Central America education strategy : an agenda for action.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

World Bank.

Series:

World Bank country study 0253-2123

World Bank country study, 0253-2123

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Education--Central America.

Education.

Central America.

Genre:

Conference papers and proceedings.

Physical Description:

xxi, 94 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Washington, DC : World Bank, [2005]

Summary:

Central America Education Strategy is part of the World Bank Country Study series. These reports are published with the approval of the subject government to communicate the results of the Bank's work on the economic and related conditions of member countries to governments and to the development community.

The main objective of this regional report is to provide an in-depth diagnosis of where Central American countries stand along several education dimensions, underscoring the most urgent and serious challenges, and suggesting policy options to address them. This is the first attempt at providing a comprehensive quantification of educational outcomes in four comparable Central American countries: El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Nicaragua. The report identifies three urgent priorities for improving Central American education systems: improving learning, reaching universal primary completion, and expanding secondary coverage.

In response to identified barriers to learning, the report details some key areas of policy intervention, which include the improvement of national assessment systems, the enhancement of teacher performance, and the diversification of teaching methodologies. The main policy recommendations for improving completion are to strengthen and improve the existing supply-side interventions (multigrade schooling, school-based management, bilingual education, and so forth), while also applying effective demand-side policies and broader interventions. Finally, when analyzing specific policy options to increase secondary coverage, the report concludes that only a comprehensive policy package (including higher budget shares for secondary education and interventions such as flexible delivery mechanisms, demand-side subsidies, and basic education centers) will successfully overcome the range of constraints facing secondary enrollment.

Contents:

2 Three Key Regional Priorities 7

Substantial Improvements 7

Still Three Key Regional Challenges 8

The Three Challenges are Interrelated 20

The Challenge of Equity is Integral to Two Regional Priorities 23

Fiscal and Expenditure Constraints to the Achievement of the Three Regional Priorities 24

3 Constraints and Policy Actions to Achieve each Regional Priority 31

Regional Priority #1 Improving Learning through National Assessment Systems, Teacher Performance, and Teaching Methodologies 32

Regional Priority #2 Reaching Universal Primary Completion by Improving and Scaling-Up Interventions that Address the Needs of the Poor 38

Regional Priority #3 Expanding Secondary Coverage By Adopting a Comprehensive Policy Package to Address Supply and Demand-Side Constraints 48

4 The Regional Matrix 61

A Comparative Tables 69

Educational Outcomes 70

Education Expenditure 75

Teachers 79

Community-based school management 80

Factors associated to non-attendance in secondary 82

B Secondary targets simulation results 83

1 Some Basic Development Indicators for the Central American Countries 7

2 Primary Gross Completion Rates 15

3 Central America Spends Most of Its Education Budgets on Teacher Salaries 28

4 Highest Level of Education Attained by Teachers in Central American Countries 33

5 Innovations in Education Service Delivery Demonstrate Great Potential in Central America 41

6 Total Education Expenditure in Secondary Education 51

7 Public and Private Enrollment Share in Secondary Education 51

8 Regional Agenda for Central American Countries 62

1 Logical Framework for the Five Body Chapters of the Report 6

2 Primary Gross Enrollment Rates 1970-2000 8

3 Secondary Gross Enrollment Rates 1970-2000 8

4 Average Years of Education Attained in Central America across Age Cohorts 9

5 Income Per-capita and Repetition Rate in Primary 11

6 Private Rates of Return in Central America and Other Countries 12

7 Repetition Rate by Income Quintile 13

8 Efficiency Indicators in Urban and Rural Areas 13

9 Rates of Return by Earning Quintile 14

10 Income Per-capita and Gross Completion Rate in Primary 15

11 GER, NER and Gross Completion Rate across Income Quintiles in Primary 16

12 Rates of Return by Level of Education 17

13 The "Secondary Education Gap" 19

14 Comparative Survivor Plots 20

15 GER, NER and Gross Completion Rate across Income Quintiles in Secondary 21

16 Comparative Survivor Function Plots by Age 22

17 Average Secondary GER and GER by Quintile in El Salvador and Nicaragua 24

18 Public Education Expenditure per Student in percent of GDP per Capita, 2000 26

19 Evolution of Public Expenditure in Proportion of GDP 27

20 Public Education Spending as a Proportion of GNP, 1999/2000 27

21 Salary, Non Salary Recurrent and Capital Expenditures, 2002 28

22 Public Education Expenditure/GNP and Primary Completion Rate, 2001/2002 29

23 Functional Disagregation of Education Expenditure, 2002 29

24 Notional and Effective Class Hours per Year 35

25 Private Spending per Student per Year 49

26 Public and Private Enrollment by Income Quintiles in Secondary 53

27 Public and Private Expenditure Per School-Age Population in Public Secondary Education 54.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 91-94).

ISBN:

0821362585

OCLC:

60543173