13 _Teacher tardiness._ Data on this issue are limited. For example, a survey of Ghanaian primary schools reported that in addition to the 20% of teachers who were absent from school on the day of the survey, another 29% were late in arriving at school.<sup>61</sup> The report concluded that as a result of teacher absenteeism and tardiness, actual pupil-teacher interaction time was estimated to be only 70% of available instructional time. Reasons for tardiness are unclear and need to be better understood.

_Absenteeism effects on student performance._ Teacher absenteeism is particularly costly to the poor, since they cannot afford private tutors to cover the curriculum and pass high-stakes examinations. Thus, it has been related to lower student test scores in primary schools.<sup>62</sup> One study showed that a 5% increase in the absenteeism rate of teachers who stayed with the same class for two years reduced student gains by 4-8% during the year; the size and precision of these estimates was the same for both math and English.<sup>63</sup> In an Indonesian study, higher teacher absenteeism was related to lower fourth-grade student achievement on math (but not dictation) after controlling for household characteristics, teacher quality, and school conditions).<sup>64</sup> Absenteeism among teachers also encourages similar behavior among students, notably in countries such as Mali and Somalia.<sup>65</sup> But the relationship between teacher absenteeism and student performance is not always clear. Some studies find either a weak effect or no effect between teacher absence and student attendance and test scores.<sup>66</sup> A study of primary schools in Pakistan found a 10% absenteeism rate but no correlation between teacher absence and achievement levels.<sup>67</sup> Another study in the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan<sup>68</sup> found that higher rates of teacher absenteeism increase student promotion rates for a given level of test scores but reduce student continuation rates. The explanation is that assessments of pupils’ progress by absent teachers are less accurate, but students may not know enough material to continue, even if promoted. However, many studies rely on self-reports and are descriptive. The effect of teacher absenteeism on student achievement needs to be clarified with studies that have robust experimental designs.

# **USE OF CLASSROOM TIME (TIME ON TASK)**

Ideally, students should be engaged in learning during the entire time they are class, but this is often not the case. School-based surveys of teacher activity carried out by PROBE (Public Report on Basic Education<sup>69</sup> ) researchers in four Indian states found that in only 53% of the schools visited by the research staff were teachers actually teaching in their classrooms. The survey found that in 21% of the surveyed schools teachers were just “minding the class”; in 18% of the schools they were talking with other teachers; in 11% they were sitting/standing outside the room; in 7% they were in the head-teacher’s room; and in 23% of the schools teachers were observed in other non-teaching activities. Similarly, an evaluation by the 61. EARC 2003

> 62. Suryadarma et al 2004, Chaudhury et al 2004a 63. Das et al. 2005

> 64. Study cited in Lewis and Lockheed 2006, p. 67.

> 65. Lockheed and Verspoor, 1992; EARC, 2003

> 66. Ehrenberg et al. 1991, Chaudhury et al 2004b

67. Reimers 1993 68. King, Orazem, and Paterno 1999 69. De and Dreze 1999