Including local priorities to assess school quality: The case of save the children community schools in Mali

Comparative Education Review

Volumn 43, Issue 1, 1999, Pages 36-63

  Muskin, Joshua A ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0033249364     PISSN: 00104086     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1086/447544     Document Type: Article

References (58)

1. World Conference on Education for All, Rapport Final Conférence mondiale sur l'éducation pour tous: Répondre aux besoins éducatifs fondamentaux, Commission interinstitutions (New York: Unicef, World Conférence on Education for All, 1990).
2. William K. Cummings and Frank P. Dall, Implementing Quality Primary Education for Countries in Transition (Amman: Al Kutba/Unicef, 1995), pp. 178-88; H. Dean Nielsen and William K. Cummings, Quality Education for All: Community-Oriented Approaches (New York: Garland, 1997).
3. William K. Cummings and Frank P. Dall, Implementing Quality Primary Education for Countries in Transition (Amman: Al Kutba/Unicef, 1995), pp. 178-88; H. Dean Nielsen and William K. Cummings, Quality Education for All: Community-Oriented Approaches (New York: Garland, 1997).
4. World Conference on Education for All, pp. 7-25.
5. Mali's surprising, prominent placement on Warren Christopher's 1996 Africa itinerary, and the subsequent relative favor the country received in the international assistance appropriations of the U.S. Congress were clearly attributed to its strong efforts in the direction of democracy (Judith Matloff, "Mali Democracy Fumbles but U.S. Still Plays Ball," Christian Science Monitor [September 16, 1997]).
6. Ash Hartwell, "Applying What We Know about Learning to Projects: The Experience of Community Schools in Upper Egypt," paper presented at the Comparative and International Education Society Annual Conference, Mexico City, March 1997.
7. Peter Easton et al., "The Practical Applications of Koranic Learning in West Africa," Nonformal Education Working Group Research Studies Series no. 8, monograph prepared for the Association for the Development of Education in Africa, Tallahasee, Fla., 1997.
8. Emmanuel Jimenez and Marlaine E. Lockheed, eds., "Private versus Public Education: An International Perspective," International Journal of Educational Research 15, no. 5 (1991): 353-497; Terry G. Geske et al., "Charter Schools: A Viable Public School Choice Option?" Economics of Education Review 16, no. 1 (1997): 15-23.
9. Emmanuel Jimenez and Marlaine E. Lockheed, eds., "Private versus Public Education: An International Perspective," International Journal of Educational Research 15, no. 5 (1991): 353-497; Terry G. Geske et al., "Charter Schools: A Viable Public School Choice Option?" Economics of Education Review 16, no. 1 (1997): 15-23.
10. Raymond Poignant, "Educational Development in Developing Countries during the First U.N. Development Decade: A Critical Evaluation of International Aid to Education," Fundamentals of Educational Planning, Lecture-Discussion Series no. 52 (Paris: Unesco, 1970).
11. Bruce Fuller, Raising School Quality in Developing Countries: What Investments Boost Learning? (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1986); Stephen Heyneman, "Improving the Quality of Education in Developing Countries," in Education and Development: Views from the World Bank, ed. Aklilu Habte et al. (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1983), pp. 15-18; Sivasailam Thiagarajan, "An Integrated Approach to Primary Teacher Support and Training," in Improving Educational Quality: A Global Perspective, ed. David W. Chapman and Carol A. Carrier (New York: Greenwood, 1990), pp. 111-34; Conrad W. Snyder, "Classroom Research in Botswana: Is Teacher Training Associated with Teachers' Classroom Behavior? A Study of Botswana Junior Secondary School Teachers," monograph (U.S. Agency for International Development/Improving the Efficiency of Education Systems, Office of Education, 1991), and "Classroom Affect and Complexity: Ecological Perspective of Botswana Junior Secondary Schools" (U.S. Agency for International Development/Improving the Efficiency of Education Systems, Office of Education, 1991);
12. Bruce Fuller, Raising School Quality in Developing Countries: What Investments Boost Learning? (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1986); Stephen Heyneman, "Improving the Quality of Education in Developing Countries," in Education and Development: Views from the World Bank, ed. Aklilu Habte et al. (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1983), pp. 15-18; Sivasailam Thiagarajan, "An Integrated Approach to Primary Teacher Support and Training," in Improving Educational Quality: A Global Perspective, ed. David W. Chapman and Carol A. Carrier (New York: Greenwood, 1990), pp. 111-34; Conrad W. Snyder, "Classroom Research in Botswana: Is Teacher Training Associated with Teachers' Classroom Behavior? A Study of Botswana Junior Secondary School Teachers," monograph (U.S. Agency for International Development/Improving the Efficiency of Education Systems, Office of Education, 1991), and "Classroom Affect and Complexity: Ecological Perspective of Botswana Junior Secondary Schools" (U.S. Agency for International Development/Improving the Efficiency of Education Systems, Office of Education, 1991);
13. Bruce Fuller, Raising School Quality in Developing Countries: What Investments Boost Learning? (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1986); Stephen Heyneman, "Improving the Quality of Education in Developing Countries," in Education and Development: Views from the World Bank, ed. Aklilu Habte et al. (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1983), pp. 15-18; Sivasailam Thiagarajan, "An Integrated Approach to Primary Teacher Support and Training," in Improving Educational Quality: A Global Perspective, ed. David W. Chapman and Carol A. Carrier (New York: Greenwood, 1990), pp. 111-34; Conrad W. Snyder, "Classroom Research in Botswana: Is Teacher Training Associated with Teachers' Classroom Behavior? A Study of Botswana Junior Secondary School Teachers," monograph (U.S. Agency for International Development/Improving the Efficiency of Education Systems, Office of Education, 1991), and "Classroom Affect and Complexity: Ecological Perspective of Botswana Junior Secondary Schools" (U.S. Agency for International Development/Improving the Efficiency of Education Systems, Office of Education, 1991);
14. Bruce Fuller, Raising School Quality in Developing Countries: What Investments Boost Learning? (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1986); Stephen Heyneman, "Improving the Quality of Education in Developing Countries," in Education and Development: Views from the World Bank, ed. Aklilu Habte et al. (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1983), pp. 15-18; Sivasailam Thiagarajan, "An Integrated Approach to Primary Teacher Support and Training," in Improving Educational Quality: A Global Perspective, ed. David W. Chapman and Carol A. Carrier (New York: Greenwood, 1990), pp. 111-34; Conrad W. Snyder, "Classroom Research in Botswana: Is Teacher Training Associated with Teachers' Classroom Behavior? A Study of Botswana Junior Secondary School Teachers," monograph (U.S. Agency for International Development/Improving the Efficiency of Education Systems, Office of Education, 1991), and "Classroom Affect and Complexity: Ecological Perspective of Botswana Junior Secondary Schools" (U.S. Agency for International Development/Improving the Efficiency of Education Systems, Office of Education, 1991);
15. Bruce Fuller, Raising School Quality in Developing Countries: What Investments Boost Learning? (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1986); Stephen Heyneman, "Improving the Quality of Education in Developing Countries," in Education and Development: Views from the World Bank, ed. Aklilu Habte et al. (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1983), pp. 15-18; Sivasailam Thiagarajan, "An Integrated Approach to Primary Teacher Support and Training," in Improving Educational Quality: A Global Perspective, ed. David W. Chapman and Carol A. Carrier (New York: Greenwood, 1990), pp. 111-34; Conrad W. Snyder, "Classroom Research in Botswana: Is Teacher Training Associated with Teachers' Classroom Behavior? A Study of Botswana Junior Secondary School Teachers," monograph (U.S. Agency for International Development/Improving the Efficiency of Education Systems, Office of Education, 1991), and "Classroom Affect and Complexity: Ecological Perspective of Botswana Junior Secondary Schools" (U.S. Agency for International Development/Improving the Efficiency of Education Systems, Office of Education, 1991);
16. Frances Kemmerer, "An Integrated Approach to Primary Teacher Incentives," in Chapman and Carrier, eds., pp. 135-52;
17. David W. Chapman and Shirley A. Burchfield, "How Headmasters Perceive Their Role: A Case Study in Botswana," in International Review of Education 40, no. 6 (1994): 401-19;
18. T. N. Postlethwaite and K. King, "Curriculum Development for Basic Education in Rural Areas," Seminar Paper no. 18 (Internations Institute for Education Planning, Paris, 1975);
19. Beryl Levinger, Nutrition, Health and Learning: Current issues and Trends, School Nutrition and Health Network Monograph Series, no. 1 (Newton, Mass.: Educational Development Center, 1992);
20. Joseph P. Farrell and Stephen P. Heyneman, eds., Textbooks in the Developing World: Economic and Educational Choices, Economic Development Institute Seminar Series (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1989);
21. Marlaine E. Lockheed, "Family Effects on Students' Achievement in Thailand and Malawi," Sociology of Education 62, no. 4 (1989) : 239-56.
22. Douglas Windham, Indicators of Educational Effectiveness and Efficiency (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Agency for International Development/Improving the Efficienty of Educational Systems, Office of Education, 1990).
23. George Psacharopoulos, "Rates of Return to Education around the World," Comparative Education Review 16, no. 1 (1972): 54-67, "Returns to Education: An Updated International Assessment," Comparative-Education Review 17, no. 3 (1981): 321-41; Mary J. Bowman, "The Human Investment Revolution in Economic Thought," Sociology of Education 39 (1966): 111-38; Dean Jamison and Peter Moock, "Farmer Education and Farm Efficiency in Nepal: The Role of Schooling, Extension Servicesand Cognitive Skills," World Development 12 (1984): 67-86; Marlaine E. Lockheed, Dean Jamison, and L. Lau, "Farmer Education and Farm Efficiency," Economic Development and Cultural Change (1980): 37-76.
24. George Psacharopoulos, "Rates of Return to Education around the World," Comparative Education Review 16, no. 1 (1972): 54-67, "Returns to Education: An Updated International Assessment," Comparative-Education Review 17, no. 3 (1981): 321-41; Mary J. Bowman, "The Human Investment Revolution in Economic Thought," Sociology of Education 39 (1966): 111-38; Dean Jamison and Peter Moock, "Farmer Education and Farm Efficiency in Nepal: The Role of Schooling, Extension Servicesand Cognitive Skills," World Development 12 (1984): 67-86; Marlaine E. Lockheed, Dean Jamison, and L. Lau, "Farmer Education and Farm Efficiency," Economic Development and Cultural Change (1980): 37-76.
25. George Psacharopoulos, "Rates of Return to Education around the World," Comparative Education Review 16, no. 1 (1972): 54-67, "Returns to Education: An Updated International Assessment," Comparative-Education Review 17, no. 3 (1981): 321-41; Mary J. Bowman, "The Human Investment Revolution in Economic Thought," Sociology of Education 39 (1966): 111-38; Dean Jamison and Peter Moock, "Farmer Education and Farm Efficiency in Nepal: The Role of Schooling, Extension Servicesand Cognitive Skills," World Development 12 (1984): 67-86; Marlaine E. Lockheed, Dean Jamison, and L. Lau, "Farmer Education and Farm Efficiency," Economic Development and Cultural Change (1980): 37-76.
26. George Psacharopoulos, "Rates of Return to Education around the World," Comparative Education Review 16, no. 1 (1972): 54-67, "Returns to Education: An Updated International Assessment," Comparative-Education Review 17, no. 3 (1981): 321-41; Mary J. Bowman, "The Human Investment Revolution in Economic Thought," Sociology of Education 39 (1966): 111-38; Dean Jamison and Peter Moock, "Farmer Education and Farm Efficiency in Nepal: The Role of Schooling, Extension Servicesand Cognitive Skills," World Development 12 (1984): 67-86; Marlaine E. Lockheed, Dean Jamison, and L. Lau, "Farmer Education and Farm Efficiency," Economic Development and Cultural Change (1980): 37-76.
27. George Psacharopoulos, "Rates of Return to Education around the World," Comparative Education Review 16, no. 1 (1972): 54-67, "Returns to Education: An Updated International Assessment," Comparative-Education Review 17, no. 3 (1981): 321-41; Mary J. Bowman, "The Human Investment Revolution in Economic Thought," Sociology of Education 39 (1966): 111-38; Dean Jamison and Peter Moock, "Farmer Education and Farm Efficiency in Nepal: The Role of Schooling, Extension Servicesand Cognitive Skills," World Development 12 (1984): 67-86; Marlaine E. Lockheed, Dean Jamison, and L. Lau, "Farmer Education and Farm Efficiency," Economic Development and Cultural Change (1980): 37-76.
28. For example, Thomas Owen Eisemon and Andrew Nyamete, "School Literacy and Agricultureal Modernization in Kenya," Comparative Education Review 30 (May 1986): 232-46; T. O. Eisemon and John Schwille, "Primary Schooling in Burundi and Kenya: Preparation for Secondary Education or for SelfEmplovment?" Elementary School Journal 92, no. 1 (1991): 23-39; Ward Heneveld, Planning and Monitoring the Quality of Primary Education in Sub-Saharan Africa, Technical Note no. 14, Technical Department, Africa Region (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1994); Joshua A. Muskin, "Primary Schooling and the Informal Economic Sector of Côte d'Ivoire" (doctoral dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 1991), "An Evaluation of Save the Children's Community Schools Project in Kolondiéba, Mali," International Policy Reform Working Paper Series (Institute for Policy Reform, Washington, D.C., 1997).
29. For example, Thomas Owen Eisemon and Andrew Nyamete, "School Literacy and Agricultureal Modernization in Kenya," Comparative Education Review 30 (May 1986): 232-46; T. O. Eisemon and John Schwille, "Primary Schooling in Burundi and Kenya: Preparation for Secondary Education or for SelfEmplovment?" Elementary School Journal 92, no. 1 (1991): 23-39; Ward Heneveld, Planning and Monitoring the Quality of Primary Education in Sub-Saharan Africa, Technical Note no. 14, Technical Department, Africa Region (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1994); Joshua A. Muskin, "Primary Schooling and the Informal Economic Sector of Côte d'Ivoire" (doctoral dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 1991), "An Evaluation of Save the Children's Community Schools Project in Kolondiéba, Mali," International Policy Reform Working Paper Series (Institute for Policy Reform, Washington, D.C., 1997).
30. For example, Thomas Owen Eisemon and Andrew Nyamete, "School Literacy and Agricultureal Modernization in Kenya," Comparative Education Review 30 (May 1986): 232-46; T. O. Eisemon and John Schwille, "Primary Schooling in Burundi and Kenya: Preparation for Secondary Education or for SelfEmplovment?" Elementary School Journal 92, no. 1 (1991): 23-39; Ward Heneveld, Planning and Monitoring the Quality of Primary Education in Sub-Saharan Africa, Technical Note no. 14, Technical Department, Africa Region (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1994); Joshua A. Muskin, "Primary Schooling and the Informal Economic Sector of Côte d'Ivoire" (doctoral dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 1991), "An Evaluation of Save the Children's Community Schools Project in Kolondiéba, Mali," International Policy Reform Working Paper Series (Institute for Policy Reform, Washington, D.C., 1997).
31. For example, Thomas Owen Eisemon and Andrew Nyamete, "School Literacy and Agricultureal Modernization in Kenya," Comparative Education Review 30 (May 1986): 232-46; T. O. Eisemon and John Schwille, "Primary Schooling in Burundi and Kenya: Preparation for Secondary Education or for SelfEmplovment?" Elementary School Journal 92, no. 1 (1991): 23-39; Ward Heneveld, Planning and Monitoring the Quality of Primary Education in Sub-Saharan Africa, Technical Note no. 14, Technical Department, Africa Region (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1994); Joshua A. Muskin, "Primary Schooling and the Informal Economic Sector of Côte d'Ivoire" (doctoral dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 1991), "An Evaluation of Save the Children's Community Schools Project in Kolondiéba, Mali," International Policy Reform Working Paper Series (Institute for Policy Reform, Washington, D.C., 1997).
32. For example, Thomas Owen Eisemon and Andrew Nyamete, "School Literacy and Agricultureal Modernization in Kenya," Comparative Education Review 30 (May 1986): 232-46; T. O. Eisemon and John Schwille, "Primary Schooling in Burundi and Kenya: Preparation for Secondary Education or for SelfEmplovment?" Elementary School Journal 92, no. 1 (1991): 23-39; Ward Heneveld, Planning and Monitoring the Quality of Primary Education in Sub-Saharan Africa, Technical Note no. 14, Technical Department, Africa Region (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1994); Joshua A. Muskin, "Primary Schooling and the Informal Economic Sector of Côte d'Ivoire" (doctoral dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 1991), "An Evaluation of Save the Children's Community Schools Project in Kolondiéba, Mali," International Policy Reform Working Paper Series (Institute for Policy Reform, Washington, D.C., 1997).
33. Noel McGinn, "Reforming Educational Governance: Centralization/Decentralization," in Emergent Issues in Education: Comparative Perspectives, ed. Robert F. Arnove, Philip G. Altbach, and Gail Kelly, State University of New York Series, Frontiers in Education (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992); Donald R. Winkler and Taryn Rounds, "Municipal and Private Sector Response to Decentralization and School Choice," Economics of Education Review 15, no. 4 (1996): 365-76.
34. Noel McGinn, "Reforming Educational Governance: Centralization/Decentralization," in Emergent Issues in Education: Comparative Perspectives, ed. Robert F. Arnove, Philip G. Altbach, and Gail Kelly, State University of New York Series, Frontiers in Education (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992); Donald R. Winkler and Taryn Rounds, "Municipal and Private Sector Response to Decentralization and School Choice," Economics of Education Review 15, no. 4 (1996): 365-76.
35. This 3-year recruitment cycle did not happen, with only one of the 4-year schools initiating a second cohort. See Muskin, "An Evaluation"; for a discussion of this situation.
36. For a more complete assessment of the operational aspects of the Community School model and experience, see Muskin, "An Evaluation"; and Jean-Pierre Vélis, Blazing the Trail: The Village Schools of Save the Children U.S.A. in Mali, Education for All Making It Work Innovation Series, no. 4 (Paris: Unesco, 1994).
37. For a more complete assessment of the operational aspects of the Community School model and experience, see Muskin, "An Evaluation"; and Jean-Pierre Vélis, Blazing the Trail: The Village Schools of Save the Children U.S.A. in Mali, Education for All Making It Work Innovation Series, no. 4 (Paris: Unesco, 1994).
38. The current article is based on an evaluation of Save the Children's community schools project in Kolondiéba, Mali, organized jointly by Save the Children and the Institute for Policy Reform, the latter contracted by USAID's Human Resources and Democracy Division of the Office of Sustainable Development, Bureau for Africa. The evaluation was implemented jointly by researchers from Mali's Ministry of Education and Institute for Policy Reform, with agents from Save the Children (from both Mali and the United States) playing significant direct roles in both the preparatory and the implementation phases of the study. The field research portion of the evaluation occurred over 3 weeks in March and April 1996.
39. The members of the evaluation team debated seriously the potential that testing the two groups in different languages would compromise the ability to compare results, worrying both that the Government School students would be unfairly disadvantaged by taking the test in French and that the equivalence of the different test items could not be guaranteed, especially for the language test. The two languages were maintained largely to respect the students' respective academic experiences. In addition, most of the arithmetic questions required the students to work with shapes and numbers, so language skill was less relevant. Perhaps most important, however, the evaluators consider that the choice of French or Bambara as the medium of instruction, not to mention as the ultimate literacy futures for the two groups of students, is a purposeful pedagogical choice for the two models, so the test language should reflect this. The evaluators do admit the possibility that the language difference was important but stand by the decision because the results of same-language tests would have been equally problematic. There is surely room for further study to test some of the assumptions of this decision.
40. For example, Stephen L. Walter and Kay R. Ringenberg, "Language Policy, Literacy and Minority Languages," Policy Studies Review 13, nos. 3 and 4 (1994): 341-66; John Hutchison, "An Argument for First Language Instruction in the Formative Years of Primary School: The Case of Mali," Forum for Advancing Basic Education and Literacy (February 1993): 6-7.
41. For example, Stephen L. Walter and Kay R. Ringenberg, "Language Policy, Literacy and Minority Languages," Policy Studies Review 13, nos. 3 and 4 (1994): 341-66; John Hutchison, "An Argument for First Language Instruction in the Formative Years of Primary School: The Case of Mali," Forum for Advancing Basic Education and Literacy (February 1993): 6-7.
42. This advantage clearly reaches a threshold at some point in a Malian (or any francophone African) student's academic career, with full French literacy being achieved on a par with those of their Gallic brothers and sisters. This is abundantly obvious from the native French eloquence of those Malians having advanced far in their formal academic studies. However, the observation of achieving literacy in the local language remains highly relevant when one considers that the vast majority of Malian students do not proceed beyond the primary level of formal schooling.
43. Indeed, on completing the field study phase of the evaluation, one of the Malian researchers reluctantly admitted how impressed he had been by the confidence and facility of the CS students in their reading and writing exercises. This experience seriously contradicted his prestudy skepticism toward mother tongue instruction built up over several years of teaching and pedagogical research on peripheral areas in Mali.
44. Refer to James Cummins, "Linguistic Interdependence and the Educational Development of Bilingual Children," Review of Educational Research 49 (1979): 222-51;
45. California Office of Bicultural Education, "The Role of Primary Language Development in Promoting Educational Success for Language Minority Students," in Schooling and Language Minority Students: A Theoretical Framework (Los Angeles: California State University, Evaluation, Dissemination and Assessment Center, 1981); Hutchison.
46. It should be noted that Save the Children took special care with the first group of schools to involve villages and create conditions that would maximize the potential for success, which might also explain the greater differences. However, several project administrators, teachers, and others identified factors that might disadvantage this inaugural group of schools: (1) a too great age range for the students enrolled, affecting both student-student and student-teacher dynamics; (2) ongoing "fine tuning" of pedagogical materials and delays in their delivery to the teacher and classroom; (3) devising effective strategies for teacher training, monitoring and support; and (4) an exaggerated attrition rate in this first class because of the many older students, with more boys leaving to find work in Côte d'Ivoire (the custom in the region) and more girls leaving to marry.
47. Muskin, "Primary Schooling" (n. 12 above), pp. 339-51, found that a major factor in Côte d'Ivoire's abandoning its televised primary education experiment of the 1970s was the inability of the program's graduates to conform to the conventional, rote style of instruction that they faced in their secondary level classes. Their primary schooling had featured a learner-centered approach, emphasizing the expressive participation of the students.
48. Indeed, some of the Malian evaluators had originally agreed only reluctantly to employ this test, protesting that it would unfairly disfavor the GS students, for whom these topics do not figure explicitly in their formal curriculum.
49. Muskin, "An Evaluation" (n. 12 above), p. 49.
50. In some of the smaller communities, government schools use a 2-year recruitment cycle, so some schools have only a composition of first, third, and fifth grades or second, fourth, and sixth grades.
51. This figure is calculated without the inclusion of the dropout numbers for the fourth-year school of Koloni-Boundio. The reason for this exclusion is that this school suffered some extraordinary circumstances, such as the death of one teacher and the temporary abandonment of the other. As a consequence, the village now has just one cohort, with over half the original recruitment class now gone. The adoption of such statistical poetic license for the current study should not be seen as a diminution of the consequence of such occurrences. Unfortunately, death and prolonged unexcused absences by teachers are real factors in Mali. The case of Koloni-Boundio may be seen as pointing out the relative vulnerability of the CS model in such situations, although it may be seen as an extreme coincidence that these two unfortunate events happened in the same village. Indeed, after the one teacher's death, the other teacher simply took over the second cohort as well, much as happens in similar circumstances in government schools.
52. The need for this somewhat clumsy, bifurcated approach rests on the limited overlapping of the two samples. Despite the evaluators' efforts to gather household data for every student for whom personal and family data were gathered, various circumstances prevented this from occurring. Consequently, while the sample sizes for each data set are ample (about 180 for each), when merged, the number of cases covered by both sets dropped to only 44.
53. A second, "fixed-effects" regression model, which added to the aggregate "Save the Children" variable a sequence of "dummy" variables for each individual school (less one), was also employed in order to determine if the effects that might appear attributable to the Save the Children variable, a program effect, are not really masking what might better be explained by individual school effects. This complementary analysis showed that the inclusion of the individual school variables not only does not rob the Save the Children dummy variable of any robustness or significance, it seems to attribute even more explanatory value to this program effect.
54. The values presented were generated from 1-hour observation sessions conducted by two (sometimes three) evaluators, usually involving the assessment of two lessons. After the observations, the evaluators compared notes and completed three different observation guides, the third of which served as a more general summary of the other two. This is the one that is analyzed here.
55. The results of any classroom observation activity cannot be assumed to fully represent a teacher's classroom management style. First, there is virtually no chance that a teacher uses the full range of his or her techniques or approaches in any single or restricted group of classes. This is especially true when the ealuator has observed only a very limited sample of the full range of topics taught, as was the case with the present evaluation. Second, it should be expected that both the teacher's and the students' performances are altered by the presence of strangers in the classroom. The present evaluator's experience has shown that teachers in such instances tend to emphasize lessons and techniques that favor discipline and chances for students to demonstrate mastery; frequently the review of a recent lesson. Finally, every evaluator brings to such observation exercises his or her own biases, which must also influence these subjective valuations.
56. See Cummins (n. 21 above); California Office of Bicultural Education (n. 21 above).
57. See Muskin, "An Evaluation."
58. The Nouvelle Ecole Fondamentale initiative announced by the minister of national education in 1994 established a plan for expanding access to schooling that closely resembles the Save the Children's (and others') CS approach in Mali, including instruction in the mother tongue in the early grades and the full incorporation of local knowledge into the curriculum.