Increased enrolments into primary school in developing countries such as Ethiopia has also led to Increased supply of private provision of education especially at primary level. There are growing concerns around inequality and inequity because more advantaged students have access to private schools types which might be of better quality than public schools and will lead to inequalities in terms of educational achievement. As more children enrol into school there are more concerns for learning outcomes and their predictors. Although private schools have been around for a while in Ethiopia, there’s very little research available on their effects on pupils’ learning. Presented at the UKFIET Conference, University of Oxford, 17 September 2015

1. IMPACT OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF SCHOOLING
ON ACHIEVEMENT IN THE SCHOOL SYSTEM:
EVIDENCE FROM ETHIOPIA
UKFIET Conference
University of Oxford, 17 September 2015.
Bridget Azubuike

2. INTRODUCTION
THE AIM OF THIS RESEARCH
• Measure the achievement of students in mathematics by private
and public school types.
• Understand the role school types play in pupils achievement in
mathematics.
• If there are differences by school types what factors might
explain this gaps.

3. RATIONALE
• Increased enrolments into primary school in developing
countries such as Ethiopia has also led to Increased supply of
private provision of education especially at primary level.
• There are growing concerns around inequality and inequity
because more advantaged students have access to private
schools types which might be of better quality than public
schools and will lead to inequalities in terms of educational
achievement.
• As more children enrol into school there are more concerns for
learning outcomes and their predictors.
• Although private schools have been around for a while in
Ethiopia, there’s very little research available on their effects
on pupils’ learning.

4. • The school survey was conducted in 2012 and covers seven regions in
Ethiopia namely; Addis Ababa, Oromia, Tigray, Amhara, SNNP, Somalia and
Afar.
• Roughly 11,900 children were surveyed at school in a total of 94 schools
and children were mostly in grades 4 and 5.
• The data is divided into pupil level data that contains information of the
pupils’ personal and household characteristics, teacher level data which
contains information of the teachers, principal level data, school level
data and class level data.
• Pupils achievement in mathematics is measured by their raw score on a
mathematics test conducted towards the end of the school year. The
scores on the test ranges from 0 to 25 points.
YOUNG LIVES: ETHIOPIA SCHOOL SURVEY DATA

5. COMPARING DIFFERENCE IN CHARACTERISTICS OF
PUPILS BY SCHOOL TYPES
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%
CHILD WORKS
ATTENDED PRESCH
REPEATED
ONCE DROPPED OUT
EXTRA MATH CLASS
LITERATE MOTHER
LITERATE FATHER
Public Private

6. • Pupils from wealthier households are more likely to be in private schools
and their test scores are higher than their counterparts in public schools.
• Average maths test score for pupils in private schools are about 17.5 points
while those in non-private schools have an average maths score of 13.9
points.
CONTINUATION

7. COMPARING DIFFERENCES IN SCHOOL
CHARACTERISTICS
VARIABLES Private Public Difference
School Characteristics
Mean Mean
School radio
54% 79% ***
Pipe borne water
41% 69% ***
Teacher Characteristics
Mean Mean
Teachers age 28 years 34 years ***
Male teachers 82% 45% ***
Teachers experience 6.3 years 13.2 years ***
Specialized in mathematics 47% 33% ***
Encourage Homework
79% 65%
***

8. MEASURING THE PRIVATE SCHOOL EFFECT
Private
School
Individual,
household
& school
controls
Controls
including
previous
attainme
nt
Private
school
effect 3.63*** 3.05*** 1.24***
(0.126) (0.161) (0.133)
• Without controlling for any factors, If a
child is in a private school, he/she scores
3.63 points higher in maths than those
in public schools.
• When I control for characteristics of the
pupils and the schools, the private
school effect reduces to 3.05 points.
• Controlling for prior attainment on a
similar test reduces this coefficient to
1.24 points.
• Holding all other factors constant,
including prior attainment of the
student, being in a private school
increases a students performance on the
maths test of interest by 1.2points. This
impact is significant at a conventional
level.

9. DECOMPOSING THE GAPS IN ACHIEVEMENT
• I carried out a decomposition analysis using the Oaxaca-Blinder
decomposition (O-B) strategy to decompose the achievement gaps of
pupils in private school and public schools.
• This analysis measures the gaps in achievement between students in
the two school types and decomposes the gaps into two parts; one
attributable to the students endowments effects (measured by
observed characteristics) and the other treatment effects
(unobserved).
• It gives an overview of what might be driving the gaps in mathematics
achievement in this context. We are able to measure if the drivers of
the gap are due to what we observe in terms of differences in the
students and school characteristics or due to the treatment of private
school pupils which is not observed (unexplained by the model).

10. WHAT IS DRIVING THE ACHIEVEMENT GAP?
Difference
between pupils in
private and Public
schools.
15%
Decomposing the gaps
Explained:
Individual &
household factors
20%
Explained: School
factors
37%
Unexplained 43%
• The achievement gap in mathematics
between pupils in private schools and those
in public schools is about 15%.
• The differences in the observed
characteristics at the individual level, at
household and in school between private
and public school pupils explains 57% of this
gap.
• The individual and household factors that
are controlled for in the model explains 20%
of the gap and school factors explain 37% of
the achievement gap.
• The remaining 43% difference in the maths
score is the ‘treatment effect’
(unexplained). The treatment of pupils in
private schools that differs for those in
public schools which could include a
number of factors that this model has not
captured.

11. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS (1)
• In this application, I find a positive effect of private schools on a
student’s performance in mathematics but due to the limitations
associated with the empirical methodology, the effects are interpreted
as associational rather than causal.
• I also find that there are important differences in the characteristics of
the pupils before they enrolled into those school types.
• Children from poorer households are more likely to attend public
school which could be due to both the direct and indirect cost of
attending private schools which in this sample are all located in urban
areas, this suggests that strengthening capacity of public schools which
are more accessible to the poor could be useful for attenuating
inequalities in educational achievements.

12. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS (2)
• Among teachers characteristics captured in the model, I find that
having younger teachers that encourage students to do homework,
and have specialised in mathematics is associated with better
performance in mathematics.
• While the individual, household and school factors that have been
measured in this application are important for understanding the gaps
in achievement in mathematics, there are other differences in the
school types that could be driving the achievement gap in mathematics
that the model has been unable to capture and could include
differences in communities where the schools are located as well as
school management factors.
• There is need for more research and evidence on both private schools
modus operandi in Ethiopia and the value they add to the educational
achievement process.

13. THANK YOU