Beyond the above issues, there is a need to understand the structures and processes needed to establish a motivating and enabling environment to ensure that highly cost-effective inputs and interventions are indeed chosen. It becomes also extremely important to think carefully about the appropriate program design and implementation strategy.

This paper presents some empirical analyses of learning outcomes based on local data and experience regarding the impact of Programa para Abatir el Rezago Educativo (PARE). The paper is divided as follows. The next section describes the PARE Program and the database. Section 3 assesses the impact of the PARE program on learning and achievement. Section 4 evaluates the cost-effectiveness of the PARE program. The final section presents concluding remarks.

# **2. PARE background**

Programa para Abatir el Rezago Educativo (PARE), 1992-1997. The objective of the program was to assist the Government of Mexico in improving the quality and efficiency of primary education, focusing on four Mexican states (Oaxaca, Guerrero, Chiapas and Hidalgo) with the highest incidence of poverty and low education indicators. These objectives, considered as being of the highest priority within the Government's Education Modernization Program, would be achieved through; (i) reducing the high repetition and dropout rates; (ii) raising the level of cognitive achievement of children, and (iii) strengthening management of the primary education system, including program design and implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the system. The program consisted of giving schools additional resources (components) like libraries, better distribution of textbooks, academic material, training aid to teachers and principals, increased in official supervision of teachers and construction and repair of schools.

From its inception its performance was monitored through statistical comparisons between the target, or _experimental,_ population (schools in the states of Chiapas, Guerrero, Hidalgo and Oaxaca) and a _control_ group formed by students in comparable schools in the state of Michoacan which falls outside the scope of the program. Special surveys were conducted yearly between 1992 and 1995. In addition, all students were given standardized achievement tests in Spanish and mathematics. PARE also provided the resources to evaluate the success of this program. To this end, two studies were - conducted for two different research institutions. One study was made by the C.E.E, mainly through quantitative variables on school, parents, community, teachers, inputs, supervisors, socioecomic and academic background, and the other by the D.I.E (Departamento de Investigaciones Educativas), through qualitative variables. These databases were developed to evaluate the effects of PARE (Programa para Abatir el Rezago Educativo) on student achievement.

During the program several test on Mathematics and Spanish were applied to the students in three consecutive years, when they were in fourth, fifth and sixth grades. The scores of these tests give the outcome or output variables and at the same time allow us to use a value-added estimation. The C.E.E staff also evaluated school directives and school 4