This paper studies the impact of India’s “model” school program which aimed to provide high quality education to economically disadvantaged students. Model schools combine better infrastructure with more accountability, contract teachers, and lower per-pupil spending than regular public schools. Using a fuzzy Regression Discontinuity Design based on entrance exam cutoffs, I find attending a model school for five years increases test scores in math by 0.38 standard deviations, in science by 0.26 sd, and in social science by 0.26 sd on average. Furthermore, model schools increase the probability of joining pre-university by 11.5 percentage points. The results suggest it is possible to deliver substantial improvement of outcomes in public schools at a slightly lower level of school spending through a package of reforms.

本文研究了印度“模范”学校计划的影响，该计划旨在为经济困难的学生提供高质量的教育。与普通公立学校相比，示范学校拥有更好的基础设施、更多的责任感、合同制教师以及更低的人均支出。使用基于入学考试截止值的模糊回归不连续性设计，我发现在模范学校就读五年后，数学考试成绩平均提高了 0.38 个标准差，科学考试成绩平均提高了 0.26 个标准差，社会科学考试成绩平均提高了 0.26 个标准差。此外，模范学校将进入大学预科课程的可能性提高了 11.5 个百分点。结果表明，通过一揽子改革，可以在学校支出水平略低的情况下大幅改善公立学校的成绩。