Millennium Challenge Corporation hired Mathematica Policy Research to conduct an independent evaluation of the BRIGHT II program. The three main research questions of interest are: • What was the impact of the program on school enrollment, attendance, and retention? • What was the impact of the program on test scores? • Are the impacts different for girls than for boys? Mathematica will compare data collected from the 132 communities served by BRIGHT II (the "treatment group") with that collected from the 161 communities that applied but were not selected for the program (the "comparison group"). Using a statistical technique called regression discontinuity, Mathematica will compare the outcomes of the treatment villages just above the cutoff point to the outcomes of the comparison villages just below the cutoff point. If the intervention had an impact, we will observe a "jump" in outcomes at the point of discontinuity. Mathematica will perform additional analyses to estimate the overall merit of the BRIGHT investment. By conducting a cost-benefit analysis and a cost-effectiveness analysis and calculating the economic rate of return, Mathematica will be able to answer questions related to the sustainability of the program, and compare the program to interventions and social investments in other sectors. The household survey is designed to capture household-level data rather than community-level data; however, questions have been included to measure head-of-household expectations of educational attainment. These questions ask the head of household what grade level he hopes each child will attain; and what grade level he thinks the child will be capable of achieving in reality.
