Abstract
Honduras has made steady progress in expanding post-primary school coverage in recent years, but many rural communities still do not provide a middle (lower secondary) school. As a result, Honduras has implemented a number of middle school alternative programmes designed to meet the needs of at-risk populations throughout the country. This article analyses dropout in three of the four main alternative lower secondary school programmes in Honduras over a three-year period for a cohort of roughly 5,500 students. The results show that these programmes are indeed reaching a vulnerable population in the country, but dropout rates are generally very high – upwards of 50 per cent in some cases – between Grades 7 and 9. Furthermore, even in the control school comparison samples made up of formal lower secondary schools, about 25 per cent of children leave school between Grades 7 and 9. The authors’ analysis includes propensity score matching (PSM) methods that make more focused comparisons between students in alternative programmes and control samples. These results show that dropout rates in alternative programmes are not much different than in control schools, and only significant in one programme comparison, when taking into account family background characteristics like socioeconomic status (SES). Multivariate analysis within alternative programme samples finds that attrition is lower in those learning centres which have adopted key features of formal schools, such as university-educated teachers. The results highlight the tremendous variation in the alternative middle school sector in terms of programme features, school quality and student outcomes, as well as the challenges of expanding this sector to meet the growing demand for lower secondary schooling in Honduras.
Résumé
Programmes alternatifs d’enseignement et abandons dans le secondaire inférieur au Honduras – Au cours des dernières années, le Honduras a réussi à étendre avec constance la couverture scolaire post-primaire, mais de nombreuses communautés rurales ne possèdent toujours pas d’établissement secondaire de premier cycle. Il a par conséquent été réalisé dans l’ensemble du pays un grand nombre de programmes alternatifs d’enseignement secondaire inférieur, destinés à répondre aux besoins des populations à risque. Le présent article analyse les abandons scolaires survenus dans trois des quatre principaux programmes alternatifs du Honduras pendant une période de trois ans et sur une cohorte d’environ 5500 élèves. Les résultats révèlent que ces programmes atteignent effectivement la population vulnérable du pays, mais que les taux d’abandon entre les niveaux 7 et 9 sont globalement très élevés – plus de 50 pour cent dans certains cas. Cependant, même dans les échantillons de comparaison tirés de collèges formels témoins, un quart environ des élèves décrochent au cours de la même période scolaire. L’analyse des auteurs inclut les méthodes d’appariement des coefficients de propension, qui permettent des comparaisons plus ciblées entre élèves des programmes alternatifs et des échantillons témoins. Les résultats démontrent que les taux d’abandon dans les programmes alternatifs ne diffèrent pas sensiblement des écoles témoins, mais sont significatifs dans une comparaison entre les programmes lorsqu’il est tenu compte des critères familiaux de base tels que le statut socioéconomique. L’analyse à plusieurs variables dans les échantillons des programmes alternatifs établit que le décrochage est plus faible dans les centres d’apprentissage qui ont adopté les caractéristiques principales des établissements formels, telles qu’un corps enseignant de formation universitaire. Les résultats mettent en évidence les variations considérables que connaît le secteur des collèges alternatifs en termes de caractéristiques des programmes, de qualité des établissements et de performances des élèves, ainsi que les défis que pose l’extension de ce secteur censée répondre au besoin croissant en établissements secondaires inférieurs au Honduras.
Resumen
La deserción escolar en programas de educación alternativa en el nivel de secundaria en Honduras – Honduras ha hecho progresos constantes en la ampliación de la cobertura de la escuela post- primaria en los últimos años, pero muchas comunidades rurales aún no proporcionan acceso a escuelas del nivel medio (o secundaria baja). Como resultado, Honduras ha implementado una serie de programas alternativos de escuela secundaria diseñados para satisfacer las necesidades de las poblaciones en riesgo en todo el país. En este artículo se analiza la deserción escolar en tres de los cuatro principales programas alternativos de educación secundaria (grados 7mo a 9no) en Honduras durante un período de tres años para una cohorte de aproximadamente 5.500 estudiantes. Los resultados muestran que estos programas están de hecho llegando a una población vulnerable en el país, pero las tasas de deserción escolar son en general muy altas – más de 50 por ciento en algunos casos - entre los grados 7mo y 9no. Además, incluso en las muestras de comparación de centros educativos de control integrado por escuelas secundarias oficiales, alrededor del 25 por ciento de los niños abandonan la escuela entre los grados 7mo y 9no. Los análisis de los autores incluye el propensity score matching (PSM) que son métodos que permiten realizar comparaciones más específicas entre los estudiantes en programas alternativos y las muestras de control. Estos resultados muestran que las tasas de deserción escolar en los programas alternativos no son muy diferentes que en las escuelas de control, y sólo es significativa la diferencia en un programa de comparación, si se tienen en cuenta las características propias de la familia como el estatus socioeconómico (ESE). El análisis multivariado entre los programas alternativos encuentra que los niveles de deserción son menores en los centros de aprendizaje que han adoptado las principales características de las escuelas formales oficiales como ser por ejemplo, la contratación de profesores con formación universitaria. Los resultados ponen de manifiesto la enorme variación existente en el sector de la escuela secundaria alternativa en términos de las características de los programas, los resultados de calidad de la escuela y los estudiantes, así como los retos de la expansión de este sector para satisfacer la creciente demanda de educación secundaria baja en Honduras.
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Notes
The term “public schools”, in this article, refers to state schools.
This issue of fees needs to be viewed in the context of international agreements on free education and the global push for universal primary education (and beyond). All of the samples analysed in this study – meaning alternative programmes and their traditional public school counterparts – report out-of-pocket expenditures on uniforms and learning materials (including texts). However, in a number of the alternative programme learning centres, extra fees are collected which are used to provide teachers with additional pay, or, as in the case of Educatodos, the fees are used to replace a volunteer with a trained teacher. These kinds of fees for teachers are not official programme features, rather they are informal arrangements decided on locally, and it should be restated that they represent one of several kinds of charges which exist throughout the alternative and traditional public school sectors. Nevertheless, as we argue later in the study, their existence does tend to make these options more like private schools, which is troubling given the fact that providers like Educatodos are envisioned as an extension of the public schooling option which is tailored to low-income communities. We thank a reviewer for pointing out this issue.
For example, a recent study commissioned by the Inter-American Development Bank highlights the potential for alternative programmes to improve middle school participation in the 2,400 aldeas [small villages] that are part of a new conditional cash transfer programme (“Bono 10,000”) (IADB, 2012).
In the original research framework (and project report, see UMCE 2012), we analysed four programmes, including Telebásica (Programmea de Televisión Educativa para Educación Básica, [Educational television for middle schooling]). Telebásica operates in existing middle schools (CEBs) throughout the country, during the same daily class hours, and incorporates audiovisual tools through an educational television channel and a modified curriculum which is based on the Telesecundaria programme in Mexico. However, reviewing data collected in the treatment schools we decided that the programme was not really being implemented, especially in terms of the audiovisual component, which was corroborated in the data analysis that found no significant differences in results between Telebásica treatment and control. For this reason we are not including Telebásica in this study, with the exception of the pooled multivariate models in Table 3. However, this finding of a programme that is not fully implemented (also see AIR 2001; Umansky et al. 2007) highlights the importance of assessing the degree of actual implementation when carrying out programme evaluation work in the alternative sector.
Weights were constructed on the basis of the number of sections in all sampled schools. The differences between weighted and non-weighted averages for dependent and independent variables are generally negligible. Also, because of software limitations the weights could not be incorporated into the multivariate analysis. All results are therefore based on non-weighted data, and in the statistical modelling a control for school size was included. Weighted data results are available upon request.
As described above, learning centres and schools were visited at the beginning and end of the 2008 school year, then again in 2010. We used the information from school records, phone calls and follow-up interviews with dropouts to determine the actual grade and year when they left the learning centre.
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Acknowledgments
The data used in this study were collected as part of a larger study on alternative education programmes in Honduras (see UMCE 2012) which was financed by the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), Project 1552/SF-HO “Programa de Eduación Media y Laboral”. We would like to thank Mariana Alfonso from the IADB, Darlyn Meza, the UMCE project, and personnel at the Project Coordination Office (UCP) of the Secretary of Education in Honduras. Useful comments on an earlier draft were provided by Erin Murphy Graham and two anonymous reviewers. Any remaining errors are of course our responsibility, and the views expressed in this study do not reflect those of the IADB.
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Marshall, J.H., Aguilar, C.R., Alas, M. et al. Alternative education programmes and middle school dropout in Honduras. Int Rev Educ 60, 51–77 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-014-9409-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-014-9409-1