Publication: Strengthening Teacher Mentoring and Monitoring Systems: Evidence from India
Loading...
Published
2021-03
ISSN
Date
2021-03-26
Editor(s)
Abstract
Over the last 10 years, a special cadre of middle-level management known as Resource Persons (RPs) was specifically created in India for carrying out teacher mentoring and monitoring activities. Despite being allocated almost one-third of the education budget targeted at improving learning outcomes, the RPs are a poorly understood cadre with little known about their roles, responsibilities and effectiveness. In this paper, drawing on detailed data collected from school audits, unannounced classroom observations, student, teacher and RP surveys in approximately 350 primary and upper primary schools in Jharkhand, India, authors assess RPs’ mentoring and monitoring activities. This assessment points to several interesting findings. First, most children are behind their grade level in terms of achieving proficiency in reading and math. Second, teacher absenteeism remains a significant problem. Third, despite high levels of self-reported effort by RPs, these efforts do not translate into effective teaching activities. We postulate that asymmetries in contractual arrangements and demographic and social attributes between RPs and teachers limit RP mentoring efforts. Fourth, student responses on teaching methods are more consistent with independent classroom observations than teacher or RP reports on teaching activities. Our findings have three important policy recommendations: a) for improving teacher mentoring, more educated and qualified RPs must be hired and re-trained who are then entrusted with the sole responsibility of mentoring teachers; b) for improving teacher monitoring, governments should pilot student assessments of teaching activities along with independent school monitoring that eventually builds a culture of feedback based on accurate data to improve teaching and teacher mentoring; c) for improving both teacher monitoring and mentoring, the state should invest in holistically improving the use of enabler technology systems through technologies that work in constrained environments, a robust EMIS with strong data management capabilities, and a workforce with digital competence.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Vivek, Kumar; Bhattacharjee, Pradyumna; Mani, Subha; Kumar, Avinav. 2021. Strengthening Teacher Mentoring and Monitoring Systems: Evidence from India. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35314 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication India - Can Results-Based Incentives Encourage Teachers to Attend School?(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-07)The Results in Education for All Children (REACH) Trust Fund supports and disseminates research on the impact of results-based financing on learning outcomes. The EVIDENCE series highlights REACH grants around the world to provide empirical evidence and operational lessons helpful in the design and implementation of successful performance-based programs. A REACH-supported study tested the impact of results-based incentives for meso-level officials (Resource Persons, or RPs) and teachers on teacher attendance at school. The incentives led to a 15 percentage point increase in the likelihood of a teacher being present, averaged across audit visits. The training increased the amount of time RPs spent mentoring teachers, but this increased mentoring did not lead to any changes in teaching practices.Publication Serbia Teachers : SABER Country Report 2012(Washington, DC, 2012)In 2012, Serbia joined the Russia Education Aid for Development (READ) trust fund program, the goal of which is to help countries improve their capacity to design, carry out, analyze, and use assessments for improved student learning. As part of the READ trust fund program, and in order to gain a better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of its existing assessment system, Mozambique participated in a formal exercise to benchmark this system under The World Bank's Systems Approach for Better Education Results (SABER) program. SABER is an evidence-based program to help countries systematically examine and strengthen the performance of different aspects of their education systems. SABER-teachers are a component of the SABER program that focuses specifically on benchmarking teacher policies and systems. The goal of SABER-teachers is to attract, retain, develop, and motivate great teachers. Teachers system tends to be comprised of seven main types of activities, each of which serves a different purpose and addresses different information needs. These three main types are: teacher expectations, preparing, skill matching, monitoring, leading, and supporting teachers. This report focuses specifically on policies in the area of teachers.Publication Strengthening Teacher Capacity in Bihar through ICT : Designing Innovative Solution to Unique Challenges(Washington, DC, 2014-06)Within this context, there are significant opportunities to harness Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Open and Distance Learning (ODL) in teacher education, especially to deliver pre-service teacher education. Consequently, the Government of Bihar requested the World Bank to provide support in development of distance education curriculum, related syllabi, content, effective delivery mechanisms, appropriate student support systems, and assessment strategies to meet the needs of its untrained teachers. Many other states and countries are facing similar problems, and will need to prepare comprehensive time-bound plans for untrained teachers to acquire the prescribed qualifications (both academic and professional). Thus, experiences in Bihar might provide models for developing an ICT-based teacher education system that can be used as a useful reference point by others facing similar problems. This report outlines these experiences and shares lessons learned through the process to date.Publication Bulgaria : Teachers(Washington, DC, 2013-01)Bulgaria implemented sweeping decentralization and efficiency-focused reforms in basic education in 2007 and 2008. The education system adjusted to the negative demographic trends by optimizing the network of schools (closing and merging schools), introducing per-capita based financing and delegating significant financial and decision-making autonomy to school principals. This policy reform package produced a number of benefits for the education sector; it accrued savings of over 100 million BGN and increased wages by 46 percent and reallocation of resources for capital investment (World Bank 2010). Despite the government's impressive achievements in terms of spending efficiency and high enrollment, lingering concerns remain about the quality and equity of the education system. The country has seen a negative trend in student learning outcomes as measured by international assessments. At the request of the Government of Bulgaria, the World Bank has implemented its newly developed tool for assessment and benchmarking of policies and programs affecting teacher's effectiveness Systems Approach for Better Education Results (SABER) teachers. The key findings and policy options outlined in the present report are intended to inform the finalization of the new draft law and the development of the bylaws regulating teachers' policies in Bulgaria. This report presents results of the application of SABER-teachers in Bulgaria. It describes Bulgaria's performance in each of the eight teacher policy goals, alongside comparative information from education systems that have consistently scored high results in international student achievement tests and have participated in SABER-teachers. Additional detailed descriptive information on Bulgaria's and other education systems' teacher policies can be found on the SABER-teachers website.Publication Kazakhstan Teachers(Washington, DC, 2013)A new tool, systems approach for better education results (SABER) teachers, aims to help fill the gap by collecting, analyzing, synthesizing, and disseminating comprehensive information on teacher policies in primary and secondary education systems around the world. SABER teacher's collects data on 10 core teacher policy areas to offer a comprehensive descriptive overview of the teacher policies that are in place in each participating education system. To offer informed policy guidance SABER teachers analyzes the information collected to assess the extent to which the teacher policies of an education system are aligned with those policies that research evidence to date has shown to have a positive effect on student achievement. SABER teachers analyzes the teacher policy data collected to assess each education system's progress in achieving eight teacher policy goals: (1) setting clear expectations for teachers; (2) attracting the best into teaching; (3) preparing teachers with useful training and experience; (4) matching teachers' skills with students' needs; (5) leading teachers with strong principals; (6) monitoring teaching and learning; (7) supporting teachers to improve instruction; and (8) motivating teachers to perform. By classifying countries according to their performance on each of the eight teacher policy goals, SABER teachers can help diagnose the key challenges that countries face in ensuring they have effective teachers.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Digital Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13)All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.Publication World Development Report 2005(World Bank, 2004)Firms and entrepreneurs of all types from microenterprises to multinationals play a central role in growth and poverty reduction. Their investment decisions drive job creation, the availability and affordability of goods and services for consumers, and the tax revenues governments can draw on to fund health, education, and other services. Their contribution depends largely on the way governments shape the investment climate in each location through the protection of property rights, regulation and taxation, strategies for providing infrastructure, interventions in finance and labor markets, and broader governance features such as corruption. The World Development Report 2005 argues that improving the investment climates of their societies should be a top priority for governments. Drawing on surveys of nearly 30,000 firms in 53 developing countries, country case studies, and other new research, the Report explores questions such as: What are the key features of a good investment climate, and how do they influence growth and poverty? What can governments do to improve their investment climates, and how can they go about tackling such a broad agenda? What has been learned about good practice in each of the main areas of the investment climate? What role might selective interventions and international arrangements play in improving the investment climate? What can the international community do to help developing countries improve the investment climates of their societies? In addition to detailed chapters exploring these and related issues, the Report contains selected data from the World Bank's new program of Investment Climate Surveys, the Bank's Doing Business Project, and World Development Indicators 2004‹an appendix of economic and social data for over 200 countries. This Report offers practical insights for policymakers, executives, scholars, and all those with an interest in economic development.Publication Digital Progress and Trends Report 2025: Strengthening AI Foundations(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-11-24)The recent rapid evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) has outpaced society’s ability to fully grasp its implications. Unlike technological shifts that have unfolded over decades, AI’s integration is accelerating at an unprecedented speed and scale. Along with AI’s immense opportunities come new responsibilities—especially for ethical deployment, accountability, and alignment with human values—that have few precedents in previous technology revolutions. This 2025 edition of the "Digital Progress and Trends Report (DPTR)" explores how low- and middle-income countries can harness AI to drive inclusive and sustainable development—and avoid being left behind. The report explains what makes AI different from earlier general-purpose technologies and why it matters for development. It introduces the 4Cs, the foundations essential for AI adoption, adaptation, and innovation: connectivity (infrastructure), compute (processing power), context (training data, algorithms, and applications), and competency (digital skills). Drawing on rich, novel data sets, this DPTR benchmarks countries across the 4Cs, analyzes supply and demand dynamics, and identifies market failures and externalities where policy action is urgently needed. This report emphasizes the need for global coordination and targeted interventions to close the widening AI gaps, where resource constraints threaten to exacerbate inequality. Policy insights will help governments unlock AI’s potential while navigating its risks.Publication Direct and Indirect Impacts of Transport Mobility on Access to Jobs: Evidence from South Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-11-12)Access to jobs is essential for economic growth. In Africa, unemployment rates are notably high. This paper reexamines the relationship between transport mobility and labor market outcomes, with a particular focus on the direct and indirect effects of transport connectivity. As predicted by theory, wages are influenced by the level of commuting deterrence. Generally, higher earnings are associated with longer commute times and/or higher commuting costs. Local accessibility is also important, especially for individuals with time constraints. Both direct and indirect impacts are found to be significant in South Africa, where job accessibility has been challenging since the end of apartheid. For the direct impact, the wage elasticity associated with commuting costs is significant. Returns on commute are particularly high for women. Local accessibility to socioeconomic facilities, such as shops and health services, is also found to have a significant impact, consistent with the concept of mobility of care. To enhance employment, therefore, it is crucial to connect people not only to job locations but also to various socioeconomic points of interest, such as markets and hospitals, in an integrated manner. This integration will enable individuals to spend more time working and commuting longer distances.Publication Taxes, Spending, and Equity: International Patterns and Lessons for Developing Countries(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-11-17)Taxes and public spending underpin the basic administration of government and finance the human capital and infrastructure investments needed for economic growth. They can also have a significant and immediate impact on poverty and inequality. The question of how public finance can support longer-term growth objectives while promoting equity has become even more important in recent years, given the high fiscal deficits and debt levels most countries emerged with in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. These included the increasing cost of debt and the need to restart environmentally sustainable growth while helping households address the learning losses and other social scars caused by the pandemic. This paper examines the global evidence on which households pay which taxes and who benefits from what spending, and critically, the net effect on different households across the income distribution. The aim is to identify the patterns and lessons that emerge for designing progressive fiscal policies. A global dataset of 96 countries is assembled, spanning all regions of the world and all national income levels, grounded in the Commitment to Equity (CEQ) approach to fiscal incidence.