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“Try to Balance the Baseline”: A Comment on “Parent-Teacher Meetings and Student Outcomes: Evidence from a Developing Country” by Islam (2019)

Author

Listed:
  • Bonander, Carl

    (University of Gothenburg)

  • Hammar, Olle

    (Linnaeus University)

  • Jakobsson, Niklas

    (Karlstad University)

  • Bensch, Gunther

    (RWI)

  • Holzmeister, Felix

    (University of Innsbruck)

  • Brodeur, Abel

    (University of Ottawa)

Abstract

Islam (2019) reports results from a randomized field experiment in Bangladesh that examines the effects of parent-teacher meetings on student test scores in primary schools. The reported findings suggest strong positive effects across multiple subjects. In this report, we demonstrate that the school-level randomization cannot have been conducted as the author claims. Specifically, we show that the nine included Bangladeshi unions all have a share of either 0% or 100% treated or control schools. Additionally, we uncover irregularities in baseline scores, which for the same students and subjects vary systematically across the author’s data files in ways that are unique to either the treatment or control group. We also discovered data on two unreported outcomes and data collected from the year before the study began. Results using these data cast further doubt on the validity of the original study. Moreover, in a survey asking parents to evaluate the parent-teacher meetings, we find that parents in the control schools were more positive about this intervention than those in the treated schools. We also find undisclosed connections to two additional RCTs.

Suggested Citation

  • Bonander, Carl & Hammar, Olle & Jakobsson, Niklas & Bensch, Gunther & Holzmeister, Felix & Brodeur, Abel, 2025. "“Try to Balance the Baseline”: A Comment on “Parent-Teacher Meetings and Student Outcomes: Evidence from a Developing Country” by Islam (2019)," IZA Discussion Papers 17781, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
  • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17781
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Lutfunnahar Begum & Philip J Grossman & Asad Islam, 2022. "Parental gender bias and investment in children’s health and education: evidence from Bangladesh [Child gender and parental investments in India: Are boys and girls treated differently?]," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 74(4), pages 1045-1062.
    2. Islam, Asad, 2019. "Parent–teacher meetings and student outcomes: Evidence from a developing country," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 273-304.
    3. Lutfunnahar Begum & Philip J. Grossman & Asadul Islam, 2018. "Gender Bias in Parental Attitude: An Experimental Approach," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(5), pages 1641-1662, October.
    4. Lutfunnahar Begum & Philip J. Grossman & Asadul Islam, 2014. "Identifying Gender Bias in Parental Attitude: An Experimental Approach," Monash Economics Working Papers 32-14, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    field experiments; student outcomes; reproduction; Bangladesh;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B41 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Economic Methodology - - - Economic Methodology
    • C12 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Hypothesis Testing: General
    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development

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