Across many low- and middle-income countries, a sizable share of young people drop out of school before completing a full course of basic education. Early warning systems that accurately identify students at risk of dropout and support them with targeted interventions have shown results and are in widespread use in high-income contexts. This evaluation studies the impacts from an early warning system pilot program in Guatemala, a middle-income country where nearly 40 percent of sixth graders drop out before completing ninth grade.
| Country | Guatemala |
| Title | Scalable Early Warning Systems for School Dropout Prevention : Evidence from a 4.000-School Randomized Controlled Trial |
| Evaluation design | Treatment 1: Shools receive component 1 (the half-day training and the user-friendly guidance manual, as well as a letter from the Minister of Education) which is aimed at improving knowledge on simple evidence-based methods to help students make the transition to lower secondary school in essence, providing teachers and principals with more information on how to help students stay in school. Treatment 2: Treatment 1 plus the list of sixth-grade students at high risk of dropping out (component 2), providing school actors more accurate information on who needs the most help. Treatment 3: Treatment 2 + small behavioral nudges (component 3) to try and keep dropout prevention top-of-mind for principals and teachers. Control: Schools receive no intervention. |
| Main outcomes | Dropout rate, transition from primary to lower secondary school |
| Target groups | Students in the transition from primary to lower secondary schools |
| Team | Francisco Haimovich, Emmanuel Vazquez, and Melissa Adelman |