Successful policies for student performance: a

global perspective

Alberto RodriguezWorld Bank

Warsaw, Poland, November 2011

Education quality means that enough learning takes place in schools

Why should we care about learning outcomes?◦ Because individual returns to education are linked to

learning, not just to years of education◦ Because the overall economy benefits from quality

education

Learning outcomes

Returns to cognitive skills are strong

System Performance

MLA

PASEC PIAAC

AHELO CLA

School Readiness: Early Childhood Education (Latin America’s experience)

Assessment as a tool for quality (Jordan’s experience)

Service delivery and autonomy: Private provision and public finance (The Netherlands experience)

Education system structure: delaying tracking (the Polish experience)

Teachers: the heart of learning (benchmarking policies)

Five policies

Eleven programs were reviewed in depth

Country Program(s)

Chile Junta Nacional de Jardines Infantiles (JUNJI) Fundación Educacional para el Desarrollo Integral del Menor (INTEGRA)Conozca a su Hijo (CASH)

Colombia Hogares ComunitariosFamilias en Acción

Honduras Atención Integral a la Niñez Comunitaria (AIN-C)Proyecto Nutrición y Protección Social Madres Guías

México Oportunidades Educación Inicial no Escolarizada

Perú Proyecto de Atención Integral a Niños y Niñas Menores de Seis Años de la Sierra Rural (PAIN)

Specific Sector Specific Sector w/ inputs from other sector

Multiple sectors, specific programs for targeted or universal populations

Comprehensive regular monitoring, some universal services, with tailored interventions

Intervention Areas/Mechanisms

Sectoral

Cross-Sectoral

Multi-Sectoral

ComprehensiveChild-Centered

Coordinated interventions across multiple sectors

Single-sector interventions

Insti

tutio

nal A

rran

gem

ents

Insti

tutio

nal A

rran

gem

ents

Sectoral

Cross-Sectoral

Multi-Sectoral

ComprehensiveChild-Centered

Latin America:• Preschool educationChile:• JUNJI, IntegraMexico:• Educación Inicial, PASLPeru:• Vaso de leche

Chile:• Programa de Alimentación

Escolar Colombia:• Familias en AcciónEcuador: • Bono de Desarrollo HumanoJamaica:• PATHHonduras:• PRAFMexico:• OportunidadesNicaragua:• Red de Protección Social,

Atención a CrisisBolivia:• Kallpa Wawa, PIDIColombia:• Instituto

Colombiano de Bienestar Familiar

Honduras:• Madres GuíasNicaragua:• PAININ

Chile:• Chile Crece Contigo

Policy implications

Comprehensive policies help scale up investments in ECD programs◦ Multisectoral and inter-institutional coordination

Core “building blocks” for a comprehensive ECD policy:◦ Defining an institutional anchor and achieving

inter-sectoral coordination◦ Ensuring adequate funding◦ Developing/strengthening systems to monitor

individual young children’s developmental paths◦ Building on evidence of what works from rigorous

evaluations◦ Ensuring coherence with related policies

2. Assessment Testing can be used to

Inform Policy Decisions

Jordan Participated in TIMSS 1999 The results of the study came as a shock About 75% of students in mathematics and

67% of students in science scored lower than the international average

Jordan ranked 3rd from the bottom in both subjects among the 20 participating countries

Education Reform Expert committee established to investigate

causes of poor performance Item-by-item examination of the test and

school curricula Jordan re-administered the entire TIMSS

examination Results identical to those obtained during

the first round of testing However, the results served to inform

efforts to reform educational quality

Actions Taken

1. Establish benchmarks of 13-year-olds’ achievement

2. Identify strength and weakness in each subject3. Compare performance of students4. Inform teacher training5. Analyze characteristics related to achievement6. Target negative and positive influences

Jordan, TIMSS Science

400

420

440

460

480

500

1999 2003 2007

Top 10 TIMSS Science Performance over Time 1999 2007 change Jordan 450 482 32 Lithuania 488 519 31 Turkey 433 454 21 Tunisia 430 445 15 Iran 448 459 11 Slovenia 533 538 5 United States 515 520 5 Japan 550 554 4 Korea 549 553 4 England 538 542 4

3. Private Education Provision and Public Finance: The Netherlands

1917: ‘schools to the parents’ Segregation ended conflict Freedom of education, religion, constitution Today:

Country unifiedBut schools retain independenceEase of entry

Private Education Provision and Public Finance:The Case of the Netherlands, H.A. Patrinos

Flow of Funds

Ministry

Municipality

School Board

School

Ministry

Municipality

School Board

School

School

School

Targeted Funds for Low-Income & Minorities: For minority student 1.9 times basic amountFor Dutch from low income background 1.25 times basic amount

Information Trouw,

1997: http://www.trouw.nl/onderwijs/

Education Inspectorate: http://www.onderwijsinspectie.nl

Private & Public Shares

Primary

Secondary

System Characteristics Centralization & School Choice Risk-based Inspection Equal Treatment Autonomy of Dutch Schools

Dutch Students High Achievers

Not High SpenderExpenditures per student

Contribution of Private Schools

4. Systemic reforms: organizational structure in Poland

Change in Structure of System

Old Structure grade age grade0 6 0I 7 III 8 IIIII 9 IIIIV 10 IVV 11 VVI 12 VIVII 13 IVIII 14 II

I 15 IIIII 16 IIII 17 IIIV 18 IIIV 19 IV

Basic vocational schools

Comprehensive lower secondary schools

Profiled general

secondary

Zero class (primary schools or kindergartens)

Comprehensive primary schools

General secondary

schools

Secondary vocational schools

Zero class (primary schools or kindergartens)

Comprehensive primary schools

General secondary

schools

Secondary vocational schools

Basic vocational schools

Matura

MaturaMatura Matura

Matura

Exam Exam

Exam

Exam Exam Exam Exam

New Structure

Reform Timeline

PISA and the reform cohorts

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

PISA 2000 cohort

PISA 2003 cohort

PISA 2006 cohort

school years

old system

new system

Impressive Gains

PISA

460

465

470

475

480

485

490

495

500

505

510

515

2000 2003 2006

PIS

A M

ean

Sco

re

OECD average

Table 1: Top 10 Reading over Time, PISA 2000 2003 2006 1 Finland 549 Finland 543 Korea 556 2 Netherlands 537 Korea 534 Finland 547 3 Canada 535 Canada 528 Hong Kong 536 4 Hong Kong 532 Australia 525 Canada 527 5 Australia 528 Liechtenstein 525 New Zealand 521 6 Ireland 528 New Zealand 522 Ireland 517 7 New Zealand 526 Ireland 515 Australia 513 8 Japan 525 Sweden 514 Liechtenstein 510 9 United Kingdom 524 Netherlands 513 Poland 508

10 Korea 522 Hong Kong 510 Sweden 507

Top 10

Not All Transition Countries Improved

PISA - Reading

We know from recent analysis that teacher policies (training, selection, deployment, compensation, promotion, and development) are the key for a high performance system

But we know less about in what specific ways these policies are effective

So the World Bank is launching a global benchmarking effort on teacher policies: SABER teachers.

5. Teachers: Gathering the good policies

Motivation for SABER-Teachers Teachers are the most important school-level factor

in student outcomes Limited information and evidence exists as to what

are the most effective policies to attract, motivate, and retain qualified teachers

SABER-Teachers intends to fill this gap by: collecting analyzing synthesizing, and disseminating comprehensive information on

teacher policies in primary and secondary education across different systems

Conceptual Framework First, the team identified 10 central

teacher policy areas, which guide the data collection effort, and informed the data collection approach

To assess how well are education systems succeeding in attracting, retaining, and motivating effective teachers, we identified 8 teacher policy goals

To analyze interactions and complementarities between the various teacher policy goals, and alignment to broader education goals, we identified 4 teacher policy profiles

10 Teachers Policy Areas

1. Requirements for entering and remaining in the teaching profession

2. Initial teacher preparation 3. Recruitment and employment4. Teacher workloads and autonomy5. Professional development6. Compensation: salary and non-salary benefits7. Retirement rules and benefits8. Monitoring and evaluation of teacher quality9. Teacher representation and voice10. School leadership

8 Core Teacher Policy Goals

EffectiveTeachers

Setting clear expectations for teachers1 Attracting

the best into teaching

2 Preparing teachers with useful training & experience

3

Matching teachers’ skills with students’ needs

4

Leading teachers with strong principals5

Monitoring teaching and learning

6

Supporting teachers to improve instruction

7

Motivating teachers to perform

8

Grouped top-performing education systems into four groups

Analyzed their teacher policies in detail to identify benchmarks for the 4 levels of development: Latent, Emerging, Established, Advanced

Used Groups A&B to identify Teacher Policy Profiles

Analysis of Top-Performing Systems

Group A: Top performers &

rapid improvers

Hong Kong – China CanadaFinlandBelgiumSouth Korea

Group B: Top performers

JapanTaipei (China)HungarySingapore Netherlands

Group C: Rapid improvers

(long-term)

ChileIranIsraelLuxembourgNew Zealand

Group C: Rapid improvers (short-

term)

GhanaArmeniaLebanonMexicoIndonesia

4 Teacher Policy Profiles Professional Autonomy: select the best into teaching,

prepare them exceptionally well, then give them ample autonomy.

Shared Responsibility: built around the notion that excellent teaching is the responsibility of the whole profession, not individual teachers; put in place mechanisms to foster collaboration and peer accountability

Career Development: focus on building teacher capacity throughout the career, from induction to professional development, formative assessment, and strong instructional leaders as school heads.

Performance Management: tight control over teachers’ work, “leave nothing to chance.”

Examples of the 4 TP Profiles

Thank you !

Alberto Rodriguez, Ph.D. Manager for Education

Europe and Central Asia Region The World Bank

arodriguez@worldbank.org