Improving learning among low-achieving students is a challenge in education.
We present results from the first randomized experiment of an inquiry-based
remedial science education program for low-performing elementary students in a
developing-country setting. Third-grade students in 48 low-income public
elementary schools in Metropolitan Lima who score at the bottom half of their
school distribution in a science test taken at the beginning of the school year are
randomly assigned to receive up to 16 remedial science tutoring sessions of 90
minutes each. Control group compliance with assignment is close to perfect.
Treatment group compliance is 40 percent, equivalent to 4.5 tutoring sessions, or
a 4 percent increase in total science instruction time. Despite the low treatment
intensity, students assigned to the remedial sessions score 0.12 standard
deviations higher on a science endline test, with all gains concentrated among
boys. We find no evidence of remedial education producing within-student
spillovers to other subject areas (math or reading) or spillovers on other students
in the classroom. We conclude that low-intensity remedial education can have
an effect on science learning among low-achieving students.
I. Health, Education, and Welfare: I2. Education and Research Institutions
