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Learning Outcome Transparency is the Beginning of Improvement

La transparencia de los resultados del aprendizaje es el primer paso

La transparence des résultats d’apprentissage en République dominicaine est le début des améliorations, pas la fin

Lessons from Reformers

This case study was originally posted in the OGP Global Report.

The Dominican Republic’s 2016 action plan focused its education efforts on developing a digital tool, the “Educational Center Management System (SIGERD),” by which parents and guardians could obtain data on performance and supervisory processes at the school level. The Ministry of Education piloted the tool in five schools before expanding to more than 120 education centers in 18 regions of the country.

The SIGERD system includes new functionalities, such as:

  • Interconnection with other educational portals in education matters, such as EDUPLAN, the registry of statistics, including performance indicators
  • Search tools that allow the comparison of information between different sites within and between school districts
  • A system of alerts for educational staff and parents when new information becomes available
  • Monitoring data at the school level, including student attendance, schedules, grades, personnel, infrastructure, and performance indicators

At the time of evaluation, this system was functional. However, it was also password-protected and required authorization from school authorities to access performance-level information, including otherwise publicly available data. While some data may need to be protected for privacy of student records or personnel issues, other information is already publicly available or required to be so. In that sense, the system is a promising start on the road to transparency and participation, but much can be done to strengthen parent and public oversight of these education centers.

 

Photo Credit: Presidencia Republica Dominicana

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