TY  - SER
AU  - Sawada, Yasuyuki
AU  -  Kawarazaki, Hikaru
AU  -  Mahmud, Minhaj
AU  -  Seki, Mai
TI  - Fighting the Learning Crisis in Developing Countries: A Randomized Experiment of Self-Learning at the Right Level
SN  - 0013-0079
PB  - Economic Development and Cultural Change
KW  -  Cognitive and Noncognitive
KW  -  Learning Crisis
KW  -  Personality Traits
KW  -  Self-Learning
KW  - Developing Countries
N2  - This study investigates the effectiveness of a globally popular method of self-learning at the right level in improving learning outcomes-the cognitive and noncognitive abilities of disadvantaged students-in a developing country, Bangladesh. Using a randomized controlled trial design, we find substantial improvements in cognitive abilities measured by math test scores and in catch-up effects in terms of noncognitive abilities or personality traits measured through a self-esteem scale. Moreover, our study is, to our knowledge, the first to use alternative cognitive ability measures, that is, time reduction as well as time-adjusted test score, which are critical dimensions of cognitive development. Subsequently, we investigate the long-term effects using students' math results in the national-level exam. We find a reasonable longer-term effect on cognitive abilities 20 months after the intervention for younger students. Our estimates indicate that the program's benefits exceed its costs
UR  - https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/725909
ER  -