The impact of educational policy reforms on the distribution of educational outcomes in developing countries: The case of Botswana

After half a decade of concerted government efforts to provide equal educational opportunity through comparable educational provisions, Botswana's basic education system is atypical of those studied in such developing countries as India, Swaziland, Nigeria, Egypt, Chile, Brazil and Thailand. The system defies conclusions of studies previously conducted in developing countries that, compared to student characteristics, school characteristics account for a relatively higher proportion of the variance in student achievement. Using the organizational approach, and the variance components analytical approach (Hierarchial Linear Models) to the study of school effects, the partitioning of the variance between the school and student characteristics resembles that reported in the United States and Britain. Up to 88% of the variance in achievement lies within schools, while only 12% lies between schools.