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                     enGender Impact: The World Bank’s Gender Impact Evaluation Database



       School Meals, Educational Achievement and School Competition: Evidence from a
                                   Randomized Evaluation
    Author(s)          Christel Vermeersch and Michael Kremer
     Contact           mkremer@fas.harvard.edu

     Country           Kenya

Organizing Theme       Education and Skills, Health

      Status           Completed
   Intervention
                       School Feeding
     Category
      Sector           Education
                       This paper examines the effects of subsidized school meals on school participation, educational
                       achievement, and school finance in a developing country setting. We use data from a program that
                       was implemented in 25 randomly chosen preschools in a pool of 50. Children’s school
                       participation was 30 percent higher in the treatment group than in the comparison group. The
                       meals program led to higher curriculum test scores, but only in schools where the teacher was
                       relatively experienced prior to the program. The school meals displaced teaching time and led to
     Abstract          larger class sizes. Despite improved incentives, teacher absenteeism remained at a high level of 30
                       percent. Treatment schools raised their fees, and comparison schools close to treatment schools
                       decreased their fees. Some of the price effects are due to a combination of capacity constraints
                       and pupil transfers that would not happen if the school meals were offered in all schools. The
                       intention-to-treat estimator of the effect of the randomized program incorporates those price
                       effects, and therefore it should be considered a lower bound on the effect of generalized school
                       meals. This insight on price effects generalizes to other randomized program evaluations.
    Gender
                       Gender Informed Analysis
   Connection
Gender Outcomes        Gender disaggregated school enrollment, attendance, performance; nutrition.

    IE Design          Clustered Randomized Control Trial (Clustered at school level)
                       A Dutch NGO, ICS, organized and funded the provision of a school breakfast in 25 schools,
   Intervention        randomly chosen from a pool of 50 schools. The breakfast consisted of a cup of porridge that
                       contained 422 calories.
Intervention Period    2000-2002; breakfast was provided every day starting in April 2000
                       The sample is comprised of 50 schools, 25 of which received the intervention. The targeted
                       population is children between 4 and 6 who live within walking distance of the school. The survey
Sample population
                       covered all siblings aged 4 to 6 of children who are currently in school. In 2000, 3176 participants
                       were matched to a child in the baseline survey, in 2001 the number was 2988.
                       The study compared the 25 treated schools to 25 control schools who did not receive the
   Comparison
                       nutritional intervention. All of the schools did receive prior interventions of teacher training and
    conditions
                       school supplies.
  Unit of analysis     Child Level


     Last updated: 14 August 2013                                                                        1
                   enGender Impact: The World Bank’s Gender Impact Evaluation Database


                     A baseline survey was implemented starting in February/March 2000; there were school
Evaluation Period
                     attendance check through July 2002
                     The school feeding program had a positive significant impact on school participation (treated
                     students participated in school 35.9% of the time versus 27.4 for the comparison group). The
                     program led to a significant improvement in test scores, but only in in schools where teachers
     Results         were more experienced at the onset of the program. There was no impact on cognitive abilities.
                     The program led to a significant improvement in the weight of boys, but no improvement in the
                     height or weight of girls. The increased participation led to overcrowding, but had no impact on
                     teacher absenteeism. Also, the school meals displaced teaching time.
 Primary study       Some students from comparison schools transferred into treatment schools. Additionally,
  limitations        comparison schools changed their prices in response to the program.
 Funding Source
                     Kremer, M., & Vermeersch, C. (2005). School Meals, Educational Achievement and School
  Reference(s)
                     Competition: Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation.
 Link to Studies
                     https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/8884/wps3523.pdf?sequence=1
   Microdata




    Last updated: 14 August 2013                                                                     2