Educational Effectiveness in Rural Areas: What SDIs Teach Us About Multigrade Classes

This study provides an original and significant contribution to evaluating educational service quality in Morocco by leveraging, for the first time, microdata from the Service Delivery Indicators (SDI) survey. The survey covers a nationally representative sample of 300 public and private primary schools across rural and urban areas. The use of SDI data represents a major methodological advancement, shifting away from perception-based assessments toward objective indicators, including classroom observations, unannounced school visits, and standardized tests administered to teachers and students. A key added value of the study lies in its focus on rural education effectiveness, a topic that remains largely underexplored. In rural areas, where structural heterogeneity is high, education is mainly delivered through community and satellite schools. The research offers an in-depth analysis of multigrade classrooms, a common solution to teacher shortages and infrastructure limitations in remote regions, though their pedagogical effectiveness remains debated. Methodologically, the study employs a two-step approach—Data Envelopment Analysis and truncated regression—to assess and explain variations in school performance. It finds that while community schools tend to be more stable, they are generally less efficient. Additionally, preschool attendance and infrastructure renovation emerge as key positive drivers of educational effectiveness, offering clear policy insights.