Textbooks and Test Scores: Evidence from a Prospective Evaluation in Kenya

The Project

One hundred schools were selected to receive official government textbooks, published by the Kenya Institute of Education and structured around the official curriculum. In February 1996, English textbooks were provided in grades 3 through 7, Math textbooks were provided in grades 3, 5 and 7, and Science textbooks in grade 8. In January 1997, Math textbooks were provided to grades 4 and 6, and agriculture textbooks were given to grade 8. Accompanying teacher's guides were also provided for each class and subject where textbooks had been distributed.

The Impact Evaluation Results

The evaluation found that the program of textbook provision:

• raised textbook availability. Specifically, it raised the number of pupils responding affirmatively to the question “was there a textbook for you to use in class?” by 23% from 66%
• increased the number of pupils able to take textbooks home by 41% from 37%
• reduced absenteeism by 27% from 44%
• increased test scores by 0.2 standard deviations for students in the top quintile of test performance, and by 0.14 standard deviations for students in the second quintile
• improved grade 8 math and science scores by 0.35 and 0.29 standard deviations respectively
• raised the likelihood that 8 th graders would continue to secondary school by 14% from 37.5%

The Impact Evaluation Method

The evaluation used a randomized methodology. The 100 schools were randomly allocated to one of 4 groups of 25 schools each. The first group received textbooks in 1996, and the remaining groups received grants in subsequent years which they were free to spend on educational inputs, including textbooks.

Please refer to the publication (pdf) for more information. 

The above text is a summary of information taken from the PREM Group’s Impact Evaluation website. For information on completed and ongoing impact evaluations for all regions, click here.