KiuFunza I (2013 – 2015)

The KiuFunza I randomized evaluation results were published in this article in the 2019 Quarterly Journal of Economics:

Abstract: We present results from a large-scale randomized experiment across 350 schools in Tanzania that studied the impact of providing schools with (i) unconditional grants, (ii) teacher incentives based on student performance, and (iii) both of the above. After two years, we find (i) no impact on student test scores from providing school grants, (ii) some evidence of positive effects from teacher incentives, and (iii) significant positive effects from providing both programs. Most important, we find strong evidence of complementarities between the programs, with the effect of joint provision being significantly greater than the sum of the individual effects. Our results suggest that combining spending on school inputs (the default policy) with improved teacher incentives could substantially increase the cost-effectiveness of public spending on education.

A shorter non-technical version of the results can be found in the KF I impact brief (J-PAL). 

This paper in the Journal of African Economies (2021) describes opinions of teachers and parents on the idea and implementation of paying teachers for objective measures of student learning. The research finds that “.. 96% of teachers support the idea of teacher performance pay, while 61% favour at least some performance-linked element in a future salary increase. Further, 80% of head teachers support performance pay.”