Private school effects in urban and rural India: Panel estimates at primary and secondary school ages

I present the first value-added models of learning production in private and government schools in India using unique panel data from Andhra Pradesh state. I examine the heterogeneity in private school value-added across different subjects, urban and rural areas, medium of instruction, and across age groups. Further, I also estimate private school effects on children's self-efficacy and agency. In rural areas, I find a substantial positive effect (> 0.5 SD) of private schools on English, no effect on Mathematics and heterogeneous effects on Telugu for 8-10-year old students; at 15 years, there are modest effects (< 0.2 SD) on Mathematics and Telugu receptive vocabulary. I find no evidence of a positive effect in urban areas or on psychosocial skills. Results on comparable test domains and age groups correspond closely with, and further extend, estimates from a parallel experimental evaluation.