Q&A with Andy de Barros
By Carol Jean Tomoguchi-Perez
October 5, 2023
October 5, 2023
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One of the newest faculty, joining the School of Education as an assistant professor on July 1, 2023, Andy de Barros partners with numerous national- and state-level organizations to improve educational policies and programs in less-developed countries. His research has taken place around the world, and he finds several parallels between education debates in the United States and the discussions in many of the developing-country contexts he works in.
Q: Tell us about your background. A: I’m from Heidenheim, a town in the Swabian Jura region of Southern Germany. Both of my parents worked as high school teachers. What are your research interests, and how did you become interested in these areas? I use large-scale field experiments and quasi-experimental methods to improve educational programs and policies in less-developed countries. All of my studies engage with national- or state-level partners who work to improve student learning at scale. Currently, I have ongoing research-practice partnerships in India, Morocco, Sierra Leone, and Zambia. |
Andy de Barros
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I became interested in this work after moving to Guatemala City, Guatemala, to work in a radio school that serves out-of-school youth. I quickly realized I didn’t know whether it would have been more cost-effective for me to stay in Germany instead, try to find a corporate job, and transfer as much money as possible to support Guatemalan education professionals. Since then, I’ve become fascinated by the ability of rigorous research to answer such questions in the fight against poverty.
How does your research inform change in education policy in less developed countries? Can you cite a specific example?
My research directly informs the work of the education practitioners, governments, and funding organizations I partner with. They are the first audience I have in mind when I conduct research. They want to know whether a specific education program or intervention generates its intended effects. In my recent studies, my partners have been Indian state governments, the Ministries of Education in Morocco and Zambia, the World Bank, and innovative non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as Avanti Fellows and Dost Education in India, Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) Africa, and VVOB – Education for Development.
A concrete example of direct impact comes from my ongoing research-practice partnership in government schools in Haryana, India. The first-year findings of my cluster-randomized trial revealed negative impacts of a new program that asked teachers to use technology in their classrooms. Because of these findings, the implementing NGO pivoted, pulled the program from classrooms, and turned it into a technology-enabled afterschool program. With generous funding from USAID, I’m now evaluating the effectiveness of this revised intervention. Every year, in the study schools alone, about 25,000 students benefit from this change. The state government also invited me to serve on an expert panel that advised on a new, statewide EdTech program that touches approximately one million students.
Has your work in program evaluation and education policy affected students in the United States?
Surprisingly, there are many parallels between education debates in the United States and discussions in many of the developing-country contexts I work in. For example, I just published some of the first experimental evidence on what happens when students who lag behind receive personalized, adaptive instruction with educational software (as opposed to grade-level materials). My study found that, on average, even students two grade levels behind did not benefit from individualizing instruction to their learning level. Children had to be even farther behind to experience a positive impact of personalization. In the United States, Brookings kindly covered these results, and I received a lot of interest when I presented this work to U.S. practitioners currently developing a similar EdTech program.
How do you envision education policy evolving in the next five years? In ten years?
For many developing countries, in the short-run, I foresee a continued re-focusing on whether students are actually learning in school vs. “merely” attending school. This coincides with a stronger focus on students’ mastery of foundational literacy and numeracy skills in the primary grades. It also coincides with greater interest in evidence-based pedagogical solutions, such as TaRL, structured pedagogy, and phonics-based reading instruction—and an embrace of large-scale effectiveness studies thereof.
In ten years, I predict the “effective altruism” movement will have reversed its current position, and it will support select education interventions that improve child learning in developing countries. I also predict policy debates will shift from the development of foundational skills to whether and how the development of these skills matters for later-life outcomes. Finally, as part of these discussions, I foresee increased interest in supporting a much more clearly defined and targeted subset of those skills currently broadly referred to as “non-cognitive” skills.
Does your research have you working with other School of Education faculty, and/or UCI faculty in general? Who do you look forward to working with?
Yes. A lot. At the School of Education, I found a lot of common interest in the effects of educational technologies. For example, before coming to UCI, I would assign an article by Mark Warschauer in my lectures on EdTech—it’s a true honor to have him as a colleague. I also share a lot of interest with all those investigating the long-run effects of education interventions on later-life outcomes. I’ve done related work in Cambodia and Pakistan, and I look forward to discussions with Drew Bailey, Greg Duncan, Jade Jenkins, and many others, including through our lab meetings. At UCI more broadly, I also have a courtesy appointment at the Department of Economics, and I’ve already met colleagues who do related work in applied microeconomics, causal inference, and development economics.
What are you looking forward to most in your first year at UCI?
Teaching!
Any fun facts we should know about you?
I love running and, with a friend of mine, I recently ran the perimeter of Manhattan. But remember. I’m German. There are no fun facts.
How does your research inform change in education policy in less developed countries? Can you cite a specific example?
My research directly informs the work of the education practitioners, governments, and funding organizations I partner with. They are the first audience I have in mind when I conduct research. They want to know whether a specific education program or intervention generates its intended effects. In my recent studies, my partners have been Indian state governments, the Ministries of Education in Morocco and Zambia, the World Bank, and innovative non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as Avanti Fellows and Dost Education in India, Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) Africa, and VVOB – Education for Development.
A concrete example of direct impact comes from my ongoing research-practice partnership in government schools in Haryana, India. The first-year findings of my cluster-randomized trial revealed negative impacts of a new program that asked teachers to use technology in their classrooms. Because of these findings, the implementing NGO pivoted, pulled the program from classrooms, and turned it into a technology-enabled afterschool program. With generous funding from USAID, I’m now evaluating the effectiveness of this revised intervention. Every year, in the study schools alone, about 25,000 students benefit from this change. The state government also invited me to serve on an expert panel that advised on a new, statewide EdTech program that touches approximately one million students.
Has your work in program evaluation and education policy affected students in the United States?
Surprisingly, there are many parallels between education debates in the United States and discussions in many of the developing-country contexts I work in. For example, I just published some of the first experimental evidence on what happens when students who lag behind receive personalized, adaptive instruction with educational software (as opposed to grade-level materials). My study found that, on average, even students two grade levels behind did not benefit from individualizing instruction to their learning level. Children had to be even farther behind to experience a positive impact of personalization. In the United States, Brookings kindly covered these results, and I received a lot of interest when I presented this work to U.S. practitioners currently developing a similar EdTech program.
How do you envision education policy evolving in the next five years? In ten years?
For many developing countries, in the short-run, I foresee a continued re-focusing on whether students are actually learning in school vs. “merely” attending school. This coincides with a stronger focus on students’ mastery of foundational literacy and numeracy skills in the primary grades. It also coincides with greater interest in evidence-based pedagogical solutions, such as TaRL, structured pedagogy, and phonics-based reading instruction—and an embrace of large-scale effectiveness studies thereof.
In ten years, I predict the “effective altruism” movement will have reversed its current position, and it will support select education interventions that improve child learning in developing countries. I also predict policy debates will shift from the development of foundational skills to whether and how the development of these skills matters for later-life outcomes. Finally, as part of these discussions, I foresee increased interest in supporting a much more clearly defined and targeted subset of those skills currently broadly referred to as “non-cognitive” skills.
Does your research have you working with other School of Education faculty, and/or UCI faculty in general? Who do you look forward to working with?
Yes. A lot. At the School of Education, I found a lot of common interest in the effects of educational technologies. For example, before coming to UCI, I would assign an article by Mark Warschauer in my lectures on EdTech—it’s a true honor to have him as a colleague. I also share a lot of interest with all those investigating the long-run effects of education interventions on later-life outcomes. I’ve done related work in Cambodia and Pakistan, and I look forward to discussions with Drew Bailey, Greg Duncan, Jade Jenkins, and many others, including through our lab meetings. At UCI more broadly, I also have a courtesy appointment at the Department of Economics, and I’ve already met colleagues who do related work in applied microeconomics, causal inference, and development economics.
What are you looking forward to most in your first year at UCI?
Teaching!
Any fun facts we should know about you?
I love running and, with a friend of mine, I recently ran the perimeter of Manhattan. But remember. I’m German. There are no fun facts.
