Abstract

This paper discusses performance evaluation and the introduction of incentives into education in Latin America from an analytical and methodological perspective. The aim is to describe ongoing strategies and learn from practical experiences in this field. The cases analyzed reveal that school-level evaluations and collective incentives adapt better to the characteristics of the educational process and the potential for teamwork, while individual evaluations pose some difficulties. Several evaluation systems currently in use emphasize educational inputs and, in some cases, mainly compliance with rules and procedures, irrespective of education results (output). If the factors considered in assessing school performance do not correlate well with educational achievement, the incentives vanish. Hence, the importance of emphasizing output and ensuring that if measures are included for inputs and processes, these must line up with educational achievement. © 2004 Published by Elsevier Ltd.