Publication: Mozambique: Lessons from a Pilot to Assess the Effectiveness of Performance-Based Grants in Primary Schools
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2020-06
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2020-07-07
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Many developing countries have invested substantial resources in expanding their primary and secondary education systems, resulting in large gains in the number of students completing basic education. However, in many countries this growth has outpaced the ability of education ministries to effectively monitor the quality of their schools. This has resulted in limited progress in improving teacher attendance in the classroom and has resulted in limited learning time and poor learning outcomes. Results-based financing (RBF) has been used in to address these challenges by creating stronger incentives to achieve better results. The World Bank provided technical assistance to the ministry of education of Mozambique to design and implement a pilot to assess the effectiveness of performance-based school grants in 552 primary schools. A rigorous impact evaluation should be implemented to monitor the program’s effectiveness in securing desired education results.
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“World Bank. 2020. Mozambique: Lessons from a Pilot to Assess the Effectiveness of Performance-Based Grants in Primary Schools. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/34033 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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Publication Mozambique(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-03)Although more children than ever are starting school in Africa, in many countries dropout rates remain high and few students complete their schooling, especially girls. Results-based financing (RBF) has been used in many developing countries to attempt to incentivize various stakeholders such as students, parents, and teachers to achieve better results. RBF mechanisms work by linking financial incentives to measurable results, for example school attendance, dropout rates, or student test scores. Conditional cash transfers (CCTs) are one such RBF mechanism that has been used in many developing countries to incentivize individuals to take actions that they may not otherwise take, such as attending school or using preventive health services. CCTs work by giving individuals a cash transfer, conditional on verification that they have completed the prescribed behavior. CCTs have been shown to be effective in increasing school attendance in many countries, but their cost and complexity makes them difficult to manage for countries with limited administrative and budgetary capacity.Publication Indonesia(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-01)The results in education for all children (REACH) trust fund at the World Bank funded an evaluation that assessed the early impact of a performance-based school grants program on student learning in Indonesia. This evaluation focused on two separate effects in the first two years of the new program: the effect of announcing the performance-based incentive to schools, and the effect of receiving the bonus for top performing schools. Announcing the performance incentive had different impacts on primary and junior secondary schools. Student test scores improved in all junior secondary schools, with the largest gains being made in schools that were already the highest performing. The effect of the program on learning was largely due to the change in incentives created by announcing the performance-based grants, rather than by the additional grant funding itself. Future programs can be improved by using other measures of school performance in addition to test scores, considering alternative designs of the formula to determine grant allocations, and allowing schools more flexibility in experimenting with ways to improve learning.Publication Haiti(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-09)The Results in Education for All Children (REACH) Trust Fund at the World Bank provided funding to the Government of Haiti with the goal of establishing the preconditions for the adoption of RBF in the Haitian National Ministry of Education and Professional Training (Ministère de l'Education National et de la Formation Professionnelle, MENFP). To this end, the grant funded the development of a quality assurance system (QAS) based on specific standards for the most important dimensions of educational quality in the country. The idea was to include clear indicators for each quality dimension that would make it possible to measure education results on the ground. The grant also funded a series of complementary activities aimed at strengthening the technical capacity of MENFP staff to define and measure quality. By developing a QAS for all primary schools in the country, the grant aimed to improve governance, enhance the data systems needed to measure results, and establish the preconditions necessary to introduce an RBF mechanism in the education sector in Haiti.Publication Results-Based Financing in Education(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-01)Results-based financing (RBF) has gained popularity in the international development community because of its potential to make education spending more effective and efficient. In the education sector, RBF has been primarily applied to four levels: teachers; students and families; schools; and governments. The results overall have been mixed, with some notable successes and some disappointing experiences. This report explores when and how RBF can help achieve better impacts in education. While there is no rigorous evidence available to suggest that RBF on its own is better at producing learning outcomes relative to other development financing modalities, there is a significant amount of research that shows RBF can have positive effects by incentivizing specific stakeholders in the education system. In addition, there is operational evidence available on how RBF can be designed and implemented with country partners more effectively. It is important for practitioners and policymakers to learn from this evidence as the RBF portfolio in education grows across development agencies.Publication Haiti(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-09)The Results in Education for All Children (REACH) Trust Fund at the World Bank provided funding to the Government of Haiti with the goal of establishing the preconditions for the adoption of RBF in the Haitian National Ministry of Education and Professional Training (Ministère de l'Education National et de la Formation Professionnelle, MENFP). To this end, the grant funded the development of a quality assurance system (QAS) based on specific standards for the most important dimensions of educational quality in the country. The idea was to include clear indicators for each quality dimension that would make it possible to measure education results on the ground. The grant also funded a series of complementary activities aimed at strengthening the technical capacity of MENFP staff to define and measure quality. By developing a QAS for all primary schools in the country, the grant aimed to improve governance, enhance the data systems needed to measure results, and establish the preconditions necessary to introduce an RBF mechanism in the education sector in Haiti.
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