Professional Development and Incentives for Teacher Performance in Schools in Mexico

Abstract

Quality of education is a determining factor in competitiveness. In order to globally compete, Mexico would have to raise its standards beyond its current low achievement. Several innovations at federal and state levels have been developed to raise the quality of basic education. One example is Carrera Magisterial (CM), which is a professional development program that was created as part of the National Agreement for the Modernization of Basic Education in 1992. This program is aimed at raising the quality of basic education through teachers' professional training, new learning presence in schools and improving working and salary conditions. This paper evaluates the impact of CM. It shows several important results. First, teacher's enrollment in the CM program has a positive impact on learning achievement. Second, family characteristics are important in explaining students' achievement. Third, investment in primary school teachers is most effective when targeted toward increasing teachers' practical experience and developing content-specific knowledge. Fourth, students in schools with a high degree of supervision on the part of the school principal achieve better scores. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 3236, March 2004The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the author. They do not necessarily represent the view of the government of Mexico, World Bank, its Executive Directors, or the countries they represent. Policy Research Working Papers are available online at http://econ.worldbank.org.

Who's In and Who's Out: Social Exclusion in Latin America

“…This may be due, however, to the large heterogeneity in school quality of the Mexican educational system (see López, 2001). In the present sample, teachers in bilingual schools (who are fluent in a native language) demonstrate lower levels of education than their non-indigenous colleagues in other primary schools.…”