The El Salvador Community Managed Schools Program (EDUCO) and student learning: How education system decisions impact educational planning and the cost-effectiveness of learning

Governments, and their constituent elements at national and sub-national levels, attempt to strategically plan and manage their resources efficiently for a variety of reasons, which often influence decision makers’ efforts... [ view full abstract ]

Governments, and their constituent elements at national and sub-national levels, attempt to strategically plan and manage their resources efficiently for a variety of reasons, which often influence decision makers’ efforts to plan and resource their education systems efficiently. In El Salvador during the 1990s, decentralized, school-based management was one such initiative that sought to increase the cost-effectiveness of access and learning by giving local school management committees the power to hire and fire teachers as well as make decisions around the use of resources at the school level. Over two decades, this policy led the EDUCO schools to close the achievement gap between the rural poor and those students served by the government schools. In 2009, a new government converted the EDUCO schools into regular government schools, effectively taking away their ability to make decisions related to the management of the school. This paper highlights the results of an impact evaluation of this policy decision. The results demonstrate: (1) the extent to which the decision to end EDUCO impacted both the former EDUCO and government schools; and (2) the extent to which learning outcomes in both sets of schools decreased as a result of the government’s decision to end EDUCO. The results have key policy implications for government officials in terms of educational planning as it relates to ensuring students receive an opportunity to learn as well as the cost-effectiveness of learning when communities lose the power to ensure that teachers and students are present in schools, ready to learn.