Empowering parents to improve education: evidence from rural Mexico

Published on 1 April 2008

This Report is an update of Empowering parents to improve education: evidence from rural Mexico

This paper evaluates AGEs (Apoyo a la Gestion Escolar or School Management Support) and examines whether the increased parental participation that they brought about helped to create a more conducive learning environment and improve students' learning outcomes.

We examine a program that involves parents directly in the management of schools located in highly disadvantaged rural communities. The program, known as AGE, finances parent associations and motivates parental participation by involving them in the management of the school grants. Using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, we show that the AGE increased the participation of parents in monitoring school performance and decision-making. Further, we find that AGE improved intermediate school quality indicators, namely grade failure and grade repetition, controlling for the presence of a conditional cash transfer program and other educational interventions.