Empowering Parents While Making Them Pay: Autonomous Schools in Nicaragua

A research project of the Community Development Research Center,
Milano School of Management & Urban Policy, New School University.
Funding was generously provided by the Tinker Foundation.

Dr. Alec Ian Gershberg
Project Director
Community Development Research Center
Milano School of Management & Urban Policy
New School University
72 Fifth Avenue, 5th floor
New York, NY 10011
Ph: (212) 229.5311 x 1412
Fax: (212) 229.5404
gersh@newschool.edu

Over the past decade, the multilateral development community—especially the World Bank—has advocated decentralization of school governance in Latin America. Very little is known about the actual attributes of such policies, which often go hand in hand with a call for increased parental and community participation as a means of improving accountability. Since 1993, Nicaragua has set in motion one of the most radical educational decentralization experiments in the world.  The Autonomous Schools Program implements a system of school-based management that relies on school-site councils that 1) have a voting majority of parents and 2) allocate resources that derive from monetary contributions from parents. These councils have broad powers including hiring and firing school principals. Nowhere in the Americas have parents officially been given so much responsibility, and nowhere have they been asked to provide directly such a large proportion of school resources.

A resource center inside an Autonomous elementary school

This study's primary purpose has been to assess the social dynamic at the school level between parents, community members, and school staff and also to put a face on the key stakeholders. The research has used and re-evaluated available quantitative data and evaluations. Through selected case studies and through interviewing parents, teachers, principals, local and central education officials, and other community actors, the study tells the stories behind the numbers. In particular, the study has tried to answer a number of key questions, such as how have fees impacted the lives of parents? How have the fees and school councils together affected the satisfaction of key stakeholders? What has been the impact on both quantitative and qualitative school outcomes? The study sheds light upon the benefits and pitfalls of current trends towards decentralizing school systems and fostering effective parental participation, particularly through empowering parents and other school-level stakeholders. It also yields insights into how decision making takes place in parent-led school-site councils, how councils raise and allocate resources, and what other important decisions they make. Importantly, this study also highlights the role of central government in so-called decentralization reforms.

The primary research product is a qualitative study of 12 schools, called “Lecciones Aprendidas de la Autonomía Escolar Nicaragüense,” available through the link below. In addition, there are 3 other research reports also available through the links below: Parental Contributions and School Level Finances: An Analysis of Nicaraguan Autonomous School Budgets, “Lessons Learned from Nicaragua’s School Autonomy Reform A Review of Research by the Nicaragua Reform Evaluation Team of the World Bank,” and “Participation of Civil Society in Autonomous Schools.”

Former Minister of Education in Nicaragua, Dr. Humberto Belli speaks at the seminar held in November of 2002 in Nicaragua.

Most importantly, the researchers organized a seminar in Nicaragua in November of 2002 to present the results to the Nicaraguan government, multi-laterals (e.g., The World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank), NGOs, and education advocates. Also invited were relevant Nicaraguan education researchers, key union officials, members of the press and others. The seminar was done with the cooperation of the Nicaraguan Ministry of education. The purpose of this seminar was both to disseminate research findings and, much more importantly, to create a dialogue between proponents and opponents of the ASP, as well as between funders, evaluators, and members of the government charged with administering the program. The goal was to create a safe space in which all attendees were able focus on developing ideas to help improve schooling in Nicaragua through continued school reform. The details on the seminar are also available through the link below.

President of ANDEN, the largest teacher’s union in Nicaragua
Lic. Jose Antonio Zapeda speaks at the seminar.

This research project is important because it lends insight into fostering effective parental participation and the impact of implementing school fees—a rising trend globally, especially in Latin America. We hope the results—especially the dialogue created at the seminar—will provide ideas to help improve both school governance in Latin America and the education received by the children of Nicaragua and other countries where parental participation and school decentralization are on the education reform agenda.

Dr. Alec Gershberg (left) and Dr. Silvio De Franco,
current Nicaraguan Minister of Education

Links:

Alec Gershberg (1999) Excerpts from the Tinker Proposal for: Empowering Parents While Making Them Pay: Autonomous Schools in Nicaragua.

The proposal for the project provided the methodological and analytic foundation for the work done by all the researchers. It formed the basis of several seminars in Nicaragua attended by the entire research team before and during the field work. In addition, Dr. Vanessa Castro led a seminar on qualitative research methods, as well as the use of Nudist software. This seminar was intended to foster uniform methods for the field work which was performed by different researchers. Field work took place largely in 2000 and 2001. Links for various papers related to the project are listed below

Cefas Asensio Flórez, Raúl Ruiz Carrión, Valinda Sequeira Calero, Alec Ian Gershberg, Vanessa Castro (2001). “Lecciones Aprendidas de la Autonomía Escolar Nicaragüense”

This report (in Spanish) examines the Autonomous school reform from the perspective of the principle actors including parents, teachers and school administrators. It pays particular attention to the role of parents in autonomous schools, their participation and the factors that influence this participation. It also examines the school charges, the politics surrounding them and their economic impact on schools and families. 

The Executive Summary for the report: “Lecciones Aprendidas de la Autonomía Escolar Nicaragüense”

The Executive Summary of the report: "Lessons Learned from the Nicaraguan Autonomous Schools Program"
(Translation of the original Spanish version)

Robert Kaestner and Alec Gershberg (2002). “Lessons Learned from Nicaragua’s School Autonomy Reform A Review of Research by the Nicaragua Reform Evaluation Team of the World Bank.”

A critical review of the World Bank’s Nicaragua Reform Evaluation Team’s (NRET) research, identifying what policy relevant information this research provides about the effects of the Nicaragua school reform program.

Alec Gershberg and Ben Meade (2003). “Parental Contributions and School-level Finances: An Analysis of Nicaraguan Autonomous School Budgets”

This report analyzes Nicaraguan Autonomous school budget data from 1999 and 2000 to determine the portion that the parent contribution and school based commercial activity make up of the total school budget both for primary and secondary Autonomous schools throughout Nicaragua.

Sven Andersson (2001). “Participation of Civil Society in Autonomous Schools.”

This study examines the role that Civil Society has had on the Autonomous Schools movement in Nicaragua through interviews with external actors (not parents and teachers) including mayors, priests, union leaders and representatives of various NGO’s as well as people from the Nicaraguan Ministry of Education (MECD).

A Summary of the conference: Decentralization and Social Participation in the School: “The Future of Education Reform in Nicaragua.” (Foro Sobre Descentralizacion y Participacion Social en las Escuelas: “El Futuro de Reforma Educativa en Nicaragua”)

This conference brought together key figures involved in the Autonomous reform and international education reform to discuss the impacts and future of the reform. It took place in Managua, Nicaragua in November of 2002. Participants included researchers and academics from universities in Nicaragua, the US and Sweden, members of international aid organizations, school administrators, and union representatives.

A list of participants from the conference: Decentralization and Social Participation in the School: “The Future of Education Reform in Nicaragua.” (Foro Sobre Descentralizacion y Participacion Social en las Escuelas: “El Futuro de Reforma Educativa en Nicaragua”)