1 Why Do Students Learn So Little? Seeking Answers Inside Haiti’s Classrooms1

The Haitian education system made substantial improvements in access over the last decade, such that today the majority of Haiti’s children are in school. The majority of preschool age children, and 90 % of children of official primary school age (6-11), are enrolled in school. Primary net enrollment has increased in recent years, from about 50-60 % in the early 2000s to 70-80 % in 2012 (World Bank 2014). This represents important progress for Haiti, where 58.5 % of the population lives in poverty. However, enrollment is still far from universal, and outcomes, in terms of learning and attainment, are very weak. Despite improvements, the primary education system is highly inefficient: children start primary school 2 years late on average, and fewer than 60 % will reach the last grade of the cycle. 2 While the official age for beginning primary school is 6, the average child enters first grade for the first time at 7.8 years old, after having spent 2 or more years in some form of preschool. This distortion grows over time, as about 10 % of children repeat and 2-6 % drop out of each grade of primary. These repetition rates are higher than the averages in the rest of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) and Sub-Saharan Africa. Using a simulated cohort approach, these rates imply that only about 58 % of children in first grade will arrive at sixth grade, and only 29 % will ever reach the final year of upper secondary. For those who d