Personnel Management and School Productivity: Evidence from India.

This article investigates school management quality and its relationship to productivity in public and private primary schools in Andhra Pradesh, India, using data from the Development World Management Survey (D-WMS) and the Andhra Pradesh School Choice (APSC) project. It finds that public schools exhibit low management quality—about two standard deviations below high-income countries—while private schools demonstrate significantly better management, especially in personnel management. Higher personnel management quality correlates with improved teaching practices, greater student learning gains (student value added), reduced variation in teacher effectiveness within schools, and a positive link between teacher pay and productivity in private but not public schools. The study highlights that differences in personnel management largely explain the private school productivity premium and suggests that enhancing management practices, particularly in the public sector, could improve educational outcomes.