Mid-term evaluation of the Swaziland education policy, management, and technology project

Midterm evaluation covers the period 1990-7/93. Although its design, which aims to effect change at every level of Swazi education, might seem overly ambitious, the project has thus far been as productive as hoped, particularly in regard to implementing all of the required technical inputs: classroom tests for continuous student assessment; training modules for head teacher management training; and data collection and processing systems for the MIS and organizational development. The project has also conducted or supervised hundreds of hours of in-country training and arranged for participant training abroad. However, most of these accomplishments have come through the efforts or under the direction of expatriate advisors. To ensure that the components become institutionalized, the project must shift away from technical inputs to behavioral outputs. The latter point is exemplified in the continuous student assessment component, the project's centerpiece. Thus far, the component has devoted virtually all of its resources to creating tests and designing a national data capture program. Only 4.5 days of training in student assessment have been given to teachers. The component should channel its resources into changing the way teachers teach -- i.e., shifting the classroom focus toward continuously assessing students' achievements and providing remedial instruction. Shifting the component's focus from test creation to teacher behavior is the first and most important step in this process. A smaller shift should take place in the MIS and organizational development components. Although enough data now exist to engage every MOE officer in data analysis and policy creation for the next year and beyond, most MOE officers are not so engaged. The project should create an environment where data are needed and demanded for problemsolving. Seminars, workshops, discussion groups, training sessions (even films and video games), as well as regular meetings of task forces and policymakers, will have to be held over time to ensure the institutionalization of the MIS and organizational development components. The head teacher management training component is well on its way to being institutionalized in the MOE, but the quality of the training must be improved and the capability of the In-Service Education and Training Unit to provide that training must be strengthened. Through the TA and training provided to the MOE's Educational Testing, Guidance and Psychological Services unit, the guidance and counseling component, geared toward increasing student awareness of career choices and employment options, has already achieved its goals. Given the needs still existing in other project components, it would be inadvisable to invest additional resources in this one. In sum, the project has made an excellent beginning on a difficult task. It is time now to consolidate gains, shift from design to dissemination, and invest the remaining resources in the people who will have to carry on long after the project has ended. Recommendations are provided for each of the five project components.