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Seminar in Economics | with Mauricio Romero

Department of Economics welcomes you to a seminar with Mauricio Romero, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México.

Welcome to this Higher Seminar in Economics organized by the Department of Economics, SSE. The seminar speaker is Mauricio Romero, an assistant professor of economics at Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM), who will present 

"Scalable Early Warning Systems for School Dropout Prevention: Evidence from a 4.000-School Randomized Controlled Trial"

Abstract

How can education systems leverage existing resources to help teachers and school principals make informed decisions and prioritize resources? We study this question with a large-scale randomized evaluation of an early warning system program to prevent dropout across 4,000 schools in Guatemala, where $\sim$30\% percent of children drop out in the transition between primary and secondary school. Specifically, 1,000 schools were randomly assigned to receive a user-friendly guidance manual and half-day training on specific, evidence-based methods to help students transition to lower secondary school. On top of the manual and training, another 1,000 schools were randomly assigned to receive a list of sixth-grade students at high risk of dropping out based on a statistical model using administrative data.  Finally, another 1,000 schools received the manual, the training, the list, and two behavioral nudges to try and keep dropout prevention top-of-mind for principals and teachers. Overall, we find that all three treatment arms reduce dropout by roughly the same amount: 1.5 percentage points, from a base of 35%) Given the low cost of the program (estimated at less than US\$2 per student) and the successful implementation at scale, this program is a promising and cost-effective approach for reducing dropout in resource-constrained contexts.

 

The seminar takes place at Stockholm School of Economics, Sveavägen 65, room A750.

Please contact nicola.donohoe@hhs.se if you have any questions.

Dept. of Economics Economics Seminar in economics