EQUIP2 Final Report.pdf - Education Policy Data Center

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EQUIP2 Leader Award Final Report
ERP worked with the governorate and central Ministry of Education offices
to demonstrate the feasibility of program interventions, document the
mechanisms necessary for systemic change, scale up to the national level, and
build the confidence essential for long-term sustainability.
ERP addressed some of the most problematic elements of the Egyptian
education system: financial transfers, teacher qualifications deployment,
assessment, decentralization, inter-ministerial relations, student assessment,
and standards, among others. Many of these core reforms have far-reaching
impact on incentives for teachers, principals, supervisors, and governorate
officials. Without these structural changes, school-level improvement is not
possible. While these reforms were not completed by project end, and in
some cases were only getting started, an enduring impact may be the process,
capacities, and attitudes that were fostered among the partners at all levels.
Major accomplishments included ERP’s support for a national and
governorate-level strategic planning process across the country, resulting
in plans that were being implemented in all 29 governorates. The Ministry
of Education (MOE) became the first to seriously grapple with the process
required to decentralize operations. The MOE now serves as a national
pilot and lead ministry in reorganizing its operations, experimenting with
devolving authority, moving funds through an equitable formula, and
giving some responsibility to the local levels to spend additional funds. ERP
succeeded in bringing a number of ministries and agencies to work together,
a significant change in a government that was used to a ‘silo’ approach to
planning and implementation. A number of laws and decrees strengthened
the capacity of civil society to engage in the educational process, and
major policy changes in many areas, built on years of groundwork, laid the
foundation for knowledge and acceptance of change. Work in standards
development in teaching, supervision, pre-service, and school effectiveness
laid the foundation for policy changes in teacher professionalism and
school improvement and quality assurance. Capacity building with the
National Center for Education Evaluation and Examinations (NCEEE)
and with various directorates within the Ministry in the areas of indicator
development, measurement and evaluation, testing, and the use of
information systems in these activities built the capacity to implement
national standardized testing. ERP was successful in helping to create an
MOE infrastructure in which analysis based on data, policy dialogue, and
strategic communications were more likely to be utilized and adopted. This
shift was accomplished by building institutional and individual capacities,
and in particular helping them network and collaborate with each other at
the local and national levels.