Technical brief #9: Economic Evaluation of Continuous Professional Development in Education

Globally, we are facing a learning crisis (World Development Report, 2018) where an estimated 70 percent of 10-year-old children in low- and middle-income countries are experiencing learning poverty, meaning that they are unable to read and understand a simple age-appropriate text. This learning crisis is distributed unequally and disproportionately affecting the most vulnerable children. However, focusing on the most cost-effective initiatives can offer significant boosts to learning outcomes which could be achieved at relatively low costs (Angrist et al., 2023) and that is exactly what this technical brief suggests. 

Understanding the costs associated with education initiatives is crucial for delivering quality education at scale. Policymakers and implementing agencies, operating in a world with limited resources, often face budget limitations. Cost metrics can help governments identify opportunities to save money and estimate the required budgets to pilot or expand initiatives.    

In this brief, we introduce cost analysis and cost-effectiveness analysis which are economic evaluation methods used to compare various courses of action illustrated with examples from our various projects around the world. In the context of SDG4, economic evaluation helps to ensure that limited resources are used in the most impactful way so that more children get access to quality education.