# _2.1.3 Quality enhancement actions based on QAS tool data_

A key question for QAS tools is how the data will be used. With constrained education budgets, ideally, the results of the monitoring tool can inform LMICs on how to tailor and target quality enhancement actions. Examples of quality enhancement actions include deployment of resources (such as furniture, repairs, materials, or funds) to schools that are in need, teacher support (training or coaching responding to topics and teachers that are struggling), or incentives (including information, or targeted rewards, recognition, or accountability). Although there is not much research on the effectiveness of these quality enhancement actions as different components of QAS, there is a large body of research on what works to promote learning in LMICs (Glewwe et al. 2013; Krishnaratne, White, and Carpenter 2013; McEwan 2015; Evans and Popova 2016; Ganimian and Murnane 2016; Glewwe and Muralidharan 2016; Conn 2017; Evans and Mendez Acosta 2021).

Additional resources can improve learning, but the impact of local management of funds is mixed and depends on the capacity of management committees (Blimpo and Evans 2011; Glewwe and Maïga 2011; Pradhan et al. 2014; Santibanez, Abreu-Lastra, and Donoghue 2014). Teaching and learning materials, such as slates for students or scripts for teachers, can lead to quality improvements, and act as important complements to training and coaching (Glewwe et al. 2004; Rolla San Francisco et al. 2006; Glewwe, Kremer, and Moulin 2009; Cristia et al. 2012; Piper et al. 2018). Training as it is often realized in LMICs (one-off, centralized, in a cascade model) tends not to be effective (Desimone et al. 2003; Yoon et al. 2007; Sayre, Raikes, and Devercelli 2018; Wolf 2018; Blimpo et al. 2019). Practice, feedback, and longer (but more focused) training and coaching tend to be more effective (Pallante and Kim 2013; Westbrook et al. 2013; Reinke et al. 2014; Fleisch et al. 2016; Kotze, Fleisch, and Taylor 2019; Popova et al. 2022).

In terms of incentives, information, and accountability, school report cards or quality ratings (which could potentially report QAS results) can cost-effectively improve education (Andrabi, Das, and Khwaja 2017; Bassok, Dee, and Latham 2019), but if implementation is weak they will have no effects (Aturupane et al. 2014). The global evidence on pay-for-performance for primary teachers is mixed (Glewwe, Ilias, and Kremer 2010; Muralidharan and Sundararaman 2011; Neal 2011; Goodman and Turner 2013). Although there is this rich literature on what works for education, how these policies would play out with a QAS has not previously been investigated.

# **_2.2 Kindergartens in Egypt_**

Children aged 4-6 in Egypt are eligible for KG, which is not compulsory. Children who enroll in KG can do so at KG1 or KG2 grades. At age six, children are eligible for primary school. Kindergartens are overseen by the Ministry of Education and Technical Education (MoETE) in Egypt, which provides public KG classes in public primary schools. Most KG enrollment is in public KGs, but a substantial private KG sector, primarily enrolling wealthier families, exists (El-Kogali and Krafft 2015). In the 2010s, enrollment rates in pre-primary education in Egypt were around 28% (World Bank 2022).

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