Enhancing educational outcomes through community collaboration: the impact of the education stoplight in Paraguay
Resaltando resultados académicos a través de la colaboración comunitaria: el impacto del semáforo educativo en Paraguay
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.56712/latam.v5i6.3154Palabras clave:
self-efficacy, education stoplight, education, participatory methods, collaborative approaches, self-evaluation, educational communityResumen
Education in Paraguay remains marginalized, ranking among the lowest in international indices of access and quality. Challenges such as low academic performance, limited parental involvement, inadequate technology, and insufficient infrastructure hinder progress. Experts recommend strategies that promote cooperation between the different actors in the educational community to address these challenges. Responding to this, Fundación Paraguaya introduced the Education Stoplight in 2020, which encourages the participation of the school community in the educational process, with an emphasis on community collaboration. The Education Stoplight is a self-assessment tool that allows students, parents, teachers, and principals to reflect on their role, set personalized goals, and design solutions to contribute to educational success. This mixed-methods study used interviews, focus groups and an analysis of self-assessment responses from 1,694 participants (including students, parents, teachers, and principals) in 30 schools from different regions of Paraguay to answer the questions: What changes do educational actors perceive after implementing the Educational Stoplight, and what challenges persist? Findings reveal that the tool allowed participants to reflect on educational challenges, facilitating the identification of goals and improvements in a personal and collective way. Students noted difficulties in learning practices, parents highlighted gaps in engagement and communication, teachers identified weaknesses in instructional strategies and principals emphasized the need for improved organizational management.
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