Radio schools in nonformal education, an evaluation perspective

Beginning in 1947 with a single radio transmitter and a few people, they have spread to most other Latin American countries and reach several hundred thousand rural people. There has been relatively little evaluation of this phenomenon although a nucleus of studies do exist. If evaluation may be identified with asking difficult questions about success or failure, then there is a real need to do more evaluation on the nonformal educational efforts the radio schools represent. The following pages will attempt to review, from an evaluation perspective, the radio schools as they exist today. This general review should illustrate both the strengths and weaknesses of the radio school model so that improved understanding might contribute to the future needs of nonformal education in Latin America.