World Bank2012-06-072012-06-072005978-0-8213-6258-7https://hdl.handle.net/10986/7432The main objective of this regional paper is to provide an in-depth diagnostic of where Central American countries stand along several education dimensions, underscoring the most urgent and serious challenges and suggesting policy options to address them. The report focuses on El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Nicaragua because these countries have common geographic, political, and economic features which make them broadly comparable also from the standpoint of their education sectors. They face common challenges but they can also learn from each other. A comparison with other countries is also provided to be able to put in perspective the education performance and the development path and interventions applied in these four countries.en-USCC BY 3.0 IGOACCREDITATIONACHIEVEMENTADDITIONBASIC EDUCATIONBILINGUAL EDUCATIONCENTRAL AMERICACLASSROOMCLASSROOM MATERIALSCOGNITIVE SKILLSCOMMUNITY PARTICIPATIONCOMPLETION RATECOMPLETION RATESCOMPULSORY BASIC EDUCATIONCOUNTRY STUDIESCURRICULUMDECENTRALIZATIONDELIVERY MECHANISMSDEVELOPING COUNTRIESDEVELOPMENT GOALSDISADVANTAGED GROUPSDISTANCE EDUCATIONECONOMIC GROWTHEDUCATIONEDUCATION BUDGETEDUCATION FOR ALLEDUCATION LEVELEDUCATION LEVELSEDUCATION OUTCOMESEDUCATION QUALITYEDUCATION REFORMEDUCATION SECTOREDUCATION SYSTEMSEDUCATION TARGETSEDUCATIONAL ACCESSEDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENTEDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENTEDUCATIONAL OUTCOMESEDUCATIONAL QUALITYENROLLMENTENROLLMENT RATEEQUITABLE ACCESSEXAMSEXPANDING ENROLLMENTFIRST GRADEGERGROSS ENROLLMENT RATESHOUSEHOLD SURVEYSHUMAN DEVELOPMENTINCOME LEVELSINSTRUCTIONAL TIMEINTEGRATED CURRICULUMINTERVENTIONSKNOWLEDGE SHARINGLABOR MARKETLEARNINGLEARNING MATERIALSLEARNING OUTCOMESLEVEL OF EDUCATIONLITERACYLITERACY RATELIVING STANDARDSLOCAL LEVELLOW ENROLLMENTLOW ENROLLMENT RATESMINISTRIES OF EDUCATIONNERNET ENROLLMENTNUTRITIONPARTICIPATING COUNTRIESPER CAPITA INCOMEPOSITIVE IMPACTPOVERTY REDUCTIONPRIMARY COMPLETION RATEPRIMARY COMPLETION RATESPRIMARY ENROLLMENTPRIMARY GROSS ENROLLMENTPRIMARY SCHOOLPRIMARY SCHOOLSPRINTINGPRIVATE COSTSPRIVATE EXPENDITUREPRIVATE RATESPROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENTPUBLIC EDUCATION SPENDINGPUBLIC EXPENDITUREPUBLIC FUNDSQUALITYQUALITY OF EDUCATIONRATES OF RETURNRECENT EVIDENCEREGIONAL EDUCATIONREPETITIONREPETITION RATEREPETITION RATESRURAL AREASRURAL CHILDRENRURAL STUDENTSSCHOLARSHIPSSCHOOL ATTENDANCESCHOOL MANAGEMENTSCHOOL PERFORMANCESCHOOL-AGE POPULATIONSCHOOLINGSCHOOLSSECONDARY EDUCATIONSECONDARY ENROLLMENTSECONDARY LEVELSECONDARY SCHOOLSSOCIAL COHESIONSTANDARDSSTUDENT PERFORMANCETEACHERTEACHER CERTIFICATIONTEACHER EDUCATIONTEACHER MANAGEMENTTEACHER PREPARATIONTEACHER SALARIESTEACHER TRAININGTEACHERSTEACHINGTEACHING METHODSTEACHING STRATEGIESTEACHING TECHNIQUESTERTIARY EDUCATIONTEST SCORESTEXTBOOKSUNIVERSAL COMPLETIONUNIVERSAL PRIMARY COMPLETIONURBAN AREASURBAN STUDENTSYOUTHWorld Bank10.1596/978-0-8213-6258-7