SCESD – Morelos State Evaluation of the ‘Salary Scholarship Programme’

SCESD - Morelos State Evaluation of the ‘Salary Scholarship Programme’

Americas

2016 - 2017

Countries

Mexico

Lead M&E Consultant(s)

Jimena Hernandez

Project Overview

This evaluation was funded by the State Commission for the Evaluation of Social Development in Morelos State in Mexico. The ‘Salary Scholarship Programme’, in which students receive money to stay in post-basic education, was a key education reform programme that signalled an important change in the way the government designed education policy. For example, the Salary Scholarship was legislated and available to all students regardless of their economic background and/or academic performance. This raised questions among the public about whether the government was investing efficiently by increasing the numbers of students enrolled in post-basic education. One of the evaluation requirements was to collect relevant data and to present these in a way that helped the general public understand why the economic support resembled a salary for students to remain at school, and to what extent the programme was effective. Data analytics were followed by the creation of a website that made government expenditure, areas of opportunity and the evaluation results available to the general public; the website included infographics that summarised these data.

Approaches & Outputs

The evaluation utilised a mixed methods approach. Data collection involved a literature review on the effects of scholarships on school retention rates, surveys with scholarships students, and focus group discussions (FGDs) with students from lower secondary schools, upper secondary schools, and universities to explore attitudes to and use of the scholarship. Outputs included the above-mentioned website and infographics; a survey platform and data analysis strategy that could be replicated; reports; and presentations to government officials and key stakeholders. The data revealed that although economic incentives such as the salary scholarship may have some merit, students need their schools to change in order to remain at school. Lack of engagement in learning and boredom with classes were key drivers of attrition, rather than lack of money. Girls in particular struggle with violence both at home and in public, which was a key driver in dropping out of school. The evaluation highlighted key drivers of school drop out that need to be taken into consideration in policy design. Recommendations included actions that could be taken at home and at schools to make education more appealing for students.

Impact On

1,500 scholarship students; personnel from the state commission and government officials in Morelos State, Mexico.

Challenges

The Morelos State government initially wanted all of the findings to be made available to the general public. However, when some of these findings did not support the government’s views on how the salary scholarship programme was making a difference to school retention, there were some issues. For example, the data showed that scholarship funds were usually not high enough to cover the cost of remaining at school, particularly for those with higher risks of dropping out. This led to some negotiation over how the results were presented, and this extended the timeframe of the project.

SCESD – Morelos State Evaluation of the ‘Salary Scholarship Programme’