STUDENT LEARNING & SOCIO-EMOTIONAL OUTCOMES
Explore the landscape of cognitive and socioemotional skill development, shifting enrollment patterns, and the role of family and school environments. You'll also find research on how disasters and parental involvement intersect with children's educational pathways. The sections below unpack these complex issues—scroll down to uncover what the latest evidence reveals.
Grade Repetition and Household Responses
Authors: Tahir Andrabi, Ethan Matlin, Gabrielle Vasey
Citation: [2024]
Questions and Findings
What are the effects of grade repetition on students’ academic achievement in Math, English, and Urdu? Does the impact of grade repetition differ between public (government) and private schools?
Large Negative Impact on Academic Achievement in Government Schools: Students not promoted in government schools suffered substantial declines in test scores—approximately 0.44 to 0.54 standard deviations in Math, 0.27 to 0.33 in English, and 0.37 in Urdu—relative to promoted peers. These effects persisted for at least two years.
Smaller or Insignificant Effects in Private Schools: The negative academic effects of repetition were considerably weaker and sometimes statistically insignificant for private school students.
Increased Risk of Dropout: Students held back faced a 7 to 8 percentage point higher probability of dropping out in the following year.
Socioeconomic Status and Prior Achievement as Protective Factors: Higher household wealth and better previous test scores significantly predicted better academic outcomes, regardless of grade repetition status.
Teacher Ratings Strongly Associated with Achievement: Students who received higher evaluations from teachers subsequently achieved better test scores, with stronger effects at higher teacher rating levels.
Why This Matters
Grade repetition, while intended as a remedial support, instead imposes a sharp academic penalty—students lose nearly half a standard deviation in test performance and face a markedly increased risk of dropping out. These quantifiable setbacks are not explained by differences in health, background, or teacher judgment, pointing directly to the practice of repetition as the critical driver.
This evidence signals to education policymakers that current promotion policies may substantially worsen the trajectories of at-risk children and increase educational inequality, calling for urgent reevaluation and alternatives to automatic grade retention.
Test Scores and Educational Opportunities
Authors: Jishnu Das, Abhijeet Singh, Andres Yi Chang
Citation: Das, Jishnu, Abhijeet Singh, and Andres Yi Chang. 2022. "Test Scores and Educational Opportunities: Panel Evidence from Five Low- and Middle-Income Countries". Journal of Public Economics, 206: 1-9.
Questions and Findings
How do test scores at age 12 relate to educational attainment by early adulthood in low- and middle-income countries? When and how do socioeconomic status (SES) gaps in test scores and educational attainment emerge and evolve during childhood and adolescence?
Predictive Power of Test Scores: Higher test scores at age 12 are closely linked to 1–2 additional years of schooling by early adulthood across all studied countries, even after accounting for family background.
SES Gaps in Achievement: Significant differences in test scores between high- and low-SES students are already evident by age 12, explaining up to half of the gap in later schooling attainment; in Pakistan the share is smaller, at about 15%.
Stability and Evolution of Gaps: In most countries, SES gaps in test scores are large by age 8 and stay stable through age 15; in Pakistan, the gap widens, mainly due to higher dropout among disadvantaged students in adolescence.
International Consistency: The emergence, persistence, and predictive power of test score and SES gaps follow a similar pattern across Ethiopia, India, Peru, Vietnam, and Pakistan, highlighting widespread challenges in educational equity.
Why This Matters
Understanding when and how learning gaps emerge and persist is critical for shaping education policy in low- and middle-income countries. Early disparities in test scores signal the need for interventions well before adolescence, as these early learning gaps have persistent effects on future educational attainment.
The findings reveal the limitations of later-stage interventions and highlight the urgency of targeting young children from disadvantaged backgrounds to reduce long-term educational inequality. By identifying the period when gaps begin and understanding their trajectory, policymakers and educators can design more effective strategies for equalizing opportunities and improving social mobility.
Cognitive and Socio-Emotional Skills
Authors: Alice Danon, Jishnu Das, Andreas de Barros, Deon Filmer
Citation: Danon, Alice, Jishnu Das, Andreas de Barros, and Deon Filmer. 2022. “Cognitive and Socio-Emotional Skills in Low-Income Countries: Construct and Predictive Validity“. RISE Working Paper Series. 23/126.
Questions and Findings
How are children in Pakistan getting their education? What are their schooling options? Are the gains in primary school enrollment since the 1990s reflected in learning? What are the largest challenges facing the education system in Pakistan?
Diversified schooling options: By 2005, one in every three primary students was enrolled in a private school, with the number of private schools growing from 32,000 to 47,000 between 2000 and 2005—including significant expansion in rural areas.
Active parental choice: Most households can choose between 7–8 schools in their village, and 42% of students attend low-cost private schools, where test scores are consistently higher than in government schools.
Enrollment gains: National primary net enrollment increased by 10 percentage points (from 51% to 61%) between 2001 and 2005, with the largest gains recorded among girls, especially in rural Punjab (14-point increase in rural Punjab girls).
Learning lags behind access: Despite more children in school, many students continue to perform below curricular standards by Class 3, and average test scores show little improvement.
Systemic challenges: Systematic frictions—including wide variations in school quality and a lack of reliable learning assessments—mean learning levels remain low even with rising enrollment.
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.
The fact that private schools consistently deliver better learning results—even though they are affordable to many families—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.
Human Capital Accumulation and Disasters
Authors: Tahir Andrabi, Benjamin Daniels, Jishnu Das
Citation: Andrabi, Tahir, Benjamin Daniels, and Jishnu Das. 2021. "Human Capital Accumulation and Disasters: Evidence from the Pakistan Earthquake of 2005." Journal of Human Resources 57 (2).
Questions and Findings
How did the 2005 Pakistan earthquake affect human capital accumulation, particularly children's educational outcomes? Was the provision of post-disaster cash compensation effective in mitigating the negative impacts on human capital?
Impact of Earthquake on Education: Children exposed to the earthquake experienced significant, persistent declines in test scores equivalent to roughly 1.5 years of learning loss.
Effectiveness of Cash Compensation: Post-disaster cash transfers, while substantial, only partially mitigated the negative effects on children’s learning outcomes and did not fully close the gap with unaffected peers.
No Evidence of Physical Catch-Up: Children who suffered educational setbacks did not exhibit “catch-up” growth in test scores in the years after the catastrophe.
Heterogeneity of Impact: The negative impact on learning outcomes was greater for children who were younger at the time of the earthquake and for those in areas with greater destruction.
Why This Matters
These findings highlight that major natural disasters like earthquakes can cause lasting damage to children’s human capital, which has implications for their future economic opportunities and well-being. While post-disaster cash transfers help, they may not be sufficient to undo educational setbacks, especially for young children in severely affected areas.
This suggests that disaster response policies must go beyond immediate cash compensation and prioritize targeted interventions—such as direct support to schools and children—to prevent long-term scarring in education and human capital. The research underscores the need for systemic preparedness and investment in resilient social services to buffer vulnerable populations from the enduring effects of disasters.
New Evidence on Learning Trajectories
Authors: Natalie Bau, Jishnu Das, Andres Yi Chang
Citation: Bau, Natalie, Jishnu Das, and Andres Yi Chang. 2021. "New Evidence on Learning Trajectories in a Low-Income Setting". International Journal of Education Development, 84: 1-26.
Questions and Findings
How do students’ competencies in language and mathematics develop over time in a low-income setting? What factors contribute to or hinder students’ learning progress through primary school?
Learning Gains But Low Levels: Students in low-income settings demonstrate meaningful learning progress between Grades 3 and 6, with item-level performance increases of 20–30 percentage points and overall test scores rising by 1.19 SD. However, by Grade 6, overall learning—especially in Mathematics and English—remains significantly below that of students in high-income countries.
School Attendance and Retention Matter: Staying in school drives learning gains; children who drop out make no further progress after leaving. This underscores the importance of retention policies for boosting both overall achievement and equity.
Score Convergence and Equalizing Effect: Schools act as equalizers, with initially low-performing students gaining more and reducing test score variance over time. This suggests that, contrary to some assumptions, primary schooling in these settings does not exacerbate inequality in foundational skills.
Household Characteristics Play a Modest Role: After factoring in past test scores, family wealth and gender contribute little to explaining further learning gains. While parental education shows some association with results, background characteristics explain at most 6% of test score variation conditional on prior performance.
Fragile Learning Trajectories: Many students exhibit “fragile” learning—initial progress is often followed by stagnation or reversals, rather than steady improvement. This pattern is as common as robust, continuous learning and indicates a need to understand and address the causes of low persistence in learning gains.
Why This Matters
Understanding how children learn and progress in low-income settings is critical for designing effective education policies and programs. Persistent learning gaps can limit opportunities for millions of children and perpetuate cycles of poverty and inequality. The findings from this study reveal that, although students in disadvantaged contexts face early deficits, primary schools help them make meaningful academic gains, and the achievement gap does not inevitably widen over time.
These insights underscore the value of strengthening school quality and tailoring instruction to students’ needs, rather than relying solely on standard curricula. For policymakers and educators, the results highlight the importance of both supporting ongoing learning and developing responsive teaching strategies to promote equity and opportunity.
What Did You Do All Day?
Authors: Tahir Andrabi, Jishnu Das, Asim I. Khwaja
Citation: Andrabi, Tahir, Jishnu Das, and Asim I. Khwaja. 2011 "What Did You Do All Day? Maternal Education and Child Outcomes." The Journal of Human Resources, 47 (4): 873-912.
Questions and Findings
Does maternal education at low levels (typical in developing countries) have a causal impact on children’s educational outcomes? Through which channels does maternal education affect children’s time use, helping behavior, and learning outcomes in rural Pakistan?
Significant Increase in Child Study Time: Children of mothers with some education spend 72 more minutes per day on educational activities outside school compared to children of uneducated mothers (IV estimate).
Greater Maternal and Family Involvement: Educated mothers spend more time helping children with schoolwork—specifically, an extra 40 minutes per day for households without children older than age 12. Households with educated mothers report over 4.6 more hours per week spent by family members assisting with or reading to children.
Higher Child Test Scores: Children whose mothers have some education achieve test scores that are 0.23 to 0.35 standard deviations higher in English, Math, and Urdu, after adjusting for selection.
No Detectable Effects on Enrollment or Spending: Maternal education does not significantly increase child school enrollment, school choice, or child-specific educational expenditures.
No Evidence for Increased Maternal Bargaining Power: Maternal education does not appear to affect maternal labor force participation, decision-making authority over schooling, or related indicators of household bargaining power.
Why This Matters
Improving women's education is widely championed as a catalyst for development, yet most evidence comes from settings with higher schooling levels than those found in many low-income countries. This study shows that even minimal maternal education—common in rural Pakistan—substantially enhances children’s learning by increasing time spent on educational activities and engagement from both mothers and other family members. While greater schooling for mothers does not directly boost enrollment rates or household spending on education, it transforms home learning environments in ways that measurably improve children's academic performance.
The findings underline the policy value of expanding even basic education for girls and women in similar contexts, illuminating a primary pathway—time and effort, not bargaining power—through which low levels of maternal education yield intergenerational benefits crucial for long-term development.