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# **TRENDS IN LINKAGES BETWEEN LEARNING OUTCOMES AND POVERTY STATUS**

This study could obtain only preliminary evidence on the linkages between time loss and student performance. Achievement test data were available only in Pernambuco (Education Evaluation System of the State of Pemambuco-SAEPE). Due to various data and computational issues, measurement precision was modest. Also, for logistics reasons, multiple regressions were computed rather than hierarchical linear modeling, a process that may bias some standard errors and effect sizes.<sup>109</sup> Nevertheless, low but significant relationships were found between achievement and various time indicators. After controlling for socioeconomic indicators, regressions showed that significant amounts of test score variance were predicted by: (a) the number of days Brazilian students missed, (b) the number of teachers absent on the day of the survey, (c) amount of passive instruction (often related to lower test scores), and (d) management activities. Approaching statistical significance (p<0.07) was the number of times a teacher left early the previous month.

Area-level socioeconomic data were available only for Pernambuco and Morocco. In both countries time parameters showed low but statistically significant relationships between instructional time use and socioeconomic indicators, such as area life expectancy, income level, and literacy rate. Particularly in Morocco, poverty rate and rural school locations were positively correlated with school closures, interactive and passive instruction, time spent in management, and off task behaviors. In general, interactive learning time was negatively correlated with poverty and urban location. Though this finding is preliminary, it is consistent with earlier research in the US which showed that in poor areas students have less instructional time (Chapter 2).

# **METHODOLOGICAL LESSONS AND DATA LIMITATIONS**

The study mainly sought to develop a feasible methodology for measuring instructional time use across countries. It was found that it is possible for governments to do so in a reasonable time period, and with a reasonable cost. Three of the four countries were in the middle-income range, but the Ghana Ministry of Education also successfully carried out the survey and processed the data.

However, instructional time concepts are not widely known. Thus, the study faced several methodological challenges that included lengthy implementation delays, an insufficiently detailed assessment of school closures, and surveys modified by different countries beyond comparability. One consequence of collaborating with Ministries of Education rather than hiring consultants was that each country administered slightly different versions of the questionnaires. Some government staff did not sufficiently understand the purpose of various survey questions and the importance of obtaining clear numerical answers that would help estimate the number of days lost. The data collected by the study were treated statistically to extract similarities and equate to the extent possible the time losses reported in each country in order to compare them. As a result of these problems, the datasets included measurement error that reduced the potential strength of relationships among various variables (Annex A).

109. Osborne 2000