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Implementation of the K-12 Education Reform in Qatar's Schools THE ARTS This PDF document was made available CHILD POLICY from www.rand.org as a public service of CIVIL JUSTICE the RAND Corporation. EDUCATION ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT Jump down to document6 HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit NATIONAL SECURITY research organization providing POPULATION AND AGING PUBLIC SAFETY objective analysis and effective SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY solutions that address the challenges SUBSTANCE ABUSE facing the public and private sectors TERRORISM AND HOMELAND SECURITY around the world. TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE Support RAND WORKFORCE AND WORKPLACE Purchase this document Browse Books & Publications Make a charitable contribution For More Information Visit RAND at www.rand.org Explore the RAND-Qatar Policy Institute View document details Limited Electronic Distribution Rights This document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law as indicated in a notice appearing later in this work. This electronic representation of RAND intellectual property is provided for non-commercial use only. Unauthorized posting of RAND PDFs to a non-RAND Web site is prohibited. RAND PDFs are protected under copyright law. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of our research documents for commercial use. For information on reprint and linking permissions, please see RAND Permissions. This product is part of the RAND Corporation monograph series. RAND monographs present major research findings that address the challenges facing the public and private sectors. All RAND mono- graphs undergo rigorous peer review to ensure high standards for research quality and objectivity. Implementation of the K--12 Education Reform in Qatar’s Schools Gail L. Zellman • Gery W. Ryan • Rita Karam • Louay Constant Hanine Salem • Gabriella Gonzalez • Nate Orr • Charles A. Goldman Hessa Al-Thani • Kholode Al-Obaidli Prepared for the Supreme Education Council The research described in this report was prepared for the Supreme Education Council and conducted within RAND Education and the RAND-Qatar Policy Institute, programs of the RAND Corporation. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Zellman, Gail. Implementation of the K/12 education reform in Qatar’s schools / Gail L. Zellman...[et al.]. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-0-8330-4736-6 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Educational change—Qatar. 2. Educational innovations—Qatar. 3. Education and state—Qatar. 4. Education—Standards—Qatar. I. Title. LA1435.Z45 2009 370.95363—dc22 2009022975 The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit research organization providing objective analysis and effective solutions that address the challenges facing the public and private sectors around the world. RAND’s publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors. R® is a registered trademark. Cover design by Eileen Delson La Russo © Copyright 2009 RAND Corporation Permission is given to duplicate this document for personal use only, as long as it is unaltered and complete. Copies may not be duplicated for commercial purposes. Unauthorized posting of RAND documents to a non-RAND Web site is prohibited. RAND documents are protected under copyright law. For information on reprint and linking permissions, please visit the RAND permissions page (http://www.rand.org/publications/permissions.html). Published 2009 by the RAND Corporation 1776 Main Street, P.O. Box 2138, Santa Monica, CA 90407-2138 1200 South Hayes Street, Arlington, VA 22202-5050 4570 Fifth Avenue, Suite 600, Pittsburgh, PA 15213-2665 RAND URL: http://www.rand.org To order RAND documents or to obtain additional information, contact Distribution Services: Telephone: (310) 451-7002; Fax: (310) 451-6915; Email: [email protected] Preface The leadership of the Arabian Gulf nation of Qatar sees education as the key to Qatar’s economic and social progress. Long concerned that the country’s education system was not producing high-quality outcomes and was rigid, outdated, and resistant to reform, the Qatari leadership approached the RAND Corporation in 2001, asking RAND to exam- ine kindergarten through grade 12 (K–12) education in Qatar and to recommend options for building a world-class system consistent with other Qatari initiatives for social and political change. RAND pro- posed several reform options; after selecting one that involved system- wide structural change, the leadership asked RAND to further develop the option and support its implementation. This work, which was car- ried out over a four-year period, provided RAND with the unique and exciting opportunity not only to observe a major reform effort from the ground level, but also to participate in its implementation. The first phase of the K–12 school reform effort is documented in a RAND monograph by Dominic Brewer et al.: Education for a New Era: Design and Implementation of K–12 Education Reform in Qatar, 2007. This current monograph describes follow-on work that RAND conducted to assess the reform’s implementation in Qatar’s schools. Researchers and policymakers concerned about the design and imple- mentation of education reform may find value in what is relayed here. An earlier version of this document, one that included an examination of the reform system, was provided to the sponsor as an aid in evaluat- ing the reform and establishing its future course. iii iv Implementation of the K–12 Education Reform in Qatar’s Schools More detailed information about the reform can be found at Qatar’s Supreme Education Council Web site: http://www.education. gov.qa (Arabic version, with a link to the English version). Further information about the RAND project supporting the reform initiative can be found at http://www.rand.org/education/. This project was conducted under the auspices of RAND-Qatar Policy Institute (RQPI) and RAND’s Education unit. RQPI is a part- nership of the RAND Corporation and the Qatar Foundation for Edu- cation, Science, and Community Development. The aim of RQPI is to offer the RAND style of rigorous and objective analysis to clients in the greater Middle East. In serving clients in the Middle East, RQPI draws on the full professional resources of the RAND Corporation. RAND Education analyzes education policy and practice and supports imple- mentation of improvements at all levels of the education system. For further information on RQPI, contact the director, Richard Darilek. He can be reached by email at [email protected]; by telephone at +974-492-7400; or by mail at P.O. Box 23644, Doha, Qatar. For more information about RAND Education, contact the director, Susan Bodilly. She can be reached by e-mail at [email protected]; by tele- phone at +1-310-393-0411, extension 5377; or by mail at RAND Cor- poration, 1776 Main Street, Santa Monica, California 90401 USA. Contents Preface ............................................................................. iii Figures ............................................................................. xi Tables .............................................................................xiii Summary ..........................................................................xv Acknowledgments ............................................................xxvii CHAPTER ONE Introduction ....................................................................... 1 Past Efforts to Reform Education in Qatar ..................................... 2 RAND’s Analysis of Qatar’s K–12 System ...................................... 3 Design of the Reform .............................................................. 4 Implementation of the Reform ................................................... 8 Aims and Purpose of the Study .................................................. 9 Organization of This Monograph ...............................................10 CHAPTER TWO Methods ...........................................................................13 Case Study Data Collection and Analytic Approaches .......................14 Observations .....................................................................16 Elicited Information ............................................................18 Secondary Data ................................................................ 20 Quantitative Data Characteristics and Analytic Approaches ............... 20 QNEDS Surveys ............................................................... 20 QCEA Data .....................................................................21 Sample Selection for Ministry and Independent School Case Study ...... 22 Initial Sample Selection ....................................................... 22 v vi Implementation of the K–12 Education Reform in Qatar’s Schools Changes to the Study Sample ................................................ 23 Study Limitations ................................................................ 23 CHAPTER THREE Recruiting, Retaining, and Developing Staff in Qatar’s Independent Schools ...................................................... 27 Recruiting for the Independent Schools ........................................29 Effects of Qatarization on Recruitment ..................................... 30 Challenges to Retaining Skilled Qatari Teachers in Independent Schools........................................................................ 34 Teaching in an Independent School Is More Demanding Than Teaching in a Ministry School ...........................................35 Teachers in Independent Schools Have Longer
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