1. Presented on behalf of the Ghanaian Team by T. H. Coleman Coordinator, EMIS

2.  Ghana has been embarking on a number of interventions to improve Basic Education in Ghana.  One of such intervention is the establishment of School Management Committees (SMCs) in all the Basic Schools in Ghana.  This Project seeks to evaluate the impact of SMCs function on the performance of Basic Schools.

3.  An impact evaluation (IE) of SMC interventions will be conducted.  The study will track the performance of 300-450 SMCs and their schools through a baseline, and 1 or 2 follow-up surveys, and student tests.  Impacts of 3 different SMC interventions will be assessed by randomly assigning the tracked schools to 2 treatment groups and 1 control group.

4.  Control Group 1 - Control Schools/SMCs: They collect the SMC manual at the DEO office and circuit supervisor discusses it’s usage during regular visit.  Treatment Group 2 - Orientation Schools/SMCs: They receive the SMC manual at the mandatory orientation session. Moreover, circuit supervisor discusses it’s usage during regular visit.  Treatment Group 3 - Training Schools/SMCs: They receive the SMC manual at the mandatory training session. Moreover, circuit supervisor discusses it’s usage during regular visit.

5.  The exact number and geographical locations of schools/SMCs is conditional on funds available for the evaluation (different from the PPS funds) and procurement rules. These parameters will be confirmed as soon as the budget, prepared by GES/BED, is available.  The set of schools to take part in the study will be selected in collaboration with the World Bank team.  It is hoped that 150 schools/SMCs will be assigned to each group and that the 450 schools will be selected to ensure national representativeness of the results (with an adequate proportion of schools located in a deprived district).

6.  Preparation and printing of material: SMC manual, training guidelines, and handouts for trainees;  Orientation of SMCs – Treatment Group 1;  Training of SMCs – Treatment Group 2;  Distribution of the SMC manual – Treatment Group 3;  Training of trainers and facilitators;

7.  The MoE/GES team has already received inputs from field interviews.  Results of inputs have been analysed and submitted to UCC for validation.  Following validation, the revisions and printing of 24000 SMC manuals, 50 training guidelines, and 1500 set of handouts are expected to be completed by November 18.

8.  One manual will be printed out and made available for each schools/SMCs in the country.  All schools/SMCs with the exception of the 100-150 schools/SMCs assigned to treatment group 2 and 100- 150 SMCs assigned to treatment group 3 will be invited to collect one of the SMC manual from the DEO office. They will be instructed to keep their copy in the school and made available for consultation by the SMC whenever needed. Circuit Supervisors will, as part of their routine visit, be instructed to discuss the usage of the SMC manual with SMC members.  The 100-150 schools/SMCs assigned to Control group 1 will be treated the exact same way as all of the other schools/SMCs that are not part of the study.

9.  Representatives of the 100-150 schools/SMCs that will be assigned to treatment group 2 will participate in a mandatory orientation session.  An orientation session will last for ½ to1 day and will be facilitated by one specially trained facilitator.  During each session, 3-4 teams representing 3- 4 schools/SMCs located in the same zone and assigned to treatment group 2 will be oriented together in the same venue.

10.  The SMC chairperson,  The head teacher,  The PTA chairperson,  The circuit supervisor,  The District Education Officer and/or one other SMC member.

11.  Whether there will be 5 or 6 members per SMC attending the orientation is conditional on budget. If only 5 members per team can participate, the identity of the 5 th member will be confirmed by GES/BED Headquarters.

12.  Presentation of the past year(s) school performance compiled using one or several of the following sources:  EMIS data,  baseline survey data,  SEA scores or other student tests scores,  school report card information.  Presentation of SMCs’ roles and responsibilities.  Description of the content of the SMC manual and instructions on how to use it.  If time allows, a limited number of training activities.

13.  Following the orientation, the Circuit Supervisors will, as part of their routine visits, be instructed to discuss the usage of the SMC manual with SMC members.

14.  Representatives of the 100-150 schools/SMCs that will be assigned to treatment group 3 will participate in a mandatory training session.  A training session will last for 4 days and will be facilitated by one specially trained trainer. During each session, 3-4 teams representing 3-4 schools/SMCs located in the same zone and assigned to treatment 3 will be trained.  Each SMC/school’s team will comprise the same 5-6 SMC members as the orientation session, in other words:

15.  The SMC chairperson,  The head teacher,  The PTA chairperson,  The circuit supervisor,  The District Education Officer and/or one other SMC member.

16.  Again, whether there will be 5 or 6 members per SMC attending the orientation is conditional on budget. If only 5 members per team can participate, the identity of the 5 th member will be confirmed by GES/BED.  The training session will include the same activities as the orientation session, in addition to the activity described below:

17.  Extended training on the SMCs role and responsibilities and on how to improve the quality of education delivered by their school through lectures, role-plays, exercises, preparation of School Performance Improvement Programme (SPIP), etc.  Furthermore, each activity will be conducted in a more in-depth manner than during orientation session.  Following the training, the Circuit Supervisors will, as part of their routine visit, be instructed to discuss the usage of the SMC manual with SMC members.

18.  A total of 40 trainers/facilitators will be trained over a period of 2 weeks by a team of expert from the MoE/GES on how to conduct both training and orientation sessions.  Each trainer will receive a copy of the SMC manual and one training guideline (including samples of handouts for orientation and training sessions).  To do so, if in accordance with the MoE/GES and WB procurement rules, provisions could be made in the printing firm’s contract to request that the training guidelines and at least 60 SMC manuals be completed in time for the ToT.

19.  Identity of the trainers remains to be determined by GES/BED.  The trainers will be assigned in pairs to one of 20 training centers (venues) identified. Each trainer will be responsible for conduct one training session (3-4 SMCs, 15-24 participants) and one orientation (3-4 SMCs, 15-24 participants) in their assigned center.  To ensure that the orientation and training sessions are conducted as planned, a monitoring team will randomly visit the training centers and attend to a portion of the sessions.

20.  The following documents will be shared with the World Bank team:  A budget for the training of trainers, SMC orientations, SMC trainings, and consultancy (if needed);  A copy of the School Report Card questionnaire;  A copy of the training guideline to be revised.  A detailed timeline for different type of activities is presented in the tables below.  Regular communication between the MoE/GES and WB would be encouraged to track completion of the activities.

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