Monitoring & Accountability
Teaching - Policy Lever
Essence
This lever measures the extent to which teacher presence is being monitored, whether attendance is rewarded, and whether there are consequences for chronic absence.
Indicator
A score ranging from 1 to 5, calculated based on 5 policy questions. Responses are scored according to a rubric that considers the factors associated with good monitoring and accountability systems for teachers. Two scores are reported: one for de jure policy existence and one for de facto policy implementation.
Background
Increasing the frequency of school monitoring has been found not only to predict reduced absenteeism in India, but also to be ten times more cost-effective in improving student learning than reducing the student-teacher ratio (Muralidharan et al. 2016), which can be another option to reduce absenteeism through improved teacher motivation. In another study in India, Duflo et al (2012) found that making salaries in part dependent on attendance and monitoring attendance using cameras reduced absence by 21 percentage points. On the other hand, providing increases in salaries that were not tied to attendance or performance in Indonesia led to no change in teacher effort (de Ree et al. 2018). Based on the available literature, this indicator captures policy aspects that are associated with incentivizing teacher presence. In countries where teacher absenteeism is not a pervasive problem, these policies may not be needed, but where teacher absenteeism is a problem, they may help mitigate it.
Policy Survey
School Survey
Instrument Used for Measurement
Measurement Approach
The 5 questions that are part of this indicator cover the collection of data on absences, incentives for being present, reasons for being absent, and consequences for being frequently absent. They are asked in the Policy Survey and School Survey (as part of the Teacher Questionnaire module). The questions combine de facto and de jure information. The questions include:
(de jure) Is data on teacher absences being systematically collected at national/regional level on a regular (at least annual) basis?
(de jure) Do teachers receive rewards (financial or non-financial, such as prizes, certificates, bonuses, or promotions) for meeting a specific attendance threshold (e.g. 80% of school days)?
(de facto) During the last academic year, have you received any rewards, in addition to your salary because of regular attendance?
(de facto) Over the past year, did you have to miss class because of any of the following? Collect paycheck, School administrative procedure, Errands with the school district office, Request from the school district office or other government official
(de facto) What happens if a teacher is absent over 40% of the time without proper justification within an academic year?
Instrument Sources
Newly developed, but based on Service Delivery Indicators (SDI) Instruments