Improving Middle School Quality in Poor Countries

Abstract

RuRal Hondurans confront severe and intertwined challenges to their human development. Four of 10 individuals live below the extreme poverty line, and the rate of child labor supply is among the highest in Latin America (World Bank, 2006). Although most rural children have access to a local primary school, repetition rates are high (Urquiola & Calderón, 2006) and the average sixth grader leaves school with dramatically lower reading and mathematics achievement than fourth graders in developed countries (Mullis, Martin, Foy, & Arora, 2012;Mullis, Martin, Foy, & Drucker, 2012). 1 Confronted with a growing number of under-prepared primary school graduates in rural areas, the Honduran government has prioritized the cost-effective expansion of middle schools in rural villages that do not have access to traditional high schools offering Grades 7 to 12. 2 The most common model, the Centro de Educación Básica (CEB), reconfigures rural primary schools to offer Grades 7 to 9, but otherwise finances and manages them as public schools (Inter-American Development Bank [IDB], 2000). The government also supports the expansion of non-traditional schools operated by 527786E PAXXX10.

A circle of research on disadvantaged schools, improvement and test-based accountability

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