STARS program in Rwanda : Improve
the Imihigo “pay-for-performance” contracts to enhance teacher performance and
student results.

Learning gaps are particularly pronounced in low-income school districts, with disparities in learning levels extending beyond the classroom and accounting for between 20% and 50% of income differences across countries (Angrist et al., 2021).

Launched in April 2022, the STARS project is designed to better reward teachers' efforts and improve student outcomes. Specifically, it aims to improve the “Imihigo” system – the Rwandan performance-based teacher payment model – by introducing a bonus of up to 5% of teachers' salaries tied to teachers’ performance and students' learning progress. Strengthening the “Imihigo” system aligns with the Ministry of Education’s broader efforts to reform the education sector, which faces significant challenges in recruiting and retaining effective teachers. The initiative addresses the issues of teacher attrition and low motivation, especially in primary schools as 20% of teachers resign every year (World Bank and Government of Rwanda, 2019).

An initial randomized evaluation in Rwanda had already demonstrated that the intervention was highly effective (Leaver et al., 2021). Students benefiting from the program made as much progress in one year as non-beneficiary students – taught by teachers under fixed-wage contracts – did in two years (Crawfurd, 2021).

To assess its heterogeneous impacts at scale, a base model and five contract variations were successfully tested:

• Model A: The components of the base model included measurement of teachers’ “Five Ps”: (1) Presence in the classroom, (2) Preparation of lesson plans, (3) Pedagogy, (4) Participation in Comprehensive Assessment Management Information System (CAM-MIS), and (5) Pupil learning.
• Models B1 to B5: These models build on the base model by incorporating additional elements such as subjective assessments of teachers’ performance by the head teachers, regular performance feedback, tiered bonus systems, enhanced auditing of students assessments and incentives for head teachers. The overall rational is to enhance teacher motivation and improve the accuracy of performance metrics.

Activities funded by FID included the creation of a centralized teacher performance database in collaboration with REB and NESA, testing and refining a new teacher performance measurement system, strengthening Rwanda’s management and information system (CA-MIS) to track and assess student outcomes, and integrating the STARS model into the performance-based payment system "Imihigo".

The STARS project has been successfully implemented in the ten designated partner districts, reaching 345 schools, involving 6,664 teachers, and benefiting 304,000 primary school students over the first two years of evaluation. Subsequently, the learning outcomes of the base model were compared to those of models B1-B5 to analyze how design variations influenced student learning outcomes.

Teachers in beneficiary schools changed their work habits following the two-year intervention. Their preparation significantly improved, with the lesson plan availability rate increasing from 11 to 19 percentage points between the first and second year. Teacher pedagogy also improved, with pedagogy scores increasing by 3-7% compared to the control group in the second year. Finally, the rate of teachers reporting student assessment results in CA-MIS – essential for ensuring standardized classification nationwide and comparability across districts – now surpasses that of non-STARS schools across all grades and subjects.

In terms of student learning outcomes, three of the five tested variants outperformed the base model. More specifically, the models that (i) incorporated subjective assessments of teachers’ progress by head teachers, (ii) included audits of student learning assessments, and (iii) provided incentives to head teachers based on their teachers' performance, demonstrated significant and positive impacts on student learning outcomes.

Following the presentation of the results in August 2023, Rwanda’s then Minister of Education announced the government's intention to implement an interim revision of the “Imihigo” performance contracts in the 2025-2026 school year, in the twenty districts not included in the evaluation. As the Minister confirmed, “Evidence-based tools are essential to recognize those [teachers] who excel and supporting those who need help”. Based on the encouraging project first results, the STARS team will support the implementation of this interim contract and - to the extent possible - align its design with the emerging lessons from the final results of the tests on different variations of the “Imihigo” system. These results, still under review, will allow for the gradual improvement of performance contracts before their nationwide standardization.