1. School-Based Management
February 28, 2008

2. For more than 100 years the lack of a school management methodology has been the cause of countless complaints. But it has been only in the last 30 years that efforts have been made to find a solution to this problem. And, what has resulted so far? Schools continue exactly the same as before
Jan Amos Comenius, 1632

3. Summary School-Based Management (SBM): a popular movement
USA, UK, El Salvador, Netherlands have SBM programs
SBM far from uniform, encompass wide variety of strategies
Typology ranges from autonomous schools to more restrictive
Evidence base limited
Economics of SBM is little explored empirically

4. Transfer Authority of Activities
School calendar
Monitoring & evaluation
School plans/grants
Dissemination
Budget
Hiring & firing
Curriculum
Textbook
Infrastructure

5. SBM Goals and Objectives
Increase parent & community participation
Empower principals & teachers
Build local capacity
Improve school quality & efficiency

6. Theory behind SBM
Good education not only about physical inputs but about incentives leading to better instruction and learning
Choice, competition and demand-side pressure can influence & alter practice
Schools can be held accountable for the ‘outputs’ they produce
Accountability mechanisms that put people at center of service provision can go long way in making services work & improve outcomes (WDR 2004)

7. Typology of SBM: The Autonomy Continuum
System is decentralized to states of localities, but individual schools have no autonomy
UK (GM)
Netherlands

8. Typology of SBM: Autonomy-Participation Nexus

11. From SBM to Outcomes: The Pathways
Those at the local level have more / better information
Key decisions about school personnel
Key decisions about spending
Changes in the educational process
Resource mobilization
More involvement by the community and parents imply more monitor and more accountability
Direct involvement of parents & community in school
Links between parental involvement and decisions
Changes in accounting
Changes in the school climate

12. Summary of Results

13. Time to Impact: Evidence from USA
Source: Borman et al (2003), based on 232 studies

14. How to Implement Impact Evaluations
Randomization at school level is difficult to observe in reality: use some geographical criterion
Reallocating students between schools will result in problems of selection
It is important to have detailed baseline information
If pure randomization is not possible:
Randomization of entry time: phase-in approach
Encouragement / promotion model: randomization of information about the program
If randomization is not an option, quasi-experimental strategies are an alternative:
The need of amount and quality of data increases if quasi-experimental approaches are followed

15. Guiding Principles for Implementing School-Based Management Programs
Toolkit is organized around six basic principles
Provides the main questions and issues to be considered when designing and implementing SBM type programs

16. Publications 1. What is SBM 2. Does SBM Work 3. How to evaluate SBM
Operational checklist
Ongoing: Impact evaluations in Africa, South Asia, Latin America