an award. Awards for teachers were based on annual average gain in the score of the teacher’s students between baseline and endline tests within the same phase.<sup>11</sup> Gains were expressed as percentage-point increases in the score on the test, which was marked out of 100. The curriculum-based tests were designed specifically for this intervention and were administered at the beginning and end of the school year. Within each group of 6-12 schools, the top three teachers in each of Math, English, and Kiswahili received an inkind award. These were distributed at region-wide public ceremonies chaired by high-ranking district and regional officers. Awards included smart phones, book vouchers, certificates, and medals with an overall value of roughly $190 for first-place teachers, $130 for second-place teachers, and $110 for third-place teachers.<sup>12</sup> The student incentives were designed as within-school competitions. Within each school, students achieving the highest annual gains in the average score on the tests received an award. Again, gains were calculated in percentage points on the study-specific standardized curriculum-based test, which was marked out of 100. For each eligible school assigned to this arm, the top three students in Math, English, and Kiswahili were awarded. Awards, which included book vouchers, certificates, and medals, were distributed at school-based ceremonies.

The total annual cost per year for the teacher incentive program was approximately US$ 442, and that for the student incentive program was approximately US$ 92. This is excluding student assessment costs under the assumption that the awards can be tied to regular system-level student assessments.<sup>13</sup>

# **2.2  Sampling**

Sampling of schools was done using a complete list of public and private secondary schools in the three regions.<sup>14</sup> All wards with private schools were automatically included in the sample. After this step was completed, remaining wards were selected randomly, with the goal of reaching a sample size of over 400

> 11 The announcement for the awards included a note that students who were absent on the day of the endline test would get a score of zero. Students who were absent at baseline but present at endline would receive the average baseline score for the school.

> 12 Analysis of Tanzania’s 2014 Labor Force Survey suggests that median monthly earnings of secondary school teachers are on the order of $376. This is reported as PPP$934 in Evans, Yuan, and Filmer (2020) based on a survey median of Tanzanian shillings 622,434.  $376 is calculated on the basis of an exchange rate of 1653 shillings per dollar as reported in World Development Indicators for 2014.

> 13 Intervention costs increase by approximately US$ 500 per school, per year if the cost of designing, administering, invigilating, marking, and data-entry of student assessments is factored-in.

> 14 The sample for the study was constructed using complete secondary school lists for three regions in Tanzania – Lindi, Shinyanga, and Morgoro. The school list, disaggregated at the ward level, is derived by triangulating two administrative databases - EMIS 2011 and Inspectorate 2011 data. These data were augmented by a school mapping database created in 2013 as a part of the fieldwork for this research. We included all the schools for which we could find school performance data (Form 2 pass rates) for 2012. The final sample included 61 percent of all public secondary schools and 100 percent of all private secondary schools in the three regions.

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