DDP 711. Benjamín Alvarez, Joan Dassin, Larry Rosenberg, and David Bloom. "Education in Central America." June 1999. 23 pp. Central America Project Series

Central America has achieved substantial gains in access to primary and secondary education. But educational quality remains low and sharp inequalities in educational supply and output persist, both within countries and between Central America and other regions. Nor has educational expansion managed to alleviate extensive poverty and income inequality in most Central American countries. Nevertheless, education reform is a potent channel for promoting income growth and the reduction of economic hardship in the medium and long term. It can also produce short-term political and social benefits, such as increased community participation in school management and reform. The strong conviction that education reform is a powerful tool for social justice, a history of successful reforms over the past decade, and the heightened engagement of the for-profit and not-for-profit private sector in education will positively influence Central America’s ongoing education reform efforts. In addition, Central America is well-positioned to take advantage of new development thinking that stresses the importance of building local capacity, developing knowledge management systems, implementing institutional reforms, enhancing learning resources, and building public-private partnerships for education reform.

Keywords: reform strategy, inequality, demographics, history of reform

JEL codes: I20, I21, I22, I28, N36

Benjamín Alvarez has conducted research on education and human development in several countries of the Americas and Europe. He is a consultant for the World Bank, USAID, and PREAL (Program for Educational Reform in Latin America and the Caribbean). e-mail: alvarezz@msn.com

Joan Dassin consults on education policy for foundations, government agencies and international organizations. She was formerly Director of Latin American and Caribbean Programs for the Ford Foundation and Representative for the Ford Foundation Brazil Office. Her research interests are in education reform, educational technology, and international development policy. e-mail: jdassin@bellatlantic.net

Larry Rosenberg is Project Manager of the Task Force on Higher Education at the Harvard Institute for International Development and formerly advised the Ministry of Education in Nicaragua. e-mail: lrosenbe@hiid.harvard.edu

David Bloom is Deputy Director of the Harvard Institute for International Development and Professor of Economics and Demography at the Harvard School of Public Health. email: dbloom@hiid.harvard.edu