SCHOOL CHOICE, QUALITY & VALUE ADDED
LEAPS research uncovers how school quality is measured and what shapes parent and student choices in Pakistan’s evolving education system. We study the effectiveness of public and private schools, what value-added estimates reveal about learning gains, and how school fees, distance, amenities, and vouchers influence parental decisions. Our research also examines patterns in religious school enrollment to provide a complete picture of where and why families send their children to school. To know more, explore the studies below.
Heterogeneity in School Value Added
Authors: Tahir Andrabi, Natalie Bau, Jishnu Das and Asim I. Khwaja
Citation: Andrabi, Tahir and Natalie Bau and Jishnu Das and Asim I. Khwaja. 2025. “Heterogeneity in School Value Added and the Private Premium”, American Economic Review 115(1): 147–182.
Questions and Findings
Do private schools consistently outperform public schools? What explains differences in student learning gains (“value added”) across schools, and how do parents respond to information about school quality?
School quality varies widely within villages: The best schools add 0.89 SD more to test scores each year than the worst—a large gap in effectiveness.
Not all private schools outperform public: While, on average, private schools have 0.08 SD higher value added, top public schools can surpass many private ones.
Parents recognize and reward quality: Parents enroll more children and pay higher fees at schools with higher value added—each one SD improvement in value added raises market share by 7 percentage points and fees by 18%.
Learning gains are substantial: Across all schools, students gained 0.40 SD per year, matching or exceeding learning growth in many low-income countries.
Why This Matters
This study reveals that the “private premium” in education is not simply due to all private schools being better, but is largely driven by substantial quality differences within both sectors. Many public schools perform as well as or better than private ones, and parents actively seek out higher-quality options when given information and choice.
These findings suggest that expanding informed school choice, increasing the availability of transparent quality data, and focusing on raising quality standards in all schools—not just promoting privatization—are crucial steps for policymakers and education leaders seeking to improve learning. The study’s robust measurement of value added also provides actionable benchmarks for future research and accountability efforts in low-resource settings.
The Value of Private Schools
Authors: Pedro Manuel Carneiro, Jishnu Das, Hugo Reis
Citation: Carneiro, Pedro Manuel and Jishnu Das and Hugo Reis. 2016. “The Value of Private Schools: Evidence from Pakistan”, IZA Discussion Paper No. 9960.
Questions and Findings
What factors (such as school fees, distance, test scores, and amenities) most influence parental choices between public and private primary schools in poor villages in Pakistan? How would introducing school vouchers affect school enrollment patterns and household welfare in these communities?
Fees and distance are key drivers: Reducing school distance or fees substantially increases enrollment, especially for girls—making schools free raises girls' enrollment by 7.5 percentage points and boys' by 4.2 points.
Parents value more than price: Choices are also shaped by peer quality and amenities; access to low-fee private schools delivers substantial welfare gains—on average, about 25% (and up to 100%) of monthly per capita income for users.
Vouchers increase access and welfare: Both simulations and real-world evidence show that fee subsidies boost enrollment and overall household welfare, including for those remaining in public schools.
Welfare and equity gains are concentrated among the disadvantaged: The greatest benefits from vouchers and low-fee private schools go to the poorest and least educated families, helping to reduce educational inequality.
Why This Matters
These results point to important priorities for education policy in low-income countries. Families value factors like distance, school environment, and peer quality—not just test scores—so interventions should reflect diverse parental preferences. Since parents respond to changes in school fees, targeted vouchers or subsidies could meaningfully boost access to quality education, especially for disadvantaged families.
A key policy implication is that expanding support for affordable private schools can promote both educational access and equity. Altogether, the findings guide policymakers toward effective regulation and resource allocation for both private and public schools.
Do Value-Added Estimates Add Value?
Authors: Tahir Andrabi, Jishnu Das, Asim Ijaz Khwaja, Tristan Zajonc
Citation: Andrabi, Tahir and Jishnu Das and Asim Ijaz Khwaja and Tristan Zajonc. 2011. “Do Value-Added Estimates Add Value? Accounting for Learning Dynamics”, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 3(3): 29–54.
Questions and Findings
Does the value-added model (VAM) accurately capture school effectiveness in primary schools in Pakistan, taking into account the observed low persistence of learning gains? What are the consequences of ignoring learning dynamics when applying VAMs in such contexts?
Low learning persistence undermines VAM reliability: Only 20–50% of annual test score gains persist, making value-added models unreliable and causing 43% of schools to change ranking categories each year.
School rankings are unstable: Due to fading gains, 43% of schools move out of top or bottom ranks year-to-year, making VAMs unreliable for consistent performance identification.
Private school advantage is overstated if fade-out is ignored: Private schools gain 0.24–0.34 standard deviations more per year, but ignoring fade-out inflates this advantage by about 45%.
Standard VAMs misclassify schools: Ignoring fade-out can mislabel up to 26% of schools, wrongly identifying ineffective or effective schools.
Why This Matters
Traditional value-added models, which aim to assess school quality based on student progress, can be misleading in contexts where learning gains are not sustained over time. For education systems—especially in low-income countries—this can distort accountability, resource allocation, and policy incentives, affecting school funding, teacher evaluations, and parent choices.
To improve educational decision making, policymakers need to factor in learning persistence when evaluating schools or interventions, and develop more accurate methods that reflect the actual dynamics of student achievement in their contexts.
Religious School Enrollment in Pakistan
Authors: Tahir Andrabi, Jishnu Das, Asim Ijaz Khwaja, Tristan Zajonc
Citation: Andrabi, Tahir, Jishnu Das, Asim I. Khwaja, and Tristan Zajonc. 2006. “Religious School Enrollment in Pakistan: A Look at the Data.” Comparative Education Review, 50 (3): 446-477.
Questions and Findings
What is the actual share of children in Pakistan enrolled in religious (madrasa) schools, and are concerns about rapid growth in madrasa enrollment supported by the data?
Madrasa Enrollment Is Very Low: Madrasa enrollment constitutes less than 1% of all enrolled children in Pakistan nationally, and even in rural Punjab—the province with the highest rates—enrollment is only about 2%.
No Evidence of Rapid Growth: Survey data across multiple years show that madrasa enrollment rates have remained almost unchanged since the mid-1990s; for example, national madrasa participation in 1997 and in 2001 is effectively the same.
Poverty Is Not the Main Driver: The vast majority of out-of-school or poor children do not enroll in madrasas. Even among the poorest households, less than 1-2% of children attend madrasas; enrollment in public or private schools overwhelmingly dominates.
Lack of Alternatives Matters Only Rarely: Madrasas are most likely to be attended when no other schools are present in a settlement, but even in those areas, overall madrasa participation remains modest.
Why This Matters
Understanding the true scale of madrasa enrollment is essential for informed education policy and public debate in Pakistan. By dispelling myths of widespread or rapidly growing religious school attendance, this study helps redirect attention and resources toward the real challenges faced by the education system—such as improving the quality of and access to public and private secular schools.
Effective policy must be grounded in facts, not sensationalized narratives, and these findings encourage a shift toward evidence-based reforms that address the needs of the vast majority of Pakistani children.