# **F. Conclusions**

The objective of this paper is to provide an application of Rasch modeling to the context of measurement of a policy - School Based Management or SBM. It is widely accepted in the literature that SBM requires a number of years to eventually find appreciable impact in terms of outcomes such as student achievement. However, many stakeholders are interested in knowing the progress of the implementation of the policy itself – is SBM being implemented well in the schools? Two instruments were mentioned in the background section of this paper – the SABER framework for SBM introduced by the World Bank as part of a multi-country benchmarking study for SBM, and an assessment of SBM implementation in the Philippines. It was proposed that by applying Rasch modeling it is possible to bring a semblance of scientific validity and reliability to measurement of SBM.

The paper applied the Rasch modeling to an instrument applied in a sample survey of schools in the Philippines. The instrument is far from perfect, but the Rasch modeling shows that it is feasible to develop an instrument that is not completely subjective. Developing good quality instruments is an iterative and collaborative process, as shown by the examples of the BFI and PSI instruments. While BFI and PSI have used factor analysis to uncover structure in the data, the purpose is similar to this paper’s use of Rasch analysis – to come up with a valid and reliable instrument that can be applied in differing contexts. The presence of interesting conclusions from the analysis presented in this paper indicates that indeed the resulting SBM measure can be used in a conceptually sound manner. The first conclusion of this paper is that further development of SABER instruments for benchmarking educational policy in SBM and other areas might use Rasch modeling to help improve the selection of items. Rasch analysis can be applied to help revise and reformulate an initial list of items in an iterative process so that eventually a good ‘person-item’ overlap can be developed for a rigorously defined measure.

For the superiority of a formal method such as Rash modeling to be accepted, more SBM studies would need to deploy similar survey instruments including a common list of items like the BFI-44 of PSI-18. While there are country specific issues that may require unique items to be developed for an SBM study in a country, even such questions can be standardized from a template, and there will always be a relevance of generic measures of accountability and participation. Rasch analysis applied from an exploratory stage and used in subsequent iterations by different authors in varying contexts can lead to the development of an instrument that will have construct validity and reliability. A second conclusion of the paper is an exhortation for SBM researchers to use the Rasch method to work towards the creation of a common index of an SBM-n (e.g. SBM-38), similar to the BFI-44 or PSI-18 measures. Even beyond SBM, the Rasch method can be applied to other areas of benchmarking public policy where measurement is bedeviled by subjectivity. The development of such instruments will help to develop greater confidence in policy analysis and conclusion regarding policies where the eventual results take 8 to 10 years to develop. It is hoped that other researchers might be sufficiently engaged by this paper to explore the application of Rasch analysis to policy benchmarking.

25