Liberia's Experiment with Privatising Education: A Critical Analysis of the RCT Study

Autor/in	Klees, Steven J.
Titel	Liberia's Experiment with Privatising Education: A Critical Analysis of the RCT Study
Quelle	In: Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 48 (2018) 3, S.471-482 (12 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0305-7925
DOI	10.1080/03057925.2018.1447061
Schlagwörter	Foreign Countries; Privatization; Public Schools; Randomized Controlled Trials; Partnerships in Education; Tests; Scores; Achievement Gains; Governance; Educational Policy; Cost Effectiveness; Elementary Schools; Program Effectiveness; Liberia + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; Privatisation; Privatisierung; Public school; Öffentliche Schule; Hochschulpartnerschaft; Examination; Prüfung; Examen; Achievement gain; Leistungssteigerung; Education; Educational policy; Financing; Steuerung; Bildung; Erziehung; Bildungspolitik; Finanzierung; Politics of education; Kosten-Nutzen-Analyse; Kosten-Nutzen-Denken; Elementary school; Grundschule; Volksschule
Abstract	To experiment with the possible privatisation of its primary education system, Liberia initiated the Partnership Schools of Liberia (PSL), which turned over the management of 93 public schools to eight private contractors. A randomised controlled trial (RCT) study was initiated comparing the PSL schools with matched public schools and the results were recently published. This paper is a critical analysis of the PSL and its RCT study and has three main conclusions. First, increases in test score were more likely on the order of 35 percent to 45 percent instead of the reported 60 percent. Second, the increase in test scores had little, if anything, to do with the private management of schools. Test score gains likely resulted from policy changes that could be enacted in regular public schools. Third, the PSL is an extraordinarily expensive experiment, costing upwards of $25 million, and is unlikely to be worth the investment. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01