Evaluation of the USAID primary education efficiency project

The Ministry of Education (MOE) and the project have made tremendous efforts to establish in Honduran classrooms a learner-centered, self-directed process in which children assume increasing responsibility for the school, the school community, and the learning process itself. However, the project is vulnerable to derailment when other donors such as the World Bank and Germany replace USAID's inputs. The MOE needs continuity in both purpose and funding to sustain its momentum towards major changes in the way teaching and learning takes place in Honduran schools. Unless the new donors build on this project, there will be a costly discontinuity. USAID is funding a coordinating position to assist in the transition from one donor to another. The project achieved 8 of the 9 objectively verifiable indicators of national impact envisioned in the revised logframe of 1992. Especially successful were the reduction in the numbers of primary school dropouts and the increased numbers of fourth and sixth grade primary school graduates (the level of education associated with achieving basic literacy and numeracy). For example, 1994 primary school graduates equaled 70% of the 13-year-old population, which is one of the highest rates in Central America, as compared to about 50% in 1985. Some 75% of the objectives of each project component were met or surpassed, and another 14% were substantially met. Especially successful were the textbook development, printing, and distribution component and the school construction component. These two components account for 55% of the project budget, excluding the MOE's contributions for construction. Targets not met were related, for the most part, to automation; the management information system (MIS) and the testing and evaluation components were especially affected by this. Transfer of computer technology to project staff was undermined by the long delay in obtaining computers, the limited level of computer literacy in the job pool, the high turnover of staff due to political changes in the government, and the higher salaries offered in the private sector for trained computer technicians. The project's analytic requirements were greatly overshadowed by production demands. Consequently, while production schedules were met (e.g., key objectives were identified, tests were fabricated, texts were published), there tended to be a lack of technical analysis which would have sharpened the focus and utility of project efforts. Analytical technology was not transferred, and an opportunity was missed to move from the relative obsolescence of much information that the MOE traditionally collects to a more discriminating, systematic identification of useful information and a higher level of information analysis. An ongoing mechanism for quality control was not institutionalized. For example, quality control mechanisms tended to be discrete, perhaps one-time, events in the sequence of developing tests or texts. They were not built into the project as strong evaluation feedback loops for curriculum development, teacher training, test development, evaluation, or MIS initiatives. EDUCATODOS--an alternative system for delivering basic education to out-of-school youth and young adults, funded by this project, LearnTech (9365818), and the BEST project (5220388)--is off to a good start. Factors that may inhibit sustaining EDUCATODOS' initial momentum include: problems with promoter selection and lack of transportation; expansion that outstrips logistical support; ineffective lessons for some target groups; delayed inputs from NGO and municipal partners; and administrative, financial, and logistical complexities. The following lessons were learned. (1) Due to bureaucratic red tape and other obstacles, the project developed a functional pattern of contracting out for technical and administrative services, although it did not succeed in establishing a mechanism for obtaining critical equipment in a timely fashion. (2) In countries with a high staff turnover due to political, social, and economic conditions, continuous training is needed, and institution-building goals may need to be reframed in terms of enhancing the skills of a national pool of education specialists. (3) Key to the project's success have been its 10-year time frame and the dedication of its staff. (4) To sustain momentum toward major changes in teaching and learning, inputs need to be: continuous; timely; continuously improving in quality as a results of feedback from teachers and children (via surveys and achievement tests); and part of an integrated plan which is fully aligned with the MOE's vision of primary education. (Author abstract, modified)