Contracting for the Delivery of Education Services

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Contracting for the Delivery of Education
Services

• Suzanne Roddis, EdInvest
• www.ifc.org/edinvest

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EdInvest

• Started at the World Bank in 1998
• A joint venture with CfBT now located in the IFC
  Health and Education unit
• CfBT is a non-profit education services company
  based in the UK with international offices

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EdInvest - Mission

• Consultancy
• Research
• Training
• Conferences
• Information Provision

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Financing and Provision
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Four Types

1. Private management of public schools
2. Government contracting with private schools for
   delivery of education services
3. Private finance initiatives
4. Private sector administrative and curriculum
   support

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Two Forms of Contracting

• Management Contracts Government contracts with
  provider to manage existing service using
  government infrastructure and staff (example
  contract schools in USA)
• Service Delivery Contract Government contracts
  with provider to deliver specified services
  (example Educational Service Contracting Scheme
  in the Philippines)

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Benefits

• More efficient because it harnesses competitive
  forces, brings the pressure of market
• Allows government to take advantage of
  specialized skills that might not be available in
  government overcomes obsolete salary
  limitations, antiquated civil service
  restrictions
• Permits quicker response to new needs and
  facilitates experimentation with new programs

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Evidence

• There is considerable evidence that contracting
  leads to lower costs and large performance
  improvements providing it is done right
• But little evidence on the experience of
  contracting with private sector for education
• Near absence of rigorous evaluations on education
  contrasts even with health

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Private Management of Public Schools

• Colegios en Concesion in Bogota
• Fe y Alegria, Latin America

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Colombia Concesiones

• Turned over management of some public schools to
  high quality private schools
• Began in 2000 with 25 schools, aprox.
• 2 of total public schools
• Contractors bid to manage 1 or schools

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Colombia Concesiones

• Schools receive 506/year/student
• Provide services to all, including poor
• Contracts for 15 yearsf
• Specify standards, hours, meals,
• Performanced-based

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Colombia Concesiones

• Monitoring
• Private inspection of facilities
• MoE review of standards
• Independent evaluation of academic objectives
• Results
• Budget for HR reduced from 90-55
• Teacher and community satisfaction high demand

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LAC Fe Y Alegria

• NGO run by Jesuit order
• Operates pre-school, primary, secondary,
  technical programs
• Began in 1955, now in 14 regional countries
• Provides quality education to poor

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LAC Fe Y Alegria

• MoE pays teachers and principal
• Foundations/international agencies/
• Community pays for land, construction and
  maintenance
• Community requests FyA
• FyA trains and supervises teachers, manages school

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LAC Fe Y Alegria

• National offices, HQ in Venezuela
• Schools mostly rural, some near urban slums
• Public or private
• Can appoint director/teacher w/out union
• Parental participation
• Central curriculum which is supplemented
• 97 are lay people
• Higher cost with community contribution

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LAC Fe Y Alegria

• Results
• Main indicator is retention
• Enrollment 1.2 million in 2003, from
• 220,000 in 1980
• Lower repetition and dropout rates than public
  schools
• Progression and retention rate 44 and 11 percent
  higher than in pubic schools

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Possible Performance Measures Private
Management of Public Schools

• Student performance on standardized achievement
  tests
• Literacy rates
• Nutritional indicators (meals served)
• Individual student learning gains
• Proportion of students performing at//- grade
  level in a given curriculum area
• Student performance in areas that cant be
  readily measured w/ standardized tests
• Student attendance
• Student motivation
• Suspension/expulsion/drop-out
• Graduation rates
• Parent and student
• Teacher satisfaction
• Parent and community engagement with school
• School climate
• Relationship with contracting agency

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Guiding Principles in Contracting for Education

• Enabling policy, regulatory, strong legal
• Split the purchaser/provider roles within
  government
• Ensure the capacity of the contracting agency
• Transparent, competitive process for selection
• Staged process for selection of providers
• Establish appropriate performance measures
• Performance incentives and sanctions
• Effective contract monitoring framework
• Give providers maximum flexibility to operate
• Introduce longer-term contracts with providers
• Secure independent entity to evaluate