Improvements in numeracy on a micro level: A field study in the Philippines

Abstract: This project investigates if access to a solar powered calculator improves numeracy and who benefits the most from the use of a calculator. A randomized field study was carried out in two different high schools in Palawan, a province in the Philippines. All participating students took two identical mathematics tests based on mental arithmetic, the first at the initial stage and the second seven weeks later at the end of the project. Difference-in-differences estimation was used to find the difference between the change in test scores over time for control and treatment groups. In one of the schools the calculator did have a significant positive effect on test scores among students in the treatment group. The difference-in-differences estimate indicates that the treatment group increased its test score by approximately one point more than the control group over the project’s time period. The results also suggest that the improvements in mental arithmetic were highest in calculation problems based on division. Students living with neither parent and with access to fewer schoolbooks tend to have lower test scores at baseline. The change in test scores is reduced among students who have a higher number of siblings or high absenteeism. To increase numeracy overall focus has to be directed at low performers to improve basic knowledge in mathematics, as well as high performers who benefit the most from a calculator.