The impact of combining performance-management tools and training with diagnostic feedback in public schools: Experimental evidence from Argentina

Abstract

Providing principals with low-stakes information on their students’ test scores has been shown to improve school management, instruction, and achievement in upper-middle income countries. We evaluate this approach by itself (“diagnostic feedback” or T1) and combined with tools and training (“performance management” or T2) through an experiment in 396 public primary schools in Salta, Argentina. After two years, T1 had null or adverse effects on students’ performance in school, but T2 reduced grade repetition (especially, among cohorts with more exposure), even a year after the interventions ended. We cannot rule out small-to-moderate effects on achievement. T2 also impacted teacher quality, student beliefs, bullying and discrimination, and extracurricular activities for high-exposure cohorts. Our results suggest that tools and training can effectively complement information in contexts of low principal capacity.