Working Paper

21/063

Personnel Management and School Productivity: Evidence from India

Authors

Image of Karthik Muralidharan

Karthik Muralidharan

RISE India

University of California San Diego (UCSD)

Image of Daniela Scur

Daniela Scur

Cornell University

This paper uses new data to study school management and productivity in India. We report four main results. First, management quality in public schools is low, and ~2σ below high-income countries with comparable data. Second, private schools have higher management quality, driven by much stronger people management. Third, people management quality is correlated with both independent measures of teaching practice, as well as school productivity measured by student value added. Fourth, private school teacher pay is positively correlated with teacher effectiveness, and better managed private schools are more likely to retain more effective teachers. Neither pattern is seen in public schools.

Citation:

Lemos, R., Muralidharan, K. and Scur, D. 2021. Personnel Management and School Productivity: Evidence from India. RISE Working Paper Series. 21/063. https://doi.org/10.35489/BSG-RISE-WP_2021/063