This paper studies the effect on students? scores of incentivizing in-service teacher training in a system that conditions teacher promotions to in-service training take-up. In Ecuador, teachers need to pass a compulsory knowledge test with a minimum score and undergo substantial training to qualify for a promotion. We use a regression discontinuity design to identify the causal effect of incentivizing in-service teacher training on students? scores on a standardized national university entrance exam. We find that in-service training significantly improves students? verbal test scores by 0.19 to 0.31 standard deviations (depending on the selected comparison window).

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1 February 2024

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Economics of Education Review 982024

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DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2023.102489

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027277572300136X

This Journal article is published under the centre's Education programme.