School Management and Re-Enrolling Dropouts: Experimental Evidence from Schools in Rural Uganda

The researchers, led by Joseph Kaboski, test whether offering external expertise and personnel to support school principals (by engaging community leaders) can increase re-enrollment among dropouts, general enrollment among primary school-aged children, and test scores. This project is quite timely for Uganda, a nation that has experienced significant learning loss due to the extended school closures occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic. Furthermore, like other low-income countries, Uganda faces abundant obstacles to quality education delivery, including limited funds, citizen engagement, and talent acquisition. The study seeks to add practical and theoretical contributions to educational governance by examining how a program that alleviates constraints on principals’ time, budgets, and limited expertise, through fellows and community leaders can improve service delivery, school enrollments, and learning outcomes. Moreover, understanding the precise process of how and when students drop out and the timing of this process is important in designing interventions that can address this global challenge. The study was launched in 300 rural schools across Uganda.

Partner: Building Tomorrow