Teacher Incentives in the Developing World

Many students in developing countries score very low on standardized tests, and one potential explanation is the weak incentives faced by teachers, as evidenced by their very high absence rates. In many developing countries systems for monitoring and enforcing teacher presence have broken down. Higher pay alone is therefore unlikely to induce acceptable attendance, although teacher attendance does appear to be responsive to working conditions. This paper has discussed a number of policies that attempt to increase student performance in developing countries by increasing teacher incentives. While more research is needed before generalizations can be drawn with confidence, several interesting themes seem to emerge from these studies. Read the full report below and tell us what you think.

• Author: Paul Glewwe, Alaka Holla, Michael Kremer
• Year: 2008