Raising Teaching Quality through Instructional Modeling and Coaching: Evidence from a Large-Scale, Randomized Evaluation in Rural India

Students in low- and middle-income countries often exhibit poor learning outcomes, which in the long-term can hinder economic development and exacerbate social inequality. While in theory poor learning outcomes can be improved by exposing students to higher quality teaching, it is not immediately clear how to systematically raise teaching quality in low- and middle-income country settings. In particular, teacher professional development (or teacher training) programs, which are often implemented by policymakers for the purpose of raising teaching quality, have thus far proven ineffective in low- and middle-income country settings. One possible reason for the lack of effectiveness is that these programs are often of short duration and of low quality. The goal of this study is to instead examine the impacts of introducing “high-quality” teacher professional development which uses practices often shown to be effective in high-income countries. Specifically, we conduct a randomized controlled trial with 140 rural public schools in India, in which half of the schools are assigned to a teacher professional development program which relies on an instructional modeling and coaching of sustained duration; the other half of the schools are assigned to a control condition of no professional development. We examine impacts of two dimensions of the program on a range of student learning outcomes: (a) co-teaching with a more experienced instructional coach; (b) teaching on one’s own after having been accompanied by the instructional coach. Importantly, we also examine whether the professional development program improves essential teacher behaviors such as the avoidance of verbal abuse and corporal punishment.