Rural education I project; final report

Logistical delays so beset the project that the original master plan was abandoned, relegating planning to the component level. Educational strategies and teacher training was restructured due to tardy disbursements. Bottlenecks were caused by having the project director the nexus of all decisions, and serious gaps in communications -- which hardly ever moved from bottom to top -- fostered a closed climate and prevented adequate decisionmaking. The advisory team was denied legitimacy and largely ignored. A theoretical disagreement between the curriculum development team and the bilingual education (BE) team spilled over into the teacher training program, causing teachers, even at the same grade level, to take opposing sides. More sucessfully, a modified curriculum for grades 1-5, an upgraded normal rural school curriculum, and effective BE materials for Quechean-speaking children in grades 1-2 were developed; and non-formal education (NFE) achieved a level of recognition as a viable instructional alternative. The teacher education and in-service training component has successfully implemented new methods and trained specialists in communications, BE, NFE, and curriculum and materials development. Teachers and community leaders were trained by the communications effort and radio programs produced using the "Voice of the People". It is recommended that: the achievements of each component (for each of which numerous recommendations are made) be integrated as part of an educational system for rural Bolivia; the project be tried in a smaller geographic area and with a reduced number of schools; administrators be trained in group participation; and that dynamic administrative leadership be established within the framework of systems theory.