El Salvador Compact

El Salvador’s Technical Middle Schools Sub-Activity Evaluation

Project Description

The Education and Training Activity is intended to support both formal and non-formal technical training programs, including secondary and post-secondary technical and vocational education. The Formal Technical Education program is designed to increase the quality and capacity of approximately 20 secondary technical schools to absorb and train greater numbers of students and expand access to more at-risk youth and young adults. For more information see the El Salvador Country Page.

Logic Diagram

Evaluation Description

The impact evaluation will evaluate the school improvements by using propensity scoring to develop a comparison group by matching similar schools not included in the project to those that are included. Based on the results from administrative and survey data, the evaluators will measure the impact of improved schools on student enrollment, persistence, graduation, employment and wages.  For more information see the evaluation’s design report.

Data Collection

Data for the impact evaluation will come from both administrative records kept by the Ministry of Education (MINED) and from an independent survey. MINED will provide annual data on enrollment and persistence. FOMILENIO has contracted an international consulting firm to collect the baseline data for variables that MINED does not track, such as graduation, employment, wages, and post-secondary education. The survey will sample approximately 600 students from beneficiary and non-beneficiary schools. These students will be interviewed one year after the final year of schooling to establish the baseline for labor outcomes such as employment and wages. The baseline survey was conducted in the fall of 2009 and a follow-up survey is scheduled for Fall 2013.

Timeline