Lesson Learned

Random assignment can be a fair and transparent mechanism to distribute finite resources and allow for a rigorous impact evaluation.

Random assignment can be a fair and transparent mechanism to distribute finite resources and allow for a rigorous impact evaluation. In El Salvador, random assignment was seen as a fair way to distribute scholarships when qualified demand exceeded supply. Scholarships were offered for multiple years and the random selection was only conducted in the year where there were more qualified applicants who met the minimum criteria than scholarships available. By randomly selecting scholarship recipients, the applicants who were not offered scholarships were similar to those offered scholarships and thus created a strong control group to measure impact. The random assignment method (a computerized lottery conducted publicly) was transparent and it was clear that each eligible applicant had an equal chance to receive the scholarship.