EducationInformation

Ministry of Education of Guatemala

ABSTRACT

The Ministry of Education has implemented a methodology that generates an integrated

platform that includes all the institution's existing data bases, establishing all the possible
relationships between each one, and providing the necessary tools to carry out queries,
reports, and analysis of the information.

The methodology's innovative focus enables the user to see the multiple data bases as one
unit, in such a way that makes the individual formats, relationships, locations and codes of
each data base clear. Furthermore, the platform is accessible online, and its results can be
exported to the internet, enabling the representation of schools on Google Earth ™.

Guatemala, february 2007

General Education Planning Office (DIGEPE)

6ta. Calle 1-87, Zona 10 Sala 20 Call Center: (502) 2411-9595
María del Carmen Aceña Villacorta de Fuentes
Minister of Education

Miriam Irene Castañeda Arana

Vice Minister of Administration

Floridalma Meza Palma

Vice Minister of Teaching and Learning

Celso Chaclán Solis

Vice Minister of Bilingual and
Intercultural Education

MINEDUC Working Group

Horacio Álvarez Marinelli, Coordinator
Rodrigo Arias Palomo, Technology Advisor
Bayron López López, Director of Information and Technology Unit

International Advisors
Sergio M. Somerville
Emilio Porta Pallais, AED

The project began in February of 2006, with financing from the Ministry of
Education, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID),
and the Academy for Educational Development (AED).

Now in the operational phase, the project is receiving support from the
Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), with technical assistance funds
from the Government of Japan. Support from the World Bank and the
German Development Bank (KFW) has been essential in the implementation
of the project. Support from KFW has been key in the integration and
geopositioning of the 2004-2005 School Infrastructure Census data.
 EducationInformation
Data, information, Integrated Data
Management

analysis, planning, Data Acce s Tools

s
solutions… one standard. Quer
y, Reporting, Analys
is
Authors
Sergio Somerville
sergio@clansomerville.net Planning
Emilio Porta
eporta@aed.org
Horacio Álvarez EducationIntelligence
horacles@gmail.com

What is EducationInformation? Problems in education planning

Since the 1980s, public and private institutions have
made great efforts to take advantage of advances in
information technology to improve their data analysis.
While these efforts have been successful, rapid
advances in technology have exceeded users' abilities
to adapt to these new tools. In most cases, this has lead
to confusion and inconsistencies in the adoption of
different systems, platforms and data formats.
The lack of standards for collecting, storing, organizing
and processing data is a problem that creates serious
difficulties in educational planning. In most ministries
of education in Latin America, education analysts spend
a considerable portion of their time on the following: a)
gathering data from different sources in different
formats; b) waiting days or weeks for IT departments to
prepare information; and c) standardizing codes,
among other lengthy processes. This costs the analyst
valuable time, while jeopardizing the quality of results.
EducationInformation is a methodology that
generates an integrated platform that includes all the
institution's data bases, after establishing all the
possible relationships between each data base, and
providing the necessary tools to carry out queries,
reports and analysis of the information. This innovative
focus enables the user to see various sources of
information as one unit, with the individual formats of
Planning departments in ministries of education
everywhere have a common need for appropriate,
quality data. Educational analysis is essential for the
development of education policy as well as for the
creation of inputs necessary to model, simulate, predict,
target resources and evaluate policy. Nonetheless, the
analyst faces a number of challenges when gathering
and using data to conduct analysis:
Incompatible data: data are stored in different data
bases, in different formats;
Different coding systems: coding standards are
generally different, making it difficult to relate the
data;
Missing data: data required for analysis are not
available in a timely manner, resulting in long waits;
Obstacles to access: it is not always possible to
connect to a data base that may be on an external
server;
Difficult communication between the planner and
the IT worker: the planner must describe the type of
data required to a technician that generally does not
understand the standards of educational data.
Awareness of available data: the analyst may not be
aware of all the data available.
ORACLE
SYBASE

each data base, their relationships, locations and codes ACCESS

EXCEL
SQL SERVER
clearly displayed.
PLANNER IT DATA BASES
TECHNICIAN

EducationInformation 1
 EducationInformation
Data, information, analysis, planning, solutions… one standard.

Why EducationInformation? Figure 1.

Diagnosing data sources.

EducationInformation is a conceptual framework that

provides for the organization, administration, access,
manipulation, queries, and visualization of data. Some of its Enrollment

main characteristics are: Teachers

Human Resources

Unifying the data available, establishing standards for the Data for
Education
collection of new data; Infraestructure
Planning
Establishing a new master catalog with individual coding; Programs
and
Transparency of data base formats for the planner and Projects
analyst;
Other sources
Providing direct access to data through the intranet or internal and external

internet;
Storage of data in one place;
Figure 2.
Information technician is not necessary for end user use; Integrated Data Model
Enabling users to visualize all the data available. ORACLE
SYBASE
ACCSESS
How does it work? EXCEL
SQL SERVER

A complete analysis is made of all available data bases

relevant to education. From this analysis the links between
Integrator Integrated
the data are established in order to illustrate the WEB data
Model
relationship between the data and make them accessible.
Education Information:

Unifies all data bases conceptually, regardless of their Other

original format; Applications

Integrates the data under a common structure establishing

a data universe;
Establishes channels of communication in a clear way;
Provides all the tools for links, queries and reports; and is
accessible online.
STEP 3:
A new unique data universe is created with all the possible
“education” relations and a master school establishment
catalog (See Figure 3).

How is it implemented? Figur3 3.

Universe and Relations.
Data Base
STEP 1: 3

All the instances in which the institution requires Data Base

1
information for education planning, including different Data Base
6
physical servers, database servers, data formats, storage,
organization, etc., are analyzed. Everyone who produces
School
data should participate in this process. (See Figure 1.). Establishment
Catalog

STEP 2: Data Base

Data from different sources are integrated (See Figura 2.). 4

Data Base
2
Data Base
5

2 EducationInformation
 EducationInformation
Data, information, analysis, planning, solutions… one standard.

STEP 4: STEP 5:
An interface with query and report tools is developed; this A training program for the implementation and use of the
permits the generation of the tools necessary for data integrated data platform is designed and carried out (See
analysis (See Figure 4.). Figure 5.).

Figure 4. Figure 5.
Query and Reporting Tools. Tranning Programs.

Charts
Scenario
Scenario
Tables

Planners Local Planners Management

Generador
de
Reportes

Government International Civil Society

Maps Agencies Organizations
Scenario
Scenario

Graphs

The case of the Guatemalan Ministry of Education

In February of 2006, the Ministry of Education (MINEDUC) began the preliminary analysis necessary for the
implementation of the “Education Information” project.

By August of 2006, MINEDUC had an information platform that integrated all its databases in one setting, which is
accessible online.

IMPORTANT

The information
platform is
implemented in
Business Objects
XI, and provides GUATEMALA
web access to
databases in
ORACLE, SYBASE,
SQL SERVER 2000,
and MS ACCESS.

EducationInformation 3
EducationInformation
Data, information, analysis, planning, solutions… one standard.

IMPORTANT

All the integrated

data bases are
available to the
planner or analyst.
Data to be
consulted is placed
on the upper
screen, while data
filters are placed on
the lower screen.

Example: Calculating Net Enrolment Ratio in Primary Education (7 to 12 year-olds).

To calculate the Net Enrolment Ratio in Primary Education, one applies the following formula:
NER = (Enrolment in Primary Education (7 to 12 year-olds)) / (7 to 12 year-old population) * 100
The process requires data from two branches (2 queries): “Proyecciones de Población” and “Matrícula

IMPORTANT

The “Departamento”
and “Municipio” data
belong to the
“MINEDUC Guatemala”
branch.

Query 1:

a) Drag data for the query from the “Proyecciones de Población” branch to the upper window:
Departamento, Año and Población
b) Drag data and conditions into the lower window
Departamento = ALTA VERAPAZ, BAJA VERAPAZ, CHIMALTENANGO, CHIQUIMULA and EL PROGRESO
Edad = 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12
Año = 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005

4 EducationInformation
EducationInformation
Data, information, analysis, planning, solutions… one standard.

Query 2:

a) Drag the query data from the “1992-2005 Histórico Matrícula” branch to the upper window:
Departamento, Año and Inscritos Inicial

b) Drag data and conditions to the lower window:

Departamento = ALTA VERAPAZ, BAJA VERAPAZ, CHIMALTENANGO, CHIQUIMULA and EL PROGRESO
Edad = 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12
Nivel = Primaria
Año = 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005

Step 1:

After executing the two queries, two tables are generated: one
with population information, and another with enrolment
information, both for 2000 2005.

EducationInformation 5
EducationInformation
Data, information, analysis, planning, solutions… one standard.

Step 2:

Drag the “Inscritos Inicial” column from Query 2 and place it

alongside the “Población” column from Query 1.

Step 3:

Create a new column, next to “Inscritos Inicial”, to

calculate the Net Enrolment Ratio for primary school.

Step 4:

Enter the formula and we obtain the Net

Enrolment Ratio for primary school from 2000
to 2005.

6 EducationInformation
EducationInformation
Data, information, analysis, planning, solutions… one standard.

Step 5:
Drag the graphics pane to produce the comparative graphic of
population vs. initial enrolment and a graph of the NER.

Step 6:
Drag the “Nombre Departamento” data icon and place
it above the main table, disaggregating the data by
department.

EducationInformation 7
EducationInformation
Data, information, analysis, planning, solutions… one standard.

Performance Management Dashboards

EducationInformation permits the creation of interactive Performance Management Dashboards. These controls
calculate indicators using information from the integrated data platform, and can be set for different time periods.

InformaciónEducativa

8 EducationInformation
EducationInformation
Data, information, analysis, planning, solutions… one standard.

Case Study 1: The State of Classrooms and Bathrooms.

To develop education infrastructure policy and optimize its resources, MINEDUC Guatemala carried out a School
Infrastructure Census to gather detailed information on the state ol buildings, furniture and equipment in Guatemala's
schools. The integration of this census to the EducationInformation platform enables the generation of high quality,
concise analytical reports.
Classroom infraestructure condition:

InteligenciaEducativa

Bathroom infraestructure condition:

EducationInformation 9
EducationInformation
Data, information, analysis, planning, solutions… one standard.

Case Study 2: Demand for Education.

To predict the needs for the supply of education, MINEDUC Guatemala has integrated the 1994 and 2002 Population and
Housing Censuses to its EducationInformation platform. These data make it possible to predict the demand for
education in coming years.

InteligenciaEducativa

Inicial 0-3 años

Preprimaria 4-6 años
Primaria 7-12 años
Bàsico 13-15 años
Diversificado 16-18 años

10 EducationInformation
EducationInformation
Data, information, analysis, planning, solutions… one standard.

Education Information Visualization Platform

With the goal of bringing education information to the general public, EducationInformation has developed an
interface that permits the exportation of this information using Google Earth. The user is able to see photos of schools,
their locations, and access information on enrolment, teachers and infrastructure at the school level.
See the plataform at: www.mineduc.gob.gt/ie

EducationInformation 11
EducationInformation
Data, information, analysis, planning, solutions… one standard.

Education Information Visualization Platform (Cont.)

Select the department of ESCUINTLA and municipality of PALIN. Press “Geográfica”.

Select any of the school centers in the municipality of PALIN. The system will show a photograph of the school center and
all the individual schools operating there:

12 EducationInformation
EducationInformation
Data, information, analysis, planning, solutions… one standard.

Education Information Visualization Platform (Cont.)

EducationInformation 13
Ministerio de Educación
Guatemala
2007