Evaluation of Georgia II Improving General Education Quality Project
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Evaluation of Georgia II Improving General Education Quality Project

Published: Jun 13, 2023
Publisher: Mathematica
Global Education and Workforce Development International Aid Agencies
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Associated Project

Georgia: Impact Evaluation of the General Education Project

Time frame: 2013-2021

Prepared for:

Millennium Challenge Corporation

Key Findings
  • Rehabilitation of 91 schools delivered large improvements in classroom walls, ceilings, and floors; installed electrical lighting and central heating; improved classroom temperatures and air quality; upgraded sanitary facilities; and provided new science labs.
  • Teachers and students reported that these upgrades substantially improved comfort and safety at school and addressed multiple barriers to classroom learning. Impacts on learning outcomes were negative or close to zero for schools in their second follow-up year (in part due to school closures in response to COVID-19), but impacts became positive in schools that were in their third, fourth, or fifth follow-up year.
  • Two years after an intensive teacher training sequence for STEM educators, nearly all teachers continued to report that they are confident or very confident in having enough knowledge to apply the student-centered instruction practices that were part of the project.
  • Less qualified, practitioner-level teachers also reported large post-training improvements in their use of teaching practices related to students’ critical thinking and collaboration.

MCC’s $139 million Georgia II Compact (2014-2019) funded the $73 million Improving General Education Quality Project, which aimed to improve the quality of public science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education in grades 7-12. The Project invested in rehabilitating education infrastructure and constructing science laboratories in targeted schools. A one-year sequence of training activities was also provided to STEM educators and school directors on a nationwide basis. This mixed-methods evaluation, which included a randomized controlled trial, longitudinal surveys, and qualitative methods, measured the impacts of these programs on the learning environment, teaching practices, and academic achievement outcomes several years after the project ended

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