The effectiveness of multigrade schools in Colombia

Abstract

This paper evaluates the effectiveness of the Colombian New School (Escuela Nueva) program in raising student achievement in Spanish and mathematics. Typical program strategies include multigrade instruction, flexible student promotion, and community involvement. The paper finds that New Schools are better endowed with inputs like textbooks and place greater emphasis on active learning than traditional rural schools. Nevertheless, many New Schools have not implemented all the reforms. New Schools are found to have positive and statistically significant effects on Spanish and mathematics achievement in third grade and Spanish in fifth grade. Findings replicate previous evaluations.