in kenyan primary
education by maa:'ing use of a Specially designed reading Comprehension test in English
Jor Slandard Six Us A Proxy uf u(;'hievemeni. reading (;'umprehensiun is C:h(jsen un the
Presumption that the abilzty of the pupil to read and comprehend the language of
instruction is a sure w01 to better perjormance. the kenyan education system has a
cycle of eight years and therefore, the level of comprehension of the pupils at standard
si.-.: Is A fair enough reflection of the quality of the entire education system.
We Make use of the data collected by the southern african consortium for
}vfonitoring education quality (sacivfeq) under the national primary education
baseline survey In 1998. the data Includes not only scores on the achievement tests
stated above, but also detailed information on each child's household and the primary
school he or she attends.In our analyses, we integrate the production fimction framework favored by
economists with the concerns of educators about pedagogical processes and those of
socialists regarding school organization and management. we also correct for selectivity
biases induced by school choice between private and public schools bearing in mind that
parents in Kenya have considerable freedom in choosing which school their children
attend. our results indicate that there is indeed a positive selection into the private
school. implying that given the opportunity, parent. are more willing to send their
children to private schools than public schools. our findings show that all the three
components in an education system classified into: - both physical and pedagogical
inputs; teaching process; and school organization and climate influence pupil
achievemeni.
based on these results we conclude that beside heavy investments in education
involving physical and pedagogical inputs alone, school reforms that concentrate on just
a few pedagogical practices could lead to substantial improvements in pupil
achievements
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Keywords
Eclectic, Estimating