This study explores the state of infrastructure in the region's primary education schools, using the SERCE database, and analyzes the connection between school infrastructure conditions and language and mathematics tests results for third and sixth grade students. The results of the analysis...

This paper analyzes the effects of increased shared computer access in secondary schools in Peru. Administrative data are used to identify, through propensity-score matching, two groups of schools with similar observable educational inputs but different intensity in computer access. Extensive...

This paper examines the current status of secondary education in Latin America in the context of world-wide economic changes and identifies a wide variety of policy options for ensuring that secondary education can play a positive role in the region's economic and social development. The paper...

This discussion paper was presented in the seminar "First Meeting of the Social Policy Monitoring Network: Conditional Cash-Transfer Programs". In this paper the authors use an economic model to analyze data from a major randomized social experiment, namely PROGRESA in Mexico, and to evaluate...

In Paraguay, for the past three years the Ministry of Education and Culture and the IDB have jointly studied what works in math and science education in Paraguay. During this time we have been fortunate to develop meaningful partnerships with hundreds of school districts, as well as with the...

This paper discusses the links between empirical information and the development of educational policies in Latin America. The data presented in this paper comes from responses to a questionnaire sent to Vice Ministers of Education in six countries of the region: Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador,...

This paper provides an alternative approach to measuring the cost-effectiveness of educational interventions. The authors devised a questionnaire and gave it to ten international experts, mainly located in universities and international agencies, all of whom were well acquainted with educational...

This synthesis report begins with a brief overview of the education system in Chile and the expressed need for a national system of quality assurance. Five case studies from British Colombia, England, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Scotland are presented along with the 'twelve commandments'...

This paper reports the results of an experiment with secondary school students designed to improve their ability to reason, argument, and communicate using mathematics. These goals are at the core of many educational reforms. A structured pedagogical intervention was created that fostered a more...

The main objective of this evaluation is to identify lessons from IDB's support to secondary education policies and systems in LAC since 1995, with a particular focus on quality of education and learning outcomes. The evaluation will review the IDB's dialogue with countries on educational...