Catalog

A Class Act
ADB Review [ June 2005 ]

Focusing on school targets and performance results is helping improve the quality of education for children in a remote area of Mongolia

By Claudia Buentjen, (cbuentjen@adb.org)
Senior Governance Specialist

In winter, the snow is piled high, and the wind chills the spirit; in summer, the heat shimmers. Dornogobi—originally a railway settlement—is 6 hours by train from the Mongolian capital, Ulaanbaatar, on the line stretching to Beijing in the People’s Republic of China.

At 8 a.m. in Dornogobi, children are making their way to School #3. Some of the 800 children are already there, having slept in dormitories reserved for children from outlying districts who cannot travel each day to school.

In the staff room, a display board hanging on a wall does not present the usual timetable or notice about school activities. It shows school targets and performance results, agreed upon in a contract among the school principal, teachers, and the aimag (provincial) governor.

School #3 is a results-based management (RBM)-oriented school, headed by G. Tungalagtuya. A practical manager and experienced educator, leading a team of 46 teachers and support staff, she recognizes the need for clear direction, adequate matching resources, performance monitoring, and a supportive organizational culture.

Using a framework comprising such key documents as the school charter, school regulations, and a 10-year development program, she has put in place a series of performance contracts: first, with the aimag governor on the results the school will deliver, and second, with each teacher on what she or he commits to contribute to achieving the school performance targets.

Top

Targets Built into Work Plan

To make it easily and widely understood, the targets are built into a school-year work plan that spells out what is expected for teaching students at a standard level, developing students’ abilities, and developing teaching materials.

Adopting a results approach, says Ms. Tungalagtuya, has already brought about significant changes in performance and attitudes: “Teachers feel much more accountable to parents for how well their students do in examinations.”

The head of the Education and Culture Division for the Dornogobi aimag, Ts. Choibaatar, agrees: “Having clear school performance targets helps my staff monitor how well the school is doing and makes sure funds are well directed.”

For Ms. Tungalagtuya, achieving results requires more than systems—it needs a supportive organizational culture. She particularly emphasizes the importance of creating a “level playing field” by reassuring teachers that they will be treated fairly and that their performance data will never be manipulated.

POSITIVE RESULTS Adopting a results approach has already brought about significant changes in performance and attitudes

Refining RBM processes, such as those of Dornogobi’s School #3, were supported through a $250,000 Asian Development Bank (ADB) regional technical assistance project approved in 2002, which aimed at building capacity and results orientation in the education sectors of Cambodia and Mongolia.

In Mongolia, the Ministry of Science, Technology, Education, and Culture (MSTEC) was responsible for strengthening the results orientation. Supported by two international and one local consultants, the ministry involved high-level policy makers, planners, and managers in MSTEC, as well as representatives from provincial education offices and other agencies, such as the Ministry of Finance, in various project activities.

Seminars and reviews enabled participants to analyze existing RBM systems and to understand the relationships between RBM in the education sector and broader governance, public finance, and decentralization reform. RBM and governance analyses included a review of RBM approaches needed to respond to decentralization. This took account of previous governance assessments and analysis of the impact of education and broader public sector management reforms.

Top

Case Studies Developed

Task forces to analyze case studies and follow-up work were established. Case study teams composed of education staff from various levels of Government developed eight case studies covering topics such as identifying good practices in school product quality definition and teacher assessment, financing and cost planning in big and small schools, provincial capacity to evaluate quality, and good practice school performance agreements. The case studies proved an effective vehicle for Mongolian education staff to apply RBM assessment.

A preparatory road map developed under the project will contribute to developing a phased and sequenced action plan, including realigning functions, organizational structures, and staff skills mixes at the central and district levels.

Lessons learned in the Cambodian and Mongolian education sectors have helped ADB refine its approach to results-oriented capacity development and to sector-level performance management. As ADB Vice-President, Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development, Geert van der Linden puts it, “Front-loaded ADB support for policy dialogue and program lending, and capacity development needs assessment was effective in paving the way for more results-oriented planning and monitoring. Good dissemination of project outputs showcasing Mongolia’s and Cambodia’s experiences within ADB, and in the wider development community, and facilitation of knowledge exchanges between Cambodia and Mongolia are further strengths of the project.”

“The keys to success have been the active involvement of local government and finance ministries in designing implementation strategies; country leadership in developing case studies and forward planning; and the use of an iterative and engaging, rather than a prescriptive, approach,” according to ADB Director General, Regional and Sustainable Development Department, Bindu Lohani.

A $400,000 ADB regional technical assistance project approved in 2004, to be implemented from May 2005 to October 2006, will expand the coverage to include Indonesia. The primary objective of the technical assistance is to develop the service delivery capacity of the health and education sectors, local government agencies, and civil society. It seeks to strengthen results orientation of the social sector and local government agencies; establish mechanisms for knowledge management and exchange within and between Cambodia, Indonesia, and Mongolia; and identify good practices to enrich ADB’s rapidly evolving capacity development agenda.

Go back to current issue

Email this to a friend