Given the unprecedented school closures and economic pressures in Latin America, experts expect that many students in vulnerable households, particularly at the high school level, will abandon formal schooling. This project, a partnership between J-PAL’s Latin American and Caribbean Program and the Chilean Ministry of Education, is a replication and expansion of prior interventions that demonstrated strong results in reducing secondary school dropout rates by informing students and families about the economic returns associated with staying in school. The initiative, Decidiendo para un Futuro Mejor, uses an online platform to contextualize the educational and occupational dilemmas school-aged youth face regarding their future by using the story of three main characters, represented by real actors and their animated versions. The program will show the challenges and the solutions characters find to solve their problems, highlighting income and quality of life differences between educational levels. Tinker funding will allow J-PAL LAC to provide additional technical assistance to the Ministry of Education, test new components around personalized college and career counseling, and increase teacher involvement in the project. The first round of implementation is scheduled for May 2021 and will reach 500 schools and 15,000 7th-12th graders in the country. The government has already committed to scale the program to all students nationwide as part of the regular curriculum in the coming years.
Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile | Chile
Expanding a Returns to Education Campaign to Avoid School Dropouts: Adapting an Innovative Model to the COVID Context
Implement and evaluate the effectiveness of an information campaign on the returns to education to reduce school dropout rates during the COVID-19 pandemic in Chile
AWARD YEAR
2021
FUNDING AREA
Education
PROJECT LOCATION
Chile
AMOUNT AWARDED
$90,000
PROJECT DURATION
12 months