• “教育精准扶贫中随机干预实验的中国经验”专刊 •

教育精准扶贫中随机干预实验的中国实践与经验

1. 1. 陕西师范大学教育实验经济研究所，西安 710119;
2. 联合国环境署国际生态系统管理伙伴计划、中国科学院地理科学与资源研究所生态系统网络观测与模拟重点实验室，北京 100101
• 发布日期:2020-08-14

Practices and Experiences of Randomized Controlled Trials in China’s Targeted Poverty Alleviations in Education

Shi Yaojiang1, Zhang Linxiu2, Chang Fang1, Liu Han1, Tang Bin1, Gao Qiufeng1, Guan Hongyu1, Nie Jingchun1, Yang Jie1, Bai Yu1, Li Ying1, Tang Lei1, Yue Ai1, Ru Tong1

1. 1. The Center for Experimental Economics in Education, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an，Shaanxi 710119, China;
2. The United Nations Environment Programme - International Ecosystem Management Partnership, Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101，China
• Published:2020-08-14

Abstract: Since the late 20th century, educational research has continued to intersect with such disciplines as economics, medicine, psychology, and computer science. As typical multidisciplinary research methods, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have gradually become a key step in making developmental policies worldwide, especially in the fields of education and social policy. Since 2003, the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) and Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) have conducted nearly 300 RCTs in education in 44 countries around the world, whose empirical findings have been utilized to facilitate educational policies in developing countries such as South Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Owing to their enormous contribution to global poverty reduction, the founders of J-PAL also won the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics. Although a large number of international studies have corroborated the positive roles of RCTs in promoting educational output and raising the incomes of poor groups, similar research efforts in the field of targeted poverty alleviation in education in China underestimated. This paper is a comprehensive review of literature that involves more than 30 publicly available RCTs on targeted poverty alleviation in education from 2007 to 2019. It is found that the RCTs in education conducted in poor rural China focus on four areas: teachers and education, information technology and education, nutrition & health and education, as well as early childhood development. The overarching topic discussed in these four areas is the intergenerational trap of human capital in poor rural China, followed by the exploration of more cost-effective and feasible solutions to issues existing regarding rural education. We further summarize the development of applying RCTs in promoting quality rural education in poor areas in terms of its developmental pathway, status quo, and practical experiences, so as to provide operable ways for the implementers of rural education, data-based empirical support for the decision-makers, as well as effective strategies verified by RCTs for national designers of targeted poverty alleviation policy in education. In addition, this paper also introduces the application of quasi-experimental methods to facilitate making targeted poverty alleviation policies in education in situations where RCTs may not be applicable.