Improving Secondary School Governance and Pedagogy at Scale: A Randomized Evaluation of the Madhya Pradesh School Quality Assessment Program

We propose a randomized pilot evaluation of an ambitious attempt to improve secondary school pedagogy and governance at scale in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. The program targets these dimensions directly through a combination of (a) regular monitoring of schools by government-designated subject experts, (b) creation of school report cards, and a customized school improvement plan, (c) quarterly follow-ups on progress against this plan, and (d) the leveraging of ICT tools to collect and report real-time records of all assessment results, school improvement plans, and follow-ups to a dedicated online system. The evaluation will assess the effects of the program on key process metrics in high schools, relating especially to pedagogy, governance and student academic outcomes in the state-wide official high school exams. Results would be particularly relevant for the scheduled extension of this program across Madhya Pradesh and possibly to other states in India.