@EdWorkingPaper{ai26-1575,
title = "Leveraging complementarities between teachers' content knowledge and pedagogical supports: Experimental evidence from India",
author = "Alejandro J. Ganimian, Isaac M. Mbiti, Abhilash Mishra",
number = "1575",
year = "2026",
month = "September",
URL = "http://www.edworkingpapers.com/ai26-1575",
abstract = {We evaluate whether pairing strong subject-matter knowledge with pedagogical supports can improve learning in public primary schools. In Pune, India, we randomly assigned grades within 48 schools to an intervention that recruited college students in science, technology, engineering, and math (“fellows”), supported them with training, coaching, and scripts, and had them partly replace math and science teachers. Despite less education and experience, fellows scored 1.56 standard deviations (SDs) higher than teachers on an assessment of content knowledge and pedagogy. The intervention raised achievement after one year by 0.32 SDs in math, 0.23 SDs in science, and 0.16 SDs in language; math and science gains persisted three months later. Effects extended beyond potentially coached items. Fellows also used stronger pedagogical practices, and those with more knowledge adhered more closely to substantive script components, suggesting that scripts complemented their expertise. The intervention was more cost-effective than roughly two thirds of rigorously evaluated education interventions worldwide. The large pool of eligible college students near urban schools suggests that the model could scale to other Indian cities.},
}