This study was undertaken by the Academy for Educational Development (AED) with the technical and financial support of USAID/El Salvador under the Indefinite Quantity Contract (IQC) for Education, Training and Human Resource Development (HNE-I-000- 00-0076-00). The opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the point of view of the Agency for International Development of the United States of America. AED wishes to acknowledge the valuable collaboration of the Ministry of Education of El Salvador and of numerous Salvadoran educators for their contributions to the study, and the assistance provided to the team by the EXCELL project.. We recognize the excellent work of the consultant team comprising Fernando Reimers, Ernesto Schiefelbein, Renán Rápalo Castellanos, Richard Kraft, José Luis Guzmán and Anabella Lardé de Palomo, as well as the leadership of Carmen Siri and overall coordination by Paula Gubbins, AED is grateful to USAID, in particular to Kristin Rosekrans and Ronald Greenberg for their guidance in shaping the study, and their extensive review that helped to strengthen the analysis. Finally, we acknowledge the contributions of translators and editors Hernán Rincón, Mariella Sala, Fiorella Sala, Paula Tarnapol Whitacre and Thomas Lee for their assistance in completing the published study. CONTENTS Abbreviations and acronyms 3 I. Introduction 7 Principal Argument 7 Low Levels of Learning for the Majority of the Population 9 Educational Efforts in El Salvador within the Context of Efforts in the 9 Americas Looking Back at the Past Ten Years 10 Current Status of Preschool and Primary Education 12 Second Generation of Reforms 15 Policy Recommendations 16 A Vision of Education for the Consolidation of Democracy and Freedom 18 II. Methodology 22 III. Salvadoran Education in a Global and National Context 24 IV. Main Findings: Progress, but not enough 26 Coverage 26 Equality 29 Quality 30 V. Conditions Associated With Educational Development 34 Preschool Education 34 Teacher Performance and Classroom Practices 35 Quantity and Quality of Investment in Education 37 Institutional Modernization and Decentralization 40 Evaluation Systems 43 Institutional Coordination 45 VI. New Education Policy Options For El Salvador 48 References And Bibliography 50 ANNEX ANNEX 1. 54 Persons Interviewed, Centers Visited, And Focus Group Participants ANNEX 2A. 56 Summary of Conclusions And Recommendations Of Roundtable Discussions ANNEX 2B. ROUNDTABLE PARTICIPANTS 60 ANNEX 3. 63 Results Of The Survey Conducted At The Roundtables Annex 4. 64 Recommendations For Orienting an Educational Reform And Impact On Equity And Quality Annex 5. 65 Preschool And Primary Education Policies And Programs In El Salvador Annex 6A. 67 Preprimary And Primary Enrollment Rates In 12 Latin American And Caribbean Countries In The 1990s Annex 6B. 68 Gross Secondary Enrollment Rate And Illiteracy Of Youth (aged 15-24) In 12 Latin American And Caribbean Countries In The 1990s Annex 6C. 69 Children’s School Attendance (aged 7-12) In Urban Areas AccordingTo Income (1999) By Quintile Of Income Annex 6D. 70 Latin American Countries: Education Budget As Percentage Of Gdp 1999- 2000 Annex 6E. 71 Various Latin American Countries Combined Gross Rate Of Enrollment And Education Budget As % Of GNP Anexo 7A. 72 International Cooperation Projects In Process (Bilateral & Multilateral), 2003 Anexo 7B. 73 Projects In Execution With Private Sector And Ngo Cooperation, 2003 Annex 8. Educational Goals In An International Context 74 Annex 9. Comparison Of Early Childhood Goals 75 ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ACE Asociación Comunal de Educación [Community Association for Education] APREMAT Proyecto de Apoyo al Proceso de Educación Media Técnica [Technical Secondary Education Support Project] ARENA Partido Alianza Republicana Nacionalista [Nationalist Republican Alliance Party] CDE Consejo Directivo Escolar [School Management Council] CECE Consejo Educativo Católico Escolar [Catholic School Education Council] CEEC Coordinadora Educativa y Cultural Centroamericana [Central American Educational and Cultural Coordinator] CEPAL Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe [Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean] CONACYT Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología [National Science and Technology Council] CRA Centro de Recursos Tecnológicos para el Aprendizaje [Center of Technological Resources for Learning] DIGESTYC Dirección General de Estadísticas y Censos [Department of Statistics and Censuses] ECAP Prueba de Evaluación de Competencias Académicas y Pedagógicas [Academic and Pedagogical Competencies Assessment Test] EDI Evaluación al Desempeño Educativo Institucional [Institutional Educational Performance Evaluation] EDIFAM Early Childhood Family Education EDUCO Programa Educación con Participación de la Comunidad [Education with Community Participation Program] EDURED MINED’s educational portal for teachers EHPM Encuesta de Hogares y Propósitos Múltiples [Multi-purpose Household Survey] FANTEL Fondo de Privatización de ANTEL (Ex Asociación Nacional de Telecomunicaciones) [ANTEL Privatization Fund] FEPADE Fundación Empresarial para el Desarrollo Educativo [Private Sector Foundation for Educational Development] FIDES Fondo de Iniciativas para el Desarrollo Educativo [Fund for Educational Development Initiatives] FMLN Partido Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional [Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front] FUNDAEDUCA Fundación Amigos de la Educación [Friends of Education Foundation] FUNDEMAS Fundación Empresarial para la Acción Social [Private Sector Foundation for Social Action] FUSADES Fundación Salvadoreña para el Desarrollo Económico y Social [Salvadoran Foundation for Economic and Social Development] GOES Government of El Salvador HIID Harvard Institute for International Development IDB Inter-American Development Bank [Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo – BID] IFI International Financial Institution INED Instituto de Educación a Distancia [Institute of Distance Education] IPIES Institutos Pedagógicos en las Instituciones de Educación Superior [Pedagogical Institutes within Institutions of Higher Education] ISNA Instituto Salvadoreño de la Niñez y la Adolescencia [Salvadoran Institute for Children and Adolescents] MINED Ministerio de Educación de El Salvador [Ministry of Education] NGO Nongovernmental organization OEI Organización de Estados Iberoamicanos PAEBA Programa de Alfabetización y Educación Básica de Adultos Adult Basic Education and Literacy Program] PAES Prueba de Aprendizaje y Aptitudes para Egresados de Educación Media [Learning and Aptitude Test for Graduates of Secondary School] PREBAD Programa de Educación Básica a Distancia [Distance Program for Basic Education] PROES Programa Escuela Saludable [Healthy School Program] SABE Strengthening of Achievement in Basic Education Project (USAID) SINEA Sistema Nacional de Evaluación de los Aprendizaje [National Learning Evaluation System] SNEC Sistema Nacional de Educación de Calidad [National Quality Education System] UCA Universidad Centroamericana José Simeón Cañas UDB Universidad Don Bosco UNDP United Nations Development Program [Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo – PNUD] UNESCO United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture [Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Educación, la Ciencia y la Cultura] UNICEF United National Children’s Fund [Programa de las Naciones Unidades para la Infancia y la Niñez] UNICO Universidad Católica de Occidente USAID United States Agency for International Development [Agencia de los Estados Unidos para el Desarrollo Internacional] WFP World Food Program I. INTRODUCTION Fernando Reimers El Salvador has advanced a set of to be done. Time is pressing and including the challenge to become policies and programs that have without profound and sustained competitive in the global economy. contributed to significant efforts, the majority of Salvadorans The objective of the study was to improvements in access to basic will not be competitive in a global identify the main strengths and education and have led to changes economy in the 21st century. weaknesses of basic education in meant to improve quality. Efforts El Salvador, to analyze results of carried out over the past ten years Principal Argument past educational policies, and to contrast sharply with the neglect formulate recommendations to of the educational system during The principal argument of this study develop policies and interventions the civil war of the prior decade. is that education is one of the for educational improvement. Given the level of abandonment, primary methods by which Another purpose of the study was disintegration, and deterioration of Salvadoran society can reduce to help USAID/El Salvador define the educational system at the end persistent structural poverty, further its new plan to support the of the war, the importance of consolidate peace, and improve Salvadoran education sector (2005- educational efforts over the past quality of life, democratic 2009). decade cannot be underestimated. development, and labor force productivity. Education provides This study of basic education in El Nevertheless, educational reforms society with the tools to run Salvador was carried out between implemented over the last decade businesses in a market economy September and December of 2003 are far from sufficient to achieve that will lead to improvements in by a team of researchers.1 the goals established ten years ago: the competitiveness of the national to continue