Decentralization For High Quality Education

As developing countries seek to improve the quality of their education systems, one approach they are considering is decentralization. But transforming a centralized system into one that is decentralized, and high quality is a complex undertaking, one that requires, among other things, a coherent design. This report details an approach for creating a viable design for a high-quality decentralized education system—an approach that is premised on sound principles such as economies of scale, speed of transaction, and customer satisfaction, and which has "effective schools" as the focal point of the method.

The impact of education decentralization on high-quality education has been mixed at best. This can be attributed to a variety of factors including decentralization itself, ineffectual implementation, political-economic friction, and poor design. This paper focuses largely on the issue of design, contending that if governments or donors aim to decentralize education systems, or parts thereof, for the purpose of high-quality education, the system must be designed to do so. Only then might there be some chance of it actually happening. In this paper we put forth a methodology for designing a high-quality decentralized education system and discuss the ways in which that design can be used to support the planning process aimed at bringing about the design. (Contains 3 figures, 4 tables, and 30 footnotes.).

Decentralization and Education: Asian Experiences and Conceptual Contributions examines the specific ways in which decentralization policies have affected the structure and delivery of education in eleven Asian nations. Written by top scholars in the field, the case studies provide detailed and rich empirical evidence documenting the tensions as well as synchronisms between the ideas that form the basis of decentralization policy and the contexts into which they are introduced. The high quality of this collection of essays and the careful attention to local contexts for implementation will make this book a must read for academics, policy planners, practitioners, and students of Asia.

This book, which is the eighth volume in the 12-volume book series Globalisation, Comparative Education and Policy Research, presents scholarly research on major discourses in decentralisation, school-based management (SBM) and quality in education globally. This book, which focuses on decentralisation and SBM as a governance strategy in education, presents theoretical aspects of the phenomenon of decentralisation/privatisation and contextualises them within the education research literature. It provides an easily accessible, practical yet scholarly source of information concerning the dynamics of decentralisation and SBM that normally take place when reforms are instituted to decentralize authority and power. Above all, the authors offering the latest findings regarding major discourses in dec- tralisation, SBM and quality in educational systems in the global culture emphasise aspects of that dynamic interactive process (see also Geo-JaJa 2006a; Gamage and Sooksomchitra 2006, Zajda 2009). This dynamic interaction in the process that is implicit in the title of the book is reified by calls for restructuring of schools f- lowing the idea that schools are not promoting human rights, social cohesion and sustainable development. The chapters as a source book of ideas for researchers, practitioners and policy makers in decentralisation and SBM in education contr- ute to the educational literature while enhancing the understanding of the larger dynamics involved in educational reform. It offers a timely overview of current issues affecting decentralisation in education in the global culture.

"This book is a product of the Initiative for Policy Dialogue's Decentralization Task Force, and was first conceived at a conference held at Columbia University in New York in 2009"--Page vii.

This book is about education system reform in Central and Eastern Europe, with emphasis on decentralization and management. In the past, local authorities served as implementation arms of the central ministry, while finance and decision-making were controlled by the central government, leaving local communities with little influence. New education laws in most countries of the region have altered this balance. A moderate approach may be the least disruptive short-term solution for societies undergoing socioeconomic transition. In 1997 the World Bank Institute participated in a research project to study intergovernmental roles in the delivery of education services in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Albania, Bulgaria, and Romania. Each country assembled a research team of academics, educators, and policy advisors led by an education specialist. Each team produced a report, which was discussed and revised during four information-sharing seminars, and they are presented here. The challenge these countries face is how to develop new institutions that can effectively enlist state, civil-society, and private-sector resources to achieve educational goals. This book should be of interest to educators and other readers interested in Central and Eastern European area studies. Its multidisciplinary methodology will also provide useful insights to development policymakers in other sectors. (RT)

This book has three main recommendations. First, it is necessary to generate basic standards, quality goals, and quality measurement systems. Second, once quality can be measured, a clear system of accountability should be implemented based on these standards and quality goals. The clients will play a central role in these systems by demanding their rights to quality services; this will only become possible once there are standards and goals that clarify clients' rights. Third, once there are standards and systems of accountability, investment is needed to strengthen the institutional capacity of the providers.