School-Based Management February 28, 2008

For more than 100 years the lack of a school management methodology has been the cause of countless complaints. But it has been only in the last 30 years that efforts have been made to find a solution to this problem. And, what has resulted so far? Schools continue exactly the same as before Jan Amos Comenius, 1632

Summary School-Based Management (SBM): a popular movement USA, UK, El Salvador, Netherlands have SBM programs SBM far from uniform, encompass wide variety of strategies Typology ranges from autonomous schools to more restrictive Evidence base limited Economics of SBM is little explored empirically

Transfer Authority of Activities School calendar Monitoring & evaluation School plans/grants Dissemination Budget Hiring & firing Curriculum Textbook Infrastructure

SBM Goals and Objectives Increase parent & community participation Empower principals & teachers Build local capacity Improve school quality & efficiency

Theory behind SBM Good education not only about physical inputs but about incentives leading to better instruction and learning Choice, competition and demand-side pressure can influence & alter practice Schools can be held accountable for the ‘outputs’ they produce Accountability mechanisms that put people at center of service provision can go long way in making services work & improve outcomes (WDR 2004)

Typology of SBM: The Autonomy Continuum System is decentralized to states of localities, but individual schools have no autonomy UK (GM) Netherlands

Typology of SBM: Autonomy-Participation Nexus

From SBM to Outcomes: The Pathways Those at the local level have more / better information Key decisions about school personnel Key decisions about spending Changes in the educational process Resource mobilization More involvement by the community and parents imply more monitor and more accountability Direct involvement of parents & community in school Links between parental involvement and decisions Changes in accounting Changes in the school climate

Summary of Results

Time to Impact: Evidence from USA Source: Borman et al (2003), based on 232 studies

How to Implement Impact Evaluations Randomization at school level is difficult to observe in reality: use some geographical criterion Reallocating students between schools will result in problems of selection It is important to have detailed baseline information If pure randomization is not possible: Randomization of entry time: phase-in approach Encouragement / promotion model: randomization of information about the program If randomization is not an option, quasi-experimental strategies are an alternative: The need of amount and quality of data increases if quasi-experimental approaches are followed

Guiding Principles for Implementing School-Based Management Programs Toolkit is organized around six basic principles Provides the main questions and issues to be considered when designing and implementing SBM type programs

Publications 1. What is SBM 2. Does SBM Work 3. How to evaluate SBM Operational checklist Ongoing: Impact evaluations in Africa, South Asia, Latin America