Abstract
By most standards the quality of public basic education in the Dominican Republic is poor. Despite nearly universal enrollment, students are not learning at the expected rate, and scores on tests for achievement in fundamental literacy and numeracy skills are low. The USAID/Dominican Republic mission (USAID/DR) has a long history of support to quality basic education in the country and to the Ministry of Education (MINERD). The current portfolio builds on this experience both in its objectives and approaches, and with its implementing partners who are almost exclusively Dominican. The mid-term performance evaluation of the education portfolio is in two parts: the evaluation of the program as a whole; and performance evaluations of each of the component projects. The project evaluations provide the evidence required to assess the central evaluation questions - performance, efficiency, and sustainability for USAID/DR education programming. The two-fold approach responds to the two objectives of the evaluation. The evidence-based analysis at the project level identifies strengths and weaknesses in implementation, and makes recommendations for mid-course corrections to improve project results. The evaluation of the portfolio as a whole is intended to inform mission strategic decisions about how to approach education programming in the future and to set priorities among various components. (Excerpt, modified)