World Bank Nigeria RCT: GPT-4 tutoring boosted learning by 0.31 SD, worth 2 years of schooling
alexvoica · x · 2026-09-03
Responding to NYC Mayor Mamdani's claim that no non-industry-funded research shows AI helps students, engineer alexvoica pointed to a World Bank RCT published in May 2025.
Key findings:
- A six-week randomized controlled trial in Nigerian secondary schools used Microsoft Copilot (GPT-4) for virtual English tutoring
- Overall assessment scores improved 0.31 standard deviations; English, the primary outcome, improved 0.23 SD
- Cost-effectiveness analysis pegs gains at 1.5–2 years of 'business-as-usual' schooling — among the most cost-effective learning interventions
- Largest effects for female students and those with higher baseline performance
The study argues properly designed AI tutoring can be transformative in low-resource education settings — a heavyweight empirical counterexample to AI-in-education skepticism.
Related event: World Bank: GPT-4 Tutors Equal Two Extra Years of Schooling(2 posts)→
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