Publications 

Series of Education Reform and Management (ERM)

The Education Reform and Management (ERM) publication series includes the three types of publications: 

• Policy Study

• Country Studies

  • Australia

  • Bolivia

  • Chile

  • Cuba

  • India

  • Romania

  • Spain

  • South Africa

  • New Zealand

• Technical Notes

ERM publications are designed to provide World Bank client countries with timely insight and analysis of education reform efforts around the world.  ERM publications are under the editorial supervision of the Education Reform and Management Thematic Group, part of the Human Development Network - Education (HDNED) at the World Bank.

These publications are authored by policymakers, academics and researchers who were closely involved in the education reform featured.  Each year, new titles will be added to this series as new relevant country reform experiences and reform topics are being investigated.

Any views expressed or implied should not be interpreted as official positions of the World Bank.

Hard copies of the ERM publications are available upon request.  Please send an email to the ERM team at edreform@worldbank.org

List of current publications:
To access the publications listed below scroll down and click on the picture in the left column

 

Policy Study: ERM Policy Studies examine cutting-edge issues in education reform and how they are managed across countries.

Corrales, Javier. "The Politics of Education Reform: Bolstering the Supply and Demand; Overcoming Institutional Blocks." The Education Reform and Management Publication Series. Vol. II No. 1. 1999. World Bank, Washington Abstract: This papers explores the political conditions that may enhance or hinder the adoption of education reforms. It does not offer definite, statistically tested conclusions. Instead, this paper relies on existing studies of reform adoption to extract hypothesis that seem applicable in some cases and testable in others

 

Country Studies: ERM Country Studies examine how individual countries have successfully launched and implemented significant reforms of their education systems.

	Pascoe, Susan and Robert Pascoe. "Education Reform in Australia: 1992-1997." The Education Reform and Management Publication Series. Vol. 1 No. 2. February 1998. World Bank, Washington Abstract: This study presents the experience of Victoria State, Australia in designing and implementing large-scale education reform. In this paper, the authors have gone 'behind the scene' to tell the story of the wholesale school reform from the perspective of the planners and implementers. The reform implemented in Victoria State covers educational issues such as curriculum assessment and professional development as well as the reshaping of the institutional basis of educational provision.
	Contreras, Manuel, and Talavera Simoni, Maria Luisa. "The Bolivian Education Reform: 1992-2002 - Case studies in Large Scale Education Reform". The Education Reform and Management Publication Series.  Vol. II No. 2. November 2003.  World Bank; Washington.
	Delannoy, Francoise. "Education Reforms in Chile, 1980-98: A Lesson in Pragmatism." The Education Reform and Management Publication Series. Vol. 1 No. 1. June 2000. World Bank, Washington Abstract: In 1980 Chile's military government (1973-90) launched a profound, market-based, education reform. Its objective was to promote greater efficiency through administrative decentralization, capitation-based financing, labor deregulation and open competition between public and privately administered schools. Ten years later, the first government of the democratic transition adopted a new education strategy aimed at reorienting public investment towards greater quality and equity while maintaining most of the previous administrative and funding framework. This focus has been sustained and deepened in recent years through the introduction of the Full School Day reform in 1996. These reforms, all recognized as cutting-edge at the time they were adopted, are being implemented in a country which, while at the doorstep of the OECD, is still in many ways, a traditional, highly structured and inequitable society.
	Gasperini, Lavinia. "The Cuban Education System: Lessons and Dilemmas" The Education Reform and Management Publication Series. Vol. 1 No. 5. July 2000. World Bank, Washington Abstract: The record of Cuban education is outstanding: universal school enrollment and attendance; nearly universal adult literacy; proportional female representation at all levels, including higher education; a strong scientific training base, particularly in chemistry and medicine; consistent pedagogical quality across widely dispersed classrooms; equality of basic educational opportunity, even in impoverished areas, both rural and urban. In a recent regional study of Latin America and the Caribbean, Cuba ranked first in math and science achievement, at all grade levels, among both males and females. In many ways, Cuba’s schools are the equals of schools in OECD countries, despite the fact that Cuba’s economy is that of a developing country. What has allowed Cuba’s education system to perform so well, even under the severe resource constraints of the past decade, is the continuity in its education strategies, sustained high levels of investments in education, and a comprehensive and carefully structured system.
	Pandey, Raghaw. "Going to Scale with Education Reform: India's District Primary Education Program, 1995-99" The Education Reform and Management Publication Series. Vol. 1 No. 4. July 2000. World Bank, Washington Abstract: The District Primary Education Program (DPEP), launched in November 1994, was an ambitious attempts to provide a decisive thrust to universalize and transform the quality of primary education in India. Within a span of five years, the program has shown encouraging results in improving access, quality, retention, learning achievement and system efficiency, and in reducing gender and social disparities. From a 1994 pilot start in 42 districts spread over seven states (covering 11 percent of primary students), the program has been taken to scale with impressive rapidity and now reaches over 55 percent of India's 110 million primary students. Moreover, it has "spread effects" on fundamental aspects of primary education quality across India. How has this been achieved? In a country where primary education is largely a state-level responsibility (89 percent of education funding is from the states), how has a federally launched initiative managed to drive changes in teaching practice and education system performance all the way down to the classroom, even in some of the remotest villages? How have DPEP's relatively small incremental investment resources (10 percent of total annual spending) catalyzed significant changes in education access (particularly for girls and children from disadvantaged groups), curriculum, quality and system efficiency? How has a program planned and financed from the top down achieved a reputation for decentralization, flexibility, empowerment and innovation? How have the political obstacles to change on which previous programs floundered-teacher resistance, bureaucratic inefficiency-been overcome to a significant degree in the case of DPEP? This paper seeks to answer these questions, giving an insider's perspective to DPEP's initial design and early implementation history. Without minimizing the substantial remaining challenges in Indian primary education (detailed in part 7) or the fact that DPEP's impact has not been equally strong in every district in which it has been implemented, this paper elucidates what has been achieved and reflects on the "success factors" and lessons behind the progress to date. Many of these factors and lessons may be relevant for other countries similarly faced with the challenge of rapidly expanding access to primary education.
Corrigendum	Georgescu, Dakmara and Palade, Eugen. "Reshaping Education for an Open Society in Romania 1990-2000: Case Studies in Large Scale Education Reform".  The Education Reform and Management Publication Series. Vol. II No. 3. December 2003. World Bank, Washington.  Abstract:  This case study of Romania over the 1990s provides an important analysis of education reform challenges in the context of transition to a radically new economic and political order. The study analyzes the design and implementation of major changes in curriculum, textbook development, teacher training, rural education, assessment and examination, management and financing, occupational standards, vocational education, higher education, and school rehabilitation -- and focuses on the technical as well as political issues encountered. Despite scarce resources and difficult economic conditions, the education reform process in Romania has led to important changes. The last two chapters of the report analyze the effectiveness and sustainability of the reforms introduced and distills lessons from the Romanian experience which can be useful for other transition countries.
	Hanson, Mark E. "Democratization and Educational Decentralization in Spain: A Twenty Year Struggle for Reform." The Education Reform and Management Publication Series. Vol. 1 No. 3. June 2000. World Bank, Washington Abstract: In a little more than two decades following the death of the iron-fisted dictator General Francisco Franco, Spain celebrated its transition from the most centralized to one of the most decentralized nations in Europe-in government and in education. Few countries if any in modern times can boast of similar success. The objective of this study is to describe and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of a complex and comprehensive reform that ultimately resulted in a successful but uneasy transfer of authority and financial resources from the center to the regions. While the reform in law and policy set out to construct a decentralized educational system that would be responsive to a state and regional shared governance process (de jure), the study explains the actual outcome (de facto) which appears to have gone considerably beyond the original intent. This outcome is particularly interesting because decentralization initiatives typically deliver much less than originally promised. In tracing the change process, this paper examines the turbulent political, economic, and organizational complexities of the reform as it: (1) reacts against the concentrated centralism of the Franco years (1939-1975); (2) makes the transition from autocratic to democratic government (1975-1982); (3) survives a dramatic shift to the political left (1982-1996); and (4) endures the trauma of a shift to the political right (1996-).
	Jansen, Jonathan, and Taylor, Nick. "Educational Change in South Africa 1994-2003: Case Studies in Large Scale Education Reform".  The Education Reform and Management Publication Series. Vol. II No. 1. December 2003. World Bank, Washington. Abstract:  This case study of the South African education reform reviews and evaluates the education reform program of the post-apartheid government. It focuses on three specific interventions by the new government: curriculum reform, education finance reform, and the teacher rationalization process which commenced in 1996. This case study presents a critical analysis of the reform goals, design, implementation, and impact for each of the three interventions. The report’s objective is to contribute new insights and understandings to the global knowledge base on education reforms in developing countries.
	Perris, Lyall. "Implementing Education Reform in New Zealand: 1987-1997." The Education Reform and Management Publication Series. Vol. 1 No. 1. February 1998. World Bank, Washington Abstract: During the ten year period of 1987-1997, New Zealand undertook a major restructuring of its public education system with the primary objective of decentralizing authority to the school level. In this retrospective account, former Secretary of Education Lyall Perris shares his views on how such fundamental changes were successfully implemented across political leadership and amidst potential opposition.

Technical Note: ERM Technical Notes highlights promising and innovative practices in education that might be relevant for other countries, with a focus on how programs are implemented.

McMeekin, Robert W. "Implementing School-based Merit Awards: Chile's Experience." The Education Reform and Management Publication Series. Vol. III No. 1. June 2000. World Bank, Washington Abstract: Chile has introduced a system of merit awards to schools called the National System to Evaluate School Performance (Sistema Nacional de Evaluacion des Desempeno de los Establecimientos Educacionales Subvencionados or SNED). the SNED system has been carefully designed and well implemented. It avoids many of the problems associated with merit pay for individual teachers. As it enters its third round (every two years) of measurement and awards, it appears to be accepted by key actors in the education sector. This paper provides information on the characteristics of this approach to providing incentives to improve the quality of education.