Public-Private Partnerships in Education: Experimental Evidence

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) for the provision of education have the potential to provide high quality education to low- and middle-income communities. However, most studies of the effectiveness of such partnerships do not adequately control for student background of students enter these PPP schools. This research combines randomized assignment of students to schools with rich data on both student backgrounds and outcomes to study the effectiveness of PPPs on several student outcomes.

The randomized assignment of students chosen through a lottery to a PPP school and a local public school allows the researchers to adequately control for student socioeconomic background hence able to isolate the effects of school type on outcomes. The researchers will compare the outcomes of students chosen by the lottery to attend PPP schools but were assigned to public schools to those of students who did attend a PPP school after being chosen in the lottery.

The findings will inform the design and implementation of PPPs in the US and globally where governments wish to expand the supply of high-quality education in low-income settings and increase the supply of high-quality human capital. The research results will also help establish the US as the global leader in PPPs for the provision of high-quality education for students in low- and middle-income communities.

This project addresses two key questions regarding the efficacy and equity of PPPs in the provision of education. Do these PPP schools improve student learning outcomes, compared to traditional public schools? This question is addressed by measuring learning progress among students assigned to PPP or traditional public schools using a lottery instituted by the local school board, ensuring that differences in outcomes are due to the schools rather than systematic differences between PPP and non-PPP students.

Administrative data on student characteristics and assignments will be combined with survey data from students and their households, including appropriate tests of learning outcomes. Given the potential benefits of PPP schools and their goal of serving students from disadvantaged backgrounds, what factors cause families to choose to apply to them? This will be explored by surveying households with young children who are facing this decision, improving understanding of the ways in which public policies can expand and diversify access to effective schools.

The findings will inform the design and implementation of PPPs in the US and globally where governments wish to expand the supply of high-quality education in low-income settings and increase the supply of high-quality human capital. The research results will also help establish the US as the global leader in PPPs for the provision of high-quality education for students in low- and middle-income communities.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.