Remedial Education Targeting

Remedial education targeting is the education-policy lesson drawn from Michael Kremer’s textbook study in Piles of cash and a town of solutions in Kenya, Nigeria (Summer School). The [[BusiaKenya|Busia]] trial found that textbooks did not improve average test scores, though high-scoring students benefited.

The implication is that learning materials alone can miss students who are already behind. The source says the result encouraged more attention to remedial education, making Human Capital Development depend on matching intervention design to actual student level rather than assuming every input helps every learner equally.

Key Claims

• Education spending can be ineffective on average when students cannot use the input provided.
• Mixed trial results can redirect policy away from broad input provision and toward targeted support.
• Randomized Controlled Trials made the textbook result harder to dismiss as anecdote.
• The concept connects education quality to Evidence-Based Development Policy, not only school enrollment.

Connections

• Kenya, Busia, Kenya, and Michael Kremer - source setting and researcher.
• Development Economics - field context.
• Deworming as Human Capital Investment - another Busia intervention linking education and health.