Andhra Pradesh School Choice Project

Students who received vouchers to attend private schools spent more time in school—on average 26 more minutes per day. This was a seven percent increase above the average of six hours and 23 minutes among students in comparison villages. However, these students did not spend more time studying or doing homework. Households that received vouchers did not increase expenditures on education. This suggests that any changes in test scores were due to changes at school, not changes at home.

Across all subjects, voucher lottery winners scored 0.13 standard deviations higher than their counterparts. While government schools spent 70 percent of instructional time on math, Telegu, and English, these subjects accounted for less than 50 percent of instructional time in private schools. As private schools achieved similar results in math and Telegu with less instructional time and used the extra time to improve test scores in other subject areas, they were more productive than public schools.

Taken together, these results support policies that use government funds to send poor children to private schools. Private schools achieved similar test scores in basic subjects with less instructional time and used the remaining time to increase test scores in other subjects. Furthermore, the schools achieved these results at a much lower cost and without disadvantaging the students who remained in public schools.