Bamberg Graduate School of Social Sciences

Includes bibliographical references. Improving the quality of education systems is one of the most important challenges faced by Latin American governments. In order to achieve this goal, Chile has introduced several reforms such as the National System for Assessing School Performance (SNED). The System provides monetary incentives to teachers mainly based on students' performance on national standardized tests. This study shows that reading, mathematical and scientific literacy measured by PISA-2006 assessments are positively related with attendance at schools awarded by SNED-2006, after controlling for individual socio-economical factors as well as school quality factors. Schools awarded by SNED-2006 not only offered higher education quality compared to their peers in terms of national curriculum coverage, but they also contributed to develop higher competences relevant to future personal, social and economic well being among their students.

El primer informe de seguimiento al Plan Decenal de Educación, Hacia un Sistema de Observación Ciudadana, tiene como objetivo presentar una línea base de los resultados de los tres primeros años de su ejecución con base en indicadores principalmente de resultado. El informe inicia con un mapeo y análisis de las principales fuentes de información educativa en Ecuador, continúa con un diagnóstico sobre el avance de cada política del plan a partir de indicadores cuantitativos y, finalmente, presenta algunas conclusiones y recomendaciones.

In the last decade, several Latin American governments have implemented new teacher recruitment policies based on evaluations of candidates’ competency and knowledge so as to raise the quality of their teachers and schools. Since 2007, the Ecuadorian government has required teacher candidates to pass national standardized tests before they can participate in merit-based selection competitions for tenure at public schools. Has this new recruitment system served as an effective screening device? Has it ultimately helped to raise student learning? To answer these questions, I analyze data from a unique Ecuadorian survey of schools in the academic year 2011-2012. I first estimate the value-added to student achievement using OLS and hierarchical linear regressions to evaluate the effect of Ecuador’s new competitive recruitment policy. I then use propensity score matching to simulate a random assignment of students to teachers and estimate causal treatment effects. The evidence suggests that teachers who were granted tenure through the new competitive recruitment policy were no more effective, overall, in raising students’ learning in reading or math than their peers at schools. Nonetheless, poorer children who were assigned to these teachers had significantly better scores in reading. Furthermore, test-screened teachers, regardless of their tenure status, seem to have had positive significant effects in reading, particularly for students living in poverty. This finding suggests that Ecuador’s teacher recruitment policy had a positive impact on the nation’s most vulnerable students.

Thesis (M.P.P.)--Georgetown University, 2009.; Includes bibliographical references. Improving the quality of education systems is one of the most important challenges faced by Latin American governments. In order to achieve this goal, Chile has introduced several reforms such as the National System for Assessing School Performance (SNED). The System provides monetary incentives to teachers mainly based on students' performance on national standardized tests. This study shows that reading, mathematical and scientific literacy measured by PISA-2006 assessments are positively related with attendance at schools awarded by SNED-2006, after controlling for individual socio-economical factors as well as school quality factors. Schools awarded by SNED-2006 not only offered higher education quality compared to their peers in terms of national curriculum coverage, but they also contributed to develop higher competences relevant to future personal, social and economic well being among thei...

Inter-American Development Bank Since 2007, the Ecuadorian government has required teacher candidates to pass national skill and content knowledge tests before they are allowed to participate in merit-based selection competitions for tenured positions at public schools in an attempt to raise teacher quality. We evaluate the impact of this policy using linked administrative teacher information to data from a unique experimental study where almost 15,000 kindergarten children were randomly assigned to their teachers in the 2012-2013 school year in Ecuador. We find positive and significant effects of testscreened tenured teachers of at least a 0.105 standard deviation for language and a 0.085 standard deviation for math, which persist even after controlling for teacher education, experience, cognitive ability, personality traits and class practices.

In the last decade, several Latin American governments have implemented new teacher recruitment policies based on evaluations of candidates' competency and knowledge so as to raise the quality of their teachers and schools. Since 2007, the Ecuadorian government has required teacher candidates to pass national standardized tests before they can participate in merit-based selection competitions for tenure at public schools. Has this new recruitment system served as an effective screening device? Has it ultimately helped to raise student learning? To answer these questions, I analyze data from a unique Ecuadorian survey of schools in the academic year 2011-2012. I first estimate the value-added to student achievement using OLS and hierarchical linear regressions to evaluate the effect of Ecuador's new competitive recruitment policy. I then use propensity score matching to simulate a random assignment of students to teachers and estimate causal treatment effects. The evidence su...

Since the dissolu on of the Soviet Union, Armenia and Georgia found themselves in a long process of selfconstruc on in the context of their own complex histories and difficult poli cal and security environments. Even though the foreign policies of the two countries evolved enough to respond to the external and internal threats that faced them in the first two decades of independence, they have not developed a clear vision of foreign policy. However, over me, some pa erns of belongingness to the larger community, as well as the construc on of "other," have emerged. By employing a construc vist account of iden ty construc on as the "Self"/"Other" nexus, the study unpacks the process of iden ty that is reflected in the recent history of the two countries and examines the grounds of "belongingness" and "alterity". The research is based on an analysis of Armenian and Georgian poli cal discourses. It provides a comprehensive analysis of poli cal discussion and strategic documents. The data is complemented with extensive field-work and in-depth interviews with poli cians and members of academia in the both countries, as well as na on-wide surveys of the general public in Armenia and Georgia.

Executive summary Strong political parties represent the cornerstone of consolidated democracies. Parties contend for office in elections. Therefore, a strong link between parties and voters is of primary importance to the success of elections. Strong and stable party-voter linkages ensure that democracy is stable, as voters are aware of what to expect from elected parties. Consequently, party ideological programs are key. As Georgia's democracy matures, the country's political parties must follow suit in order for democracy to be consolidated. Accordingly, Georgia's parties should consider the nature of their linkages with the electorate. Studies show that party-voter linkage is most stable when on programmatic lines, a factor which diminishes the chance of unexpected policy turns. Therefore, this paper examines the challenges Georgian parties face on their path toward becoming more ideology-driven. The paper examines how party programs correspond to party ideologies, how party programs reflect public opinion, and why and how young people decide to join political parties. This is achieved by: analyzing public opinion data from three different nationwide polls; undertaking content analysis of seven major political party programs; and conducting focus group discussions with junior members of seven parties regarding their motives for joining the party of their choice. Findings show that: only three parties out of seven have ideologically-matching names and/or rhetoric and pre-election programs; more successful parties tend to better reflect public opinion than do less successful parties; and young Georgians tend to be more likely to prioritize personal networks, career opportunities, and ideology than the importance of a charismatic political leader when making decisions about which party to join or give loyalty.