Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current
    • Ahead of print
    • Archive
    • Supplementary Material
  • Info for
    • Authors
    • Subscribers
    • Institutions
    • Advertisers
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Editorial Board
  • Connect
    • Feedback
    • Help
    • Request JHR at your library
  • Alerts
  • Free Issue
  • Special Issue
  • Other Publications
    • UWP

User menu

  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • My alerts
  • Log in
  • My Cart

Search

  • Advanced search
Journal of Human Resources
  • Other Publications
    • UWP
  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • My alerts
  • Log in
  • My Cart
Journal of Human Resources

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current
    • Ahead of print
    • Archive
    • Supplementary Material
  • Info for
    • Authors
    • Subscribers
    • Institutions
    • Advertisers
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Editorial Board
  • Connect
    • Feedback
    • Help
    • Request JHR at your library
  • Alerts
  • Free Issue
  • Special Issue
  • Follow uwp on Twitter
  • Follow JHR on Bluesky
Research ArticleArticles
Open Access

Can Public Rankings Improve School Performance?

Evidence from a Nationwide Reform in Tanzania

Jacobus Cilliers, Isaac M. Mbiti and Andrew Zeitlin
Journal of Human Resources, July 2021, 56 (3) 655-685; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3368/jhr.56.3.0119-9969R1
Jacobus Cilliers
Jacobus Cilliers is at Georgetown University
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • For correspondence: [email protected]
Isaac M. Mbiti
Isaac M. Mbiti is at University of Virginia, J-PAL, BREAD, NBER, and IZA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Andrew Zeitlin
Andrew Zeitlin is at Georgetown University and Center for Global Development
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Figures & Data
  • Supplemental
  • Info & Metrics
  • References
  • PDF
Loading

References

  1. ↵
    1. Andrabi, Tahir ,
    2. Jishnu Das , and
    3. Asim Ijaz Khwaja
    . 2017. “Report Cards: The Impact of Providing School and Child Test Scores on Educational Markets.” American Economic Review 107(6):1535–63.
    OpenUrl
  2. ↵
    1. Baker, George
    . 1992. “Incentive Contracts and Performance Management.” Journal of Political Economy 100(3):596–614.
    OpenUrl
  3. ↵
    1. Baker, George
    . 2002. “Distortion and Risk in Optimal Incentive Contracts.” Journal of Human Resources 37(4):727–51.
    OpenUrl
  4. ↵
    1. Banerjee, Abhijit ,
    2. Rukmini Banerji ,
    3. Esther Duflo ,
    4. Rachel Glennerster , and
    5. Stuti Khemani
    . 2010. “Pitfalls of Participatory Programs: Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation in Education in India.” American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 2(1):1–30.
    OpenUrl
  5. ↵
    1. Bold, Tessa ,
    2. Mwangi Kimenyi ,
    3. Germano Mwabu ,
    4. Alice Ng’ang’a , and
    5. Justin Sandefur
    . 2018. “Experimental Evidence on Scaling up Education Reforms in Kenya.” Journal of Public Economics 168(December):1–20.
    OpenUrl
  6. ↵
    1. Bruns, Barbara ,
    2. Deon Filmer , and
    3. Harry Patrinos
    . 2011. Making Schools Work: New Evidence on Accountability Reforms. Washington, DC: World Bank.
  7. ↵
    1. Burgess, Simon ,
    2. Carol Propper ,
    3. Helen Slater , and
    4. Deborah Wilson
    . 2005. “Who Wins and Who Loses from School Accountability? The Distribution of Educational Gain in English Secondary Schools.” CEPR Discussion Paper 5248. Washington, DC: CEPR.
  8. ↵
    1. Camargo, Braz ,
    2. Rafael Camelo ,
    3. Sergio Firpo , and
    4. Vladimir Ponczek
    . 2018. “Information, Market Incentives, and Student Performance: Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Design in Brazil.” Journal of Human Resources 53(2):414–44.
    OpenUrlAbstract/FREE Full Text
  9. ↵
    1. Chay, Kenneth ,
    2. Patrick McEwan , and
    3. Miguel Urquiola
    . 2005. “The Central Role of Noise in Evaluating Interventions That Use Test Scores to Rank Schools.” American Economic Review 95(4):1237–58.
    OpenUrlCrossRefWeb of Science
  10. ↵
    1. Chiang, Hanley
    . 2009. “How Accountability Pressure on Failing Schools Affects Student Achievement.” Journal of Public Economics 93(9–10):1045–57.
    OpenUrlCrossRefWeb of Science
  11. ↵
    1. Cilliers, Jacobus ,
    2. Isaac Mbiti , and
    3. Andrew Zeitlin
    . 2020. “Replication Data for: ‘Can Public School Rankings Improve School Performance? Evidence from a Nation-Wide Reform in Tanzania’ Journal of Human Resources (2020).” Harvard Dataverse, V1, UNF:6:0ZSD7w3CCeTcLRuBzvKPnQ==[fileUNF] https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/ABVMCL
  12. ↵
    1. Craig, Steven ,
    2. Scott Imberman , and
    3. Adam Perdue
    . 2013. “Does It Pay to Get an A? School Resource Allocations in Response to Accountability Ratings.” Journal of Urban Economics 73(1):30–42.
    OpenUrl
  13. ↵
    1. Craig, Steven G. ,
    2. Scott Imberman , and
    3. Adam Perdue
    . 2015. “Do Administrators Respond to Their Accountability Ratings? The Response of School Budgets to Accountability Grades.” Economics of Education Review 49(December):55–68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2015.07.005.
    OpenUrlCrossRef
  14. ↵
    1. Dee, Thomas , and
    2. James Wyckoff
    . 2015. “Incentives, Selection, and Teacher Performance: Evidence from IMPACT.” Journal of Policy 34(2):267–97.
    OpenUrl
  15. ↵
    1. Figlio, David
    . 2006. “Testing, Crime, and Punishment.” Journal of Public Economics 90(4–5):837–51.
    OpenUrlCrossRefWeb of Science
  16. ↵
    1. Figlio, David , and
    2. Lawrence S. Getzler
    . 2002. “Accountability, Ability, and Disability: Gaming the System.” NBER Working Paper 9307. Cambridge, MA: NBER.
  17. ↵
    1. Figlio, David , and
    2. Susanna Loeb
    . 2011. “School Accountability.” In Handbook of the Economics of Education, ed. Eric Hanushek , Stephen Machin , and Ludger Woessmann , 383–421. Amsterdam: North Holland.
  18. ↵
    1. Figlio, David , and
    2. Cecilia E. Rouse
    . 2006. “Do Accountability and Voucher Threats Improve Low-Performing Schools?” Journal of Public Economics 90(1–2):239–55.
    OpenUrlCrossRefWeb of Science
  19. ↵
    1. Glewwe, Paul ,
    2. Nauman Ilias , and
    3. Michael Kremer
    . 2010. “Teacher Incentives.” American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 2(3):205–27.
    OpenUrlCrossRefWeb of Science
  20. ↵
    1. Government of Tanzania
    . 2014. “Big Results Now! Education Lab Storyline.” Presidential Delivery Bureau, United Republic of Tanzania.
  21. ↵
    1. Government of Tanzania
    . 2015. “Big Results Now! Annual Report 2013/14.” Presidential Delivery Bureau, United Republic of Tanzania.
  22. ↵
    1. Hanushek, Eric , and
    2. Margaret Raymond
    . 2005. “Does School Accountability Lead to Improved Student Performance?” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management: Journal of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management 24(2):297–327.
    OpenUrl
  23. ↵
    1. Hastings, Justine , and
    2. Jeffrey Weinstein
    . 2008. “Information, School Choice, and Academic Achievement: Evidence from Two Experiments.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 123(4):1373–414.
    OpenUrlCrossRefWeb of Science
  24. ↵
    1. Holmstrom, Bengt , and
    2. Paul Milgrom
    . 1991. “Multitask Principal-Agent Analyses: Incentive Contracts, Asset Ownership, and Job Design.” Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 7:24–52.
    OpenUrlCrossRefWeb of Science
  25. ↵
    1. Hsieh, Chang-Tai , and
    2. Miguel Urquiola
    . 2006. “The Effects of Generalized School Choice on Achievement and Stratification: Evidence from Chile’s Voucher Program.” Journal of Public Economics 90:1477–503.
    OpenUrlCrossRefWeb of Science
  26. ↵
    1. Integrity Research
    . 2016. “P4R Analysis of the Tanzania School Ranking Initiative.” London: Integrity.
  27. ↵
    1. Jacob, Brian
    . 2005. “Accountability, Incentives, and Behavior: The Impact of High-Stakes Testing in the Chicago Public Schools.” Journal of Public Economics 89(5–6):761–96.
    OpenUrlCrossRefWeb of Science
  28. ↵
    1. Jones, Sam ,
    2. Youdi Schipper ,
    3. Sara Ruto , and
    4. Rakesh Rajani
    . 2014. “Can Your Child Read and Count? Measuring Learning Outcomes in East Africa.” Journal of African Economies 23(5):643–72.
    OpenUrlCrossRef
  29. ↵
    1. Joshi, Arun , and
    2. Isis Gaddis
    . 2015. Preparing the Next Generation in Tanzania: Challenges and Opportunities in Education. Washington, DC: World Bank.
  30. ↵
    1. Kane, Thomas , and
    2. Douglas Staiger
    . 2002. “The Promise and Pitfalls of Using Imprecise School Accountability Measures.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 16(4):91–114.
    OpenUrlCrossRefWeb of Science
  31. ↵
    1. Koning, Pierre , and
    2. Karen Van der Wiel
    . 2012. “School Responsiveness to Quality Rankings: An Empirical Analysis of Secondary Education in the Netherlands.” De Economist 160(4):339–55. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10645-012-9194-9
    OpenUrl
  32. ↵
    1. Koning, Pierre , and
    2. Karen Van der Wiel
    . 2013. “Ranking the Schools: How School-Quality Information Affects School Choice in the Netherlands.” Journal of the European Economic Association 11(2):466–93.
    OpenUrl
  33. ↵
    1. Lieberman, Evan ,
    2. Daniel Posner , and
    3. Lily Tsai
    . 2014. “Does Information Lead to More Active Citizenship? Evidence from an Education Intervention in Rural Kenya.” World Development 60(Supplement C):69–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2014.03.014
    OpenUrl
  34. ↵
    1. Mbiti, Isaac ,
    2. Karthik Muralidharan ,
    3. Mauricio Romero ,
    4. Youdi Schipper ,
    5. Constantine Manda , and
    6. Rakesh Rajani
    . 2019. “Inputs, Incentives, and Complementarities in Education: Experimental Evidence from Tanzania.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 134(3):1627–73.
    OpenUrl
  35. ↵
    1. McEwan, Patrick
    . 2013. “Improving Learning in Primary Schools of Developing Countries: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Experiments.” Working paper. Wellesley, MA: Wellesley College.
  36. ↵
    1. Mizala, Alejandra , and
    2. Miguel Urquiola
    . 2013. “School Markets: The Impact of Information Approximating Schools’ Effectiveness.” Journal of Development Economics 103:313–35.
    OpenUrlCrossRef
  37. ↵
    1. Muralidharan, Karthik , and
    2. Paul Niehaus
    . 2017. “Experimentation at Scale.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 31(4):103–24.
    OpenUrl
  38. ↵
    1. Muralidharan, Karthik , and
    2. Venkatesh Sundararaman
    . 2011. “Teacher Performance Pay: Experimental Evidence from India.” Journal of Political Economy 119(1):39–77.
    OpenUrlCrossRefWeb of Science
  39. ↵
    1. Neal, Derek , and
    2. Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach
    . 2010. “Left Behind by Design: Proficiency Counts and Test-Based Accountability.” Review of Economics and Statistics 92(2):63–83.
    OpenUrl
  40. ↵
    1. Nunes, Luis ,
    2. Ana Balcão Reis , and
    3. Carmo Seabra
    . 2015. “The Publication of School Rankings: A Step toward Increased Accountability?” Economics of Education Review 49(December):15–23.
    OpenUrl
  41. ↵
    1. Reback, Randall ,
    2. Jonah Rockoff , and
    3. Heather L Schwartz
    . 2014. “Under Pressure: Job Security, Resource Allocation, and Productivity in School Under No Child Left Behind.” American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 6(3):207–41.
    OpenUrl
  42. ↵
    1. RISE Tanzania Country Research Team
    . 2017. “Monitoring the Big Results Now in Education Program.” Initiative on Innovation, Development, and Evaluation, Technical Report. Washington, DC: Georgetown University. https://tinyurl.com/y58am75x (accessed November 25, 2020).
  43. ↵
    1. Rockoff, Jonah , and
    2. Lesley Turner
    . 2010. “Short-Run Impacts of Accountability on School Quality.” American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 2(4):119–47.
    OpenUrlCrossRefWeb of Science
  44. ↵
    1. Rouse, Cecilia ,
    2. Jane Hannaway ,
    3. Dan Goldhaber , and
    4. David Figlio
    . 2013. “Feeling the Florida Heat? How Low-Performing Schools Respond to Voucher and Accountability Pressure.” American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 5(2):251–81.
    OpenUrlCrossRefWeb of Science
  45. ↵
    1. Todd, Robin , and
    2. Ian Attfield
    . 2017. “Big Results Now! In Tanzanian Education: Has the Delivery Approach Delivered?” Unpublished.
  46. ↵
    1. Twaweza
    . 2010. “Capitation Grant for Education: When Will It Make a Difference?” Uwazi Policy Brief 8. Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: Twaweza.
  47. ↵
    1. Twaweza
    . 2012. “Are Our Children Learning? Literacy and Numeracy in Tanzania.” Uwezo National Report. Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania: Uwezo.
  48. ↵
    1. Twaweza
    . 2013. “Capitation Grants in Primary Education: A Decade since Their Launch, Does Money Reach Schools?” Sauti za Wananchi brief 3. Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: Twaweza.
  49. ↵
    1. Valente, Christine
    . 2015. “Primary Education Expansion and Quality of Schooling: Evidence from Tanzania.” IZA Discussion Paper. Bonn, Germany: IZA.
  50. ↵
    1. World Bank
    . 2015. “TZ Big Results Now in Education Program (P147486).” Washington, DC: World Bank. http://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/225831468131397200/pdf/P4R-ISR-Disclose-P147486-04-04-2015-1428166774259.pdf (accessed November 19, 2020).
  51. ↵
    1. World Bank
    . 2016a. “Education Service Delivery in Tanzania.” Education Technical Report, Tanzania 2014 Service Delivery Indicators, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Washington, DC: World Bank.
  52. ↵
    1. World Bank
    . 2016b. “Tanzania Education Program for Results.” Implementation Status and Results Report P147486 5. Washington, DC: World Bank. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/267111481912693598/pdf/1481912691830-0000A8056-ISR-Disclosable-P147486-12-16-2016-1481912679228.pdf (accessed November 25, 2020).
  53. ↵
    1. World Bank
    . 2016c. “Tanzania Education Program for Results.” Implementation Status and Results Report P147486 4. Washington, DC: World Bank. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/324721468116335677/pdf/ISR-Disclosable-P147486-04-26-2016-1461726439658.pdf (accessed November 25, 2020).
  54. ↵
    1. World Bank
    . 2018a. “Tanzania Education Program for Results.” Implementation Status and Results Report P147486 7. Washington, DC: World Bank. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/752351517941488259/pdf/ISR-Disclosable-P147486-02-06-2018-1517941475608.pdf (accessed November 25, 2020).
  55. ↵
    1. World Bank
    . 2018b. World Development Report 2018: Learning to Realize Education’s Promise. Washington, DC: International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, World Bank.
PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

Journal of Human Resources: 56 (3)
Journal of Human Resources
Vol. 56, Issue 3
1 Jul 2021
  • Table of Contents
  • Table of Contents (PDF)
  • Index by author
  • Back Matter (PDF)
  • Front Matter (PDF)
Print
Download PDF
Article Alerts
Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on Journal of Human Resources.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Can Public Rankings Improve School Performance?
(Your Name) has sent you a message from Journal of Human Resources
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the Journal of Human Resources web site.
Citation Tools
Can Public Rankings Improve School Performance?
Jacobus Cilliers, Isaac M. Mbiti, Andrew Zeitlin
Journal of Human Resources Jul 2021, 56 (3) 655-685; DOI: 10.3368/jhr.56.3.0119-9969R1

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Share
Can Public Rankings Improve School Performance?
Jacobus Cilliers, Isaac M. Mbiti, Andrew Zeitlin
Journal of Human Resources Jul 2021, 56 (3) 655-685; DOI: 10.3368/jhr.56.3.0119-9969R1
Twitter logo Facebook logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One
Bookmark this article

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Abstract
    • I. Introduction
    • II. Context and Reform
    • III. Data and Descriptive Statistics
    • IV. Empirical Strategy
    • V. Results
    • VI. Robustness
    • VII. Discussion
    • Footnotes
    • References
  • Figures & Data
  • Supplemental
  • Info & Metrics
  • References
  • PDF

Related Articles

  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • No citing articles found.
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

  • Sexual Orientation and Multiple Job Holding
  • Owning the Agent
  • Understanding the Educational Attainment Polygenic Index and its Interactions with SES in Determining Health in Young Adulthood
Show more Articles

Similar Articles

Keywords

  • I21
  • I25
  • I28
  • O15
UW Press logo

© 2025 Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System

Powered by HighWire