SCHOOL CHOICE & QUALITY
LEAPS research on schools investigates the complex landscape of educational access, quality, and choice. This work highlights how schools differ widely in performance, how families navigate diverse options shaped by distance, quality, and affordability, and how local education markets evolve in response to these factors. The findings challenge simple narratives about privatization and religious schooling, revealing instead a dynamic system where market forces influence student opportunities and outcomes.
Heterogeneity in School Value Added
Authors: Tahir Andrabi, Natalie Bau, Jishnu Das, 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
How does variation in school quality within and between public and private schools affect the “private school premium” and parental school choices in rural Pakistan?
Wide Variation in School Quality Even in a Single Village: There is an average gap of 0.43 SD between the best and worst school in a village, and there is similarly large variation among both public and private schools.
Private Schools are Better on Average, but Vary Highly: Private schools outperform public schools by 0.15 SD on average, but moving students from public school to the best private school in a village raises scores by 0.25 SD, but moving them to the worst yields only 0.08 SD.
Parents Value and Pay for Quality: Private school fees rise sharply with higher value-added; a 1 SD increase in SVA is correlated with 68% higher fees.
Market Forces Improve Private, Not Public, Schools: High-quality private schools gain market share and low performers close, especially in wealthier villages. In contrast, poor-quality public "zombie" schools remain open despite being low quality.
Why This Matters
There is a surprisingly large variation in schooling quality, even within a single small market, such as a village in Pakistan. This study demonstrates that while private schools on average outperform public schools, there is enough variation in quality across both school types that moving children from public to private school is not always better.
Furthermore, this study highlights that when parents can distinguish and act on school quality, healthy competition in the private sector can weed out poor performers. However, without similar responsiveness, low-quality public schools persist, providing poor quality education often to the most vulnerable. Replacing or improving these “zombie schools” could have huge positive welfare implications.
Understanding these dynamics is crucial for designing policies such as vouchers or reforms aimed at school accountability, ensuring that efforts to expand choice actually translate into better outcomes for the most disadvantaged students.
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
How do families in rural Pakistan choose between public and private schools? What are the roles of distance, price, and quality in these decisions?
Distance is Crucial: A 500-meter increase in distance to school lowers its chance of being chosen by 11 percentage points for girls and 6 for boys. Parents are willing to pay up to a year’s private tuition to reduce distance.
Parents are Not Price Sensitive after Enrollment: Own-price elasticities are low at –1.12 for girls and –0.37 for boys, showing that price changes after initial enrollment have little effect.
Families Value Quality and Facilities: Families are willing to pay 12–31% additional in yearly fees for better peer achievement and 13–25% for extra school facilities, but distance still matters more.
Private Schools Offer Significant Welfare Gains: Access is worth 2–7% of annual per capita expenditure for current students. Vouchers raise private enrollment but most benefits go to families already choosing private schools.
Why This Matters
The rapid expansion of private schooling in low income countries is transforming educational choices and the stakes for household welfare. Understanding what families value such as proximity, quality, or price can help policymakers design more effective interventions, from school construction to targeted subsidies or voucher programs.
This research shows that simply lowering school fees may have limited impact on broader enrollment unless other barriers such as distance and perceived quality are addressed. As governments weigh investments in public versus private education, this evidence can guide policies that genuinely expand access and improve outcomes for all children, especially in underserved communities.
Do Value-Added Estimates Add Value?
Authors: Tahir Andrabi, Jishnu Das, Asim I. 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
How do learning persistence and related biases affect the accuracy of value-added models for estimating impacts on student achievement?
Low Learning Persistence Across Years: Only 20 to 50 percent of achievement persists from one grade to the next, so most learning gains fade quickly over time.
Standard Models Understate Private School Impact: Assuming full persistence can severely misestimate or even misstate effects.
Proper Models Reveal Larger Effects: Accounting for imperfect persistence, private schools raise achievement by 0.19–0.32 SD per year.
Ignoring Key Biases Distorts Results: Not correcting for student differences or measurement error leads to inaccurate estimates of both persistence and school impacts.
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.
LEAPS Report: Describing Education in Pakistan
Authors: Tahir Andrabi, Jishnu Das, Asim I. Khwaja, Tara Vishwanath, Tristan Zajonc
Citation: Andrabi, Tahir and Jishnu Das and Asim Ijaz Khwaja and Tara Vishwanath and Tristan Zajonc. 2007. “Learning and Educational Achievements in Punjab Schools (LEAPS): Insights to Inform the Education Policy Debate”, Report.
Questions and Findings
What does the education landscape in Pakistan look like? What are the major challenges facing the education system?
Rising Enrollments Driven by Private Sector Growth: Between 2001 and 2005, primary school enrollment in Pakistan rose by 10 percentage points. Private schools increased from 32,000 to 47,000 and accounted for one in three primary aged students.
Dramatically Increased Parental Choice in Rural Areas: Half of rural Punjab’s population now lives in villages with 7 to 8 schools to choose from, transforming the educational landscape into an active marketplace for families.
Better Performance in Private Schools: Students in private schools achieved higher test scores in Urdu, English, and Mathematics, than public schools partly because private school teachers exerted greater effort despite lower pay.
Private Schools More Cost-Efficient: Government schools spend about twice as much per child as private schools, largely due to higher teacher salaries, yet do not achieve better results.
Why This Matters
A surge in school enrollment and the rapid expansion of affordable private schools in Pakistan have given families unprecedented options for their children’s education. However, higher enrollment rates have not been matched by improvements in learning, as many students continue to fall below basic achievement levels.
Private schools consistently deliver better learning results, even though they remain affordable to many families. This suggests untapped potential within the system but also highlights the limitations of relying on enrollment statistics alone. Addressing deep-rooted challenges in quality, system management, and monitoring is essential to ensure that all children, regardless of school type, acquire meaningful skills and knowledge necessary for future success.
Religious School Enrollment in Pakistan
Authors: Tahir Andrabi, Jishnu Das, Asim I. Khwaja, and 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: Fewer than 1% of all enrolled schoolchildren in Pakistan attend madrasas, contradicting much higher figures commonly cited in the media and policy discussions.
No Evidence of Recent Surge: There has been no dramatic increase in madrasa enrollment over recent years; enrollment rates have stayed largely stable since 2001.
Enrollment Is Regionally Concentrated but Still Minor: Madrasa enrollment is higher in districts bordering Afghanistan, but even there it does not exceed 7.5% of enrollments and remains a small share nationwide.
Not Driven by Religiosity or Poverty: Most families with a child in a madrasa also send others to regular schools, showing that enrollment is rarely due solely to religion or poverty, but more often to a lack of schooling alternatives.
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.