This study examines the effectiveness of communication and monitoring strategies in leveraging past evaluation results to drive school improvement efforts in the Dominican Republic. The trial is embedded within the country’s preparation for the 2025 high school diagnostic evaluation and targets both district and school-level interventions. The primary objectives include enhancing the use of 2019 diagnostic evaluation data, improving administrative compliance, and fostering the implementation of evidence-based improvement plans.
The intervention includes randomized assignments to districts and schools with varying intensities of communication and monitoring, enabling the evaluation of their impact on intermediate outcomes such as contact information updates, report usage, and improvement plan submissions, as well as on educational outcomes. District supervisors receive detailed reports on the compliance levels of the schools in their jurisdiction, enabling targeted follow-ups and monitoring. School directors receive tailored email campaigns prompting actions such as reviewing past results and submitting improvement plans. Districts are randomized into three groups based on the frequency of reporting: minimal (3 reports), moderate (4 reports), and intensive (6 reports). Schools within these districts are further randomized into two communication levels: minimal (3 emails) and intensive (6 emails ).
Outcomes are evaluated across intermediate benchmarks such as compliance with form submissions and contact information updates, and final educational performance indicators, including average student diagnostic scores and the proportion of students achieving different knowledge levels (elemental, acceptable, satisfactory) in the 2025 evaluation. The findings will provide insights into the role of strategic communication and monitoring in fostering educational accountability and improvement.