A Comment on "Delivering Remote Learning Using a Low-Tech Solution: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial in Bangladesh"
Re-examines the data, code, and robustness of a randomized low-tech remote-learning intervention in Bangladesh.
Question and contribution.
Replication checks translate into practical lessons about which education results to build on.
Abstract.
Wang et al. (2024) report that Bangladeshi students randomly given access to lessons on a phone server saw significant learning gains during COVID-19 school closures. We identify three sets of anomalies. First, this experiment shares participants with another experiment conducted simultaneously in the same region, but test scores for the same children systematically differ between the two experiments. Second, test scores for treated participants exhibit a uniform upward shift that is completely insensitive to the number of lessons children complete. Third, numerous documentation inconsistencies (e.g., concerning survey materials, randomization procedures, etc.) cast doubt on the study's data.
How the project is framed.
BibTeX.
@techreport{aparicio2025remote,
title = {A Comment on "Delivering Remote Learning Using a Low-Tech Solution: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial in Bangladesh"},
author = {Lenka Fiala and Jack Fitzgerald and Essi Kujansuu and Derek Mikola and David Valenta and Juan P. Aparicio and Michael Wiebe and Matthew D. Webb and Abel Brodeur},
institution = {I4R Discussion Paper Series},
year = {2025},
url = {https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/i4rdps/241.html}
}