@EdWorkingPaper{ai25-1344,
title = "Learning to Work Towards Goals: A Sequential Evaluation of the Effect of Goal-Setting Course on Academic and Soft Skills",
author = "Anaya Dam, Guthrie Gray-Lobe, Michael Kremer, Joost de Laat, Karlijn Morsink",
institution = "Annenberg Institute at Brown University",
number = "1344",
year = "2025",
month = "November",
URL = "http://www.edworkingpapers.com/ai25-1344",
abstract = {This study sequentially evaluates a soft-skills course implemented in Ugandan and Kenyan primary schools that replaced academic review time with lessons on goal-setting and related skills as students prepared for high-stakes primary school-leaving exams. An exploratory evaluation in Uganda provided evidence of positive impacts on girls' test scores. A confirmatory evaluation in Kenya found that the course led to improvements in self-reported soft skills, especially among girls, although no gains in test scores. The study illustrates the utility of sequential evaluation, with exploratory analysis to identify promising hypotheses, followed by out-of-sample testing, as a tool to uncover heterogeneous effects.},
}