I spotted this sentence: “GiveWell (2018) for instance does not assign any intrinsic value to education itself, nor to improved attendance or test scores.” Do you have a source for this? (As far as I’m aware, I don’t think they have ever said that.)
″ Evidence of effect on outcomes (such as income, health, or social outcomes) rather than outputs (such as increased time in school or improved test scores). There are a number of variables that can be used to measure the effects of education interventions, and we place significantly more emphasis on the effects on some variables than others. We distinguish between ‘outputs’ of education interventions, namely whether they increase time in school or student learning (measured by test scores),3 and the effect of education interventions on people’s life ‘outcomes’, including employment, earnings, health outcomes, fertility, and marriage. We do not place much intrinsic value on increasing time in school or test scores, although we think that such improvements may have instrumental value.4 The majority of experimental studies of the effects of education interventions focus on the effects on time in school and test scores. However, we place far more emphasis on a few recent studies that estimate the effects of education programs on life outcomes, such as earnings and rates of fertility and marriage among young women and girls.”
I spotted this sentence: “GiveWell (2018) for instance does not assign any intrinsic value to education itself, nor to improved attendance or test scores.” Do you have a source for this? (As far as I’m aware, I don’t think they have ever said that.)
Yes, you can check out this webpage: https://www.givewell.org/international/technical/programs/education
Here’s a relevant excerpt:
″ Evidence of effect on outcomes (such as income, health, or social outcomes) rather than outputs (such as increased time in school or improved test scores). There are a number of variables that can be used to measure the effects of education interventions, and we place significantly more emphasis on the effects on some variables than others. We distinguish between ‘outputs’ of education interventions, namely whether they increase time in school or student learning (measured by test scores),3 and the effect of education interventions on people’s life ‘outcomes’, including employment, earnings, health outcomes, fertility, and marriage. We do not place much intrinsic value on increasing time in school or test scores, although we think that such improvements may have instrumental value.4 The majority of experimental studies of the effects of education interventions focus on the effects on time in school and test scores. However, we place far more emphasis on a few recent studies that estimate the effects of education programs on life outcomes, such as earnings and rates of fertility and marriage among young women and girls.”