How Has Qatars K-12 Education Reform Fared in Its Early Years?
Following a requested RAND evaluation of Qatar’s K-12 educational system in 2001, Qatar chose to implement an education reform plan with Independent Schools as its defining feature. These new Independent schools would encourage qualified persons with innovative ideas to run these schools under government contracts. By fall 2006, 46 Independent schools were operating alongside the more traditional Ministry of Education schools and the private Arabic schools. In 2005, RAND was asked to monitor, evaluate, and report on the implementation of this reform. Based on analysis of data from school-level observations, national surveys, and national student assessments, the study found that students in the new, Independent schools were performing better than those in Ministry and private Arabic schools in both Arabic and English and that student and parental satisfaction was greater. But the study noted that most students were still not meeting the reform’s new, higher curriculum standards. Recomm
