Education for All: Compensating for Disadvantage in Mexico Education for all means learning for all. It means closing the "advantage" gap--making sure that the children of the poor and disadvantaged achieve the same levels of learning as all other children. This is one of the great challenges any country can face. It is a particular challenge in a diverse country such as Mexico, where many children do not speak Spanish, live in villages inaccessible by roads and cannot afford such basic expenditures as school uniforms. May 2004 Mexico began as early as 1971 to address the chal- Primary School Global Test Score Inequality lenge of including its most disadvantaged children by Eliminated by Compensatory Programs creating the National Council of Education Annually (%) 1998­2002 Promotion (CONAFE). In the 1990s, the Secretariat of Public Education (SEP) created the compensatory education program (CP) to support the most disad- vantaged schools and nearly all indigenous schools. 30.4% CONAFE implements the CPs, which support more than three million students in pre-primary and pri- 16.4% mary education, including about one million indige- 9.1% nous primary school students. The CP also supports about one million students in telesecundaria educa- Most Mid-range Disadvantaged tion (secondary education delivered via satellite tele- Disadvantaged vision to remote communities). Source: Estándares Nacionales 1998­2002. Inequality is average test score difference between CP and non-CP students. "Disadvantage" represents background poverty indicators such as illiteracy prevalence in community, access to public services, etc. Non-Compensatory vs. Compensatory 93% intercultural education for indigenous students. For disadvantaged rural schools, the CPs provide updated 78% 80% audiovisual technology, professional development of teachers, improvements to school infrastructure and 53% other interventions designed to improve the learning outcomes of disadvantaged Mexican students. In 26% most beneficiary schools, a group of community par- 10% ents and leaders receive a grant that can be spent on Mother is Access to Community the educational purpose selected by the group. literate sewage has industrial facilities development A recent evaluation of the impact of SEP's compensa- tory programs finds that they are effective in improv- Non-Compensatory Compensatory ing primary school math learning and secondary Source: Estándares Nacionales background data. Industrial development school Spanish learning. Telesecundaria education indicates communities where employment is mainly in transformative as and bilingual education for indigenous students are opposed to extractive industry. both shown to improve student achievement. In addi- tion, the program has resulted in lower repetition and Nearly every indigenous school and every telesecun- failure rates. daria school receives support from these programs. CONAFE selects other schools for support based on Compensatory Programs Increased Primary the average income of the school's community, the School Test Scores and Decreased Inequality school's isolation and access to public infrastructure, The communities in which CP-supported schools are the school's education indicators and other indicators located have significantly lower levels of literacy, of poverty. access to public services and industrial development than do the communities of non-CP schools. Yet, a For schools that enroll indigenous students, CONAFE World Bank (2002) evaluation found that indigenous supports development of curricula, didactic materials students supported by the CPs were catching up to and textbooks in an indigenous language and their non-indigenous peers in test scores by about 10 Spanish to facilitate bilingual education. CONAFE, percent per year. An additional IDB-sponsored evalua- through the CPs, also supports the development of tion found that telesecundaria schools were effective in increasing math and language test scores. annually. Analysis found no significant effect of the The report found that telesecundarias entirely CPs on Spanish scores of indigenous students. eliminated the math performance gap between telesecundaria and non-telesecundaria students, Compensatory Programs Improve Secondary though telesecundaria education was not as effective School Math and Spanish Learning in Spanish instruction. Spanish and math scores of telesecundaria students increased over the sample period from a composite Spanish and math scores of students supported by average of 499 points in 2000 to a composite aver- the CPs increased significantly over the sample age of 540 points in 2002. For the less-disadvantaged period. These students gained on non-CP students by group, telesecundaria education eliminated 24% of 2.4 to 4.3 points per year in a math-Spanish compos- math score inequality and 38% of math score ite score. The programs also decreased test score inequality between telesecundaria and non-telesecun- inequality between CP and non-CP students by 9% daria students. It appears that telesecundaria educa- annually for the less-disadvantaged group and by tion is more effective for Spanish instruction than for 30% annually for the disadvantaged group. These math instruction. This contrasts with CPs' primary results show that the programs are most effective in school programs, which appear to be more effective eliminating learning inequality for students with the for math than for Spanish instruction. most disadvantaged backgrounds. CONAFE's Spanish and math programs both improve student learning; however, it appears that its effect on math may be Lessons Learned larger than its effect on Spanish at the primary level. Compensatory programs do work. If they are well- Compensatory Programs Improve Indigenous designed and properly targeted, compensatory pro- Student Primary School Performance grams can significantly reduce the "advantage" gap. Indigenous student exam performance increased over Mexico's compensatory programs are effective and the sample period by an annual average of 27 points well targeted. CPs have improved student exam per- on math exams and 12 points on Spanish exams. The formance and decreased inequality between CP and programs decreased the gap in math scores between non-CP students. These results hold even when comparable CP and non-CP students by 5 points controlling for relevant background variables. The compensatory programs are achieving the goal of improving and expanding education quality for all. Math Score Inequality between Compensatory and Non-Compensatory Students, Primary School Remaining Challenges 25 23.75 While evaluation effectively formed control groups 20 against which to compare CP students and has meas- ured the effect of CPs on test scores, repetition, and 16.01 15 failure rates, several areas of potential research remain. 10 Research using data on CP support disaggregated 8.45 9.06 by type of support could show which aspects of 5 CP interventions make it effective. 3.47 0 Research could focus on the long-term effects of 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 CP interventions. Compensatory programs seek to Source: Estándares Nacionales 1998­2002. Data represent students decrease poverty and inequality. If long-term data progressing from 2nd grade in 1998 to 6th grade in 2002. became available that followed CP students Education in Mexico Socio-Economic Indicators: Education Indicators: Population (millions) 100.9 (2002) Adult illiteracy rate (population 15 and older) 8.3% (2002) GNP per capita US$ 5,910 (2002) Primary gross enrollment rate 113% (2000) IDA/IBRD IBRD Primary completion rate 100% (2000) PRSP No Secondary gross enrollment rate 75% (2000) HIPC No Tertiary gross enrollment rate 21% (2000) Total education spending as % of GDP 4% (1999) through adulthood, that data could show whether munity involvement in education. CPs may inspire CPs decrease poverty and inequality among adults. parents to more strongly support public education in ways that affect student participation and Research could also conduct qualitative evaluation achievement; if so, capitalizing on the potential of the effect of CP support on parents and com- support of parents could magnify CPs' effect. This note series is intended to summarize lessons learned and key policy findings on the World Bank's work in education. The views expressed in these notes are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the World Bank. For additional copies of Education Notes, please contact the Education Advisory Service by email at eservice@worldbank.org or visit the web site: http://www.worldbank.org/education/ Principal Authors: Harry Anthony Patrinos, Joseph Shapiro and Jorge Moreno Trevino. Photographs provided by the National Council of Education Promotion (CONAFE).