External evaluation of the Support for High-School Roma students in Romania (REF RO 033)

1. External evaluationof theSupport for High-School Roma students in Romania(REF RO 033) Attila Papp Z., PhD pappza@yahoo.com; office@omnibus-srl.ro Cluj, 11 December, 2008

2. Objectives of the project • to support excellence in education of Roma students • to increase a total number of 275 Roma students’ GPA by at least 0.5 • to provide educational support in the form of individualized mentoring to the same 275 students during the project period (2007-2011). • to increase the number of Roma students who further their education in high school and beyond the compulsory education.

3. Objectives of the evaluation • the assessment of management and project implementation • the assessment of the beneficiaries school achievments, school attendance, relationship with peers and with teachers • the assessment of efficiency and results provided by the mentorship scheme of the program • elaboration of school based case studies with the aim of summing up lessons learnt and monitoring the school environment.

4. Methodology • document analysis • quantitative methods (applying questionnaries to mentors and students) • qualitative methods (interviews and focus group discussions)

5. Contexts of educational policies • demographic data • the nature of educational interventions • “domestic” in(ter)ventions • adaptation of international experiences • Bottom-up vs. top-down interventions

6. Level of education by ethnic group (population over age 10)

7. Assessment of management and project implementation • partnership • partnership between NGO’s • deep relationships • possibilities to build new (type of) relationships • partnership between NGO’s and public institutions (school inspectorates, ministry, schools) • objectives of the project • Is there a common “vocabulary” regarding our common goals? • Elitism vs. increasing school chances (retention rate) • existence of latent goals of the project

8. Assessment of school achievments • Differences between students • from theoretical high schools and vocational schools • at 9th grade and 10th, 11th grades • Different scholarships entail each other or neutralize their efficiency • The more the money students have the higher the school achievment?

9. School achievement by type of school

10. School achievement – theoretical schools

11. School achievement – vocational schools

12. School achievement by no. of scholarships

13. Evolution of absences by no. of scholarships

14. School achievements by affirmative measures

15. Assessment of mentorship • Role of individual mentorships • Role in helping students to increase their school achievements • Role in extracurricular activities • Role in strenghtening of school-parents relationships

16. Lessons from case studies • Contradictions between • the decentralization process in education and • the heir of centralization • Existence of local school culture determined by • The type of the city (small and bigger cities) • The rate of roma (and other ethnic minorities) students in school • The type of the school • Local school environment influences • The prestige of the mentor inside the school • The nature of school-parents relationships

17. Challenges/Recommendations • Creation of a common language of the project • Who is the real target group of the support project? • Adjusment of collaboration between NGO’s • Creation of professional network between mentors • Creation of networks between students • Creation, adaptation and application of new measures technique (besides the GPA) • Institualization of the participation and the role of roma parents in the project

18. Thank you for your attention! pappza@yahoo.com office@omnibus-srl.ro