EQUIP2 Final Report.pdf - Education Policy Data Center

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EQUIP2 Leader Award Final Report
the complexity of the topic. By paying particular emphasis on the negative
impact on school quality, the researchers were able to effectively present
the many factors, including potentially negative unintended consequences,
involved in the decision-making process on school fee abolition. While
the momentum of the research may have been short-lived, the impact was
potentially important. In addition, the knowledge map has been well used
and is seen as a model for how to build and present an evidence base on a
specific topic.
EQUIP2 Retrospective
In 2009, at the request of USAID, the three EQUIPs designed two
retrospective studies analyzing lessons learned on thematic topics arising
from their associate awards. There were two types of studies: Associate
Award Reviews, which synthesized lessons learned on various technical
areas across a range of associate awards, and a series called “State of the Art
Knowledge,” which summarized best practices within specific thematic areas.
To write the Associate Award Reviews, the team first completed case studies
for each of the associate awards being examined, using qualitative methods
and document review. The goal was to learn from the vast technical and
programmatic experiences of the associate awards to inform future USAID
education programming and to identify best practices in each topic area.
Within EQUIP2, the topics included: Decentralization, Policy Dialogue,
School Report Cards, Secondary Education, Education Management and
Information Systems (EMIS), Student Assessment Systems, and Teacher
Professional Development.
EXPLORING THE GAPS: NEW DIRECTIONS FOR RESEARCH
EQUIP2’s research was not immune to the global trends occurring within
the field of international education, and its vulnerability to these shifts
exposed important gaps in needed research areas. The decentralization work
lost momentum as USAID moved away from its macro lens towards a
narrower emphasis on learning, and the connection between decentralized
education systems and school quality was never established. The education
system reform work was similarly sidelined. Although there might have
been an opportunity to link the research more directly with program design,
there wasn’t an urgent need to do so given the declining number of USAID
programs that promoted education policy reform. Additionally, more
work on secondary education needs to be done to better understand how
governments can scale up their post-primary education programs. Although
the issues of secondary education may still become a global priority, it is
currently not in vogue. All of these topics represent important research gaps
exposed by EQUIP2 that will likely resurface in coming years.