School Meals, Educational Achievement and School Competition : Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation
This paper examines the effects of subsidized school meals on school participation, educational achievement, and school finance in a developing country setting. The paper uses data from a program that was implemented in 25 randomly chosen preschools in a pool of 50. Children's school participat...
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| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2012
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2005/02/5642286/schools-meals-educational-achievement-school-competition-evidence-randomized-evaluation http://hdl.handle.net/10986/8884 |
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okr-10986-88842021-04-23T14:02:42Z School Meals, Educational Achievement and School Competition : Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation Vermeersch, Christel Kremer, Michael ADULTS AGED AID CHILD HEALTH CHILD NUTRITION CLASSROOM MATERIALS CLASSROOM TEACHING CLASSROOMS CURRICULUM DEWORMING DISCRIMINATION EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT ENROLLMENT ENROLLMENT RATES FAMILIES FORMAL EDUCATION GIRLS HOLIDAYS INSTRUCTION INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS INTERVENTION INTERVENTIONS LEARNING MALNUTRITION MEDICAL TREATMENT MOTIVATION NUTRITION NUTRITIONAL STATUS PARENTS PARTICIPATION PARTICIPATION RATES PRESCHOOL CENTERS PRESCHOOL CURRICULUM PRESCHOOL EDUCATION PRESCHOOL ENROLLMENT PRESCHOOL TEACHERS PRIMARY SCHOOL PRIMARY SCHOOL PUPILS PRIMARY SCHOOLS PROFESSIONAL TRAINING RURAL AREAS SCHOOL SCHOOL ATTENDANCE SCHOOL FEEDING SCHOOL MEALS SCHOOL PARTICIPATION SCHOOLING SCHOOLS SIBLINGS SNACK PROGRAMS SPORTS TEACHER TEACHER TRAINING TEACHERS TEACHING TEACHING MATERIALS TEST SCORES WALKING WEIGHT WORKERS YOUNG ADULTS This paper examines the effects of subsidized school meals on school participation, educational achievement, and school finance in a developing country setting. The paper uses data from a program that was implemented in 25 randomly chosen preschools in a pool of 50. Children's school participation was 30 percent higher in the treatment group than in the comparison group. The meals program led to higher curriculum test scores, but only in schools where the teacher was relatively experienced prior to the program. The school meals displaced teaching time and led to larger class sizes. Despite improved incentives, teacher absenteeism remained at a high level of 30 percent. Treatment schools raised their fees, and comparison schools close to treatment schools decreased their fees. Some of the price effects are due to a combination of capacity constraints and pupil transfers that would not happen if the school meals were offered in all schools. The intention-to-treat estimator of the effect of the randomized program incorporates those price effects, and therefore it should be considered a lower bound on the effect of generalized school meals. This insight on price effects generalizes to other randomized program evaluations. 2012-06-22T21:07:24Z 2012-06-22T21:07:24Z 2005-02 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2005/02/5642286/schools-meals-educational-achievement-school-competition-evidence-randomized-evaluation http://hdl.handle.net/10986/8884 English Policy Research Working Paper; No. 3523 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Publications & Research |
| repository_type |
Digital Repository |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
| building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English |
| topic |
ADULTS AGED AID CHILD HEALTH CHILD NUTRITION CLASSROOM MATERIALS CLASSROOM TEACHING CLASSROOMS CURRICULUM DEWORMING DISCRIMINATION EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT ENROLLMENT ENROLLMENT RATES FAMILIES FORMAL EDUCATION GIRLS HOLIDAYS INSTRUCTION INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS INTERVENTION INTERVENTIONS LEARNING MALNUTRITION MEDICAL TREATMENT MOTIVATION NUTRITION NUTRITIONAL STATUS PARENTS PARTICIPATION PARTICIPATION RATES PRESCHOOL CENTERS PRESCHOOL CURRICULUM PRESCHOOL EDUCATION PRESCHOOL ENROLLMENT PRESCHOOL TEACHERS PRIMARY SCHOOL PRIMARY SCHOOL PUPILS PRIMARY SCHOOLS PROFESSIONAL TRAINING RURAL AREAS SCHOOL SCHOOL ATTENDANCE SCHOOL FEEDING SCHOOL MEALS SCHOOL PARTICIPATION SCHOOLING SCHOOLS SIBLINGS SNACK PROGRAMS SPORTS TEACHER TEACHER TRAINING TEACHERS TEACHING TEACHING MATERIALS TEST SCORES WALKING WEIGHT WORKERS YOUNG ADULTS |
| spellingShingle |
ADULTS AGED AID CHILD HEALTH CHILD NUTRITION CLASSROOM MATERIALS CLASSROOM TEACHING CLASSROOMS CURRICULUM DEWORMING DISCRIMINATION EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT ENROLLMENT ENROLLMENT RATES FAMILIES FORMAL EDUCATION GIRLS HOLIDAYS INSTRUCTION INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS INTERVENTION INTERVENTIONS LEARNING MALNUTRITION MEDICAL TREATMENT MOTIVATION NUTRITION NUTRITIONAL STATUS PARENTS PARTICIPATION PARTICIPATION RATES PRESCHOOL CENTERS PRESCHOOL CURRICULUM PRESCHOOL EDUCATION PRESCHOOL ENROLLMENT PRESCHOOL TEACHERS PRIMARY SCHOOL PRIMARY SCHOOL PUPILS PRIMARY SCHOOLS PROFESSIONAL TRAINING RURAL AREAS SCHOOL SCHOOL ATTENDANCE SCHOOL FEEDING SCHOOL MEALS SCHOOL PARTICIPATION SCHOOLING SCHOOLS SIBLINGS SNACK PROGRAMS SPORTS TEACHER TEACHER TRAINING TEACHERS TEACHING TEACHING MATERIALS TEST SCORES WALKING WEIGHT WORKERS YOUNG ADULTS Vermeersch, Christel Kremer, Michael School Meals, Educational Achievement and School Competition : Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation |
| relation |
Policy Research Working Paper; No. 3523 |
| description |
This paper examines the effects of subsidized school meals on school participation, educational achievement, and school finance in a developing country setting. The paper uses data from a program that was implemented in 25 randomly chosen preschools in a pool of 50. Children's school participation was 30 percent higher in the treatment group than in the comparison group. The meals program led to higher curriculum test scores, but only in schools where the teacher was relatively experienced prior to the program. The school meals displaced teaching time and led to larger class sizes. Despite improved incentives, teacher absenteeism remained at a high level of 30 percent. Treatment schools raised their fees, and comparison schools close to treatment schools decreased their fees. Some of the price effects are due to a combination of capacity constraints and pupil transfers that would not happen if the school meals were offered in all schools. The intention-to-treat estimator of the effect of the randomized program incorporates those price effects, and therefore it should be considered a lower bound on the effect of generalized school meals. This insight on price effects generalizes to other randomized program evaluations. |
| format |
Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper |
| author |
Vermeersch, Christel Kremer, Michael |
| author_facet |
Vermeersch, Christel Kremer, Michael |
| author_sort |
Vermeersch, Christel |
| title |
School Meals, Educational Achievement and School Competition : Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation |
| title_short |
School Meals, Educational Achievement and School Competition : Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation |
| title_full |
School Meals, Educational Achievement and School Competition : Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation |
| title_fullStr |
School Meals, Educational Achievement and School Competition : Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation |
| title_full_unstemmed |
School Meals, Educational Achievement and School Competition : Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation |
| title_sort |
school meals, educational achievement and school competition : evidence from a randomized evaluation |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2012 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2005/02/5642286/schools-meals-educational-achievement-school-competition-evidence-randomized-evaluation http://hdl.handle.net/10986/8884 |
| _version_ |
1764407070503731200 |