Paraprofessional Remediation Cost-Effectiveness
RCTJournal Article
High formal teacher salaries and constrained public budgets prevent developing countries from scaling traditional remedial education programs that rely on credentialed teachers.
Picture this
Hiring local high school graduates with short training to teach basic skills operates like using enthusiastic older students to tutor younger children in fundamental addition, producing substantial learning gains at a small fraction of the cost of hiring full-time university-educated teachers.
What the evidence says
The remedial tutor program cost Rs. 107 ($2.25) per student per year and achieved a cost of $0.67 per standard deviation improvement in test scores, making it 5 to 7 times more cost-effective than computer-assisted learning ($15.18 per student per year).
- Who was studied
- N = 12,855 (Year 1) and N = 21,936 (Year 2) primary school students in Vadodara and Mumbai, India; local tutors were paid Rs. 500–750 ($10–$15) per month.
- How
- Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) cost-effectiveness analysis comparing remedial paraprofessional tutors against computer-assisted learning and formal teacher expansion.
What to do
Recruit and deploy secondary-school educated local paraprofessionals with standardized short-term training to deliver basic skills tutoring in primary schools.
From the source
"Overall, the Balsakhi Program cost is approximately Rs. 107 ($2.25) per student per year, while the CAL Programs cost approximately Rs 722 ($15.18) per student per year, including the cost of computers and assuming a five-year depreciation cycle."
Remedying Education: Evidence from Two Randomized Experiments in India