Enhancing Human Capital in Children : A Case Study on Scaling

This paper provides new insights on the science of scaling. The authors study an educationalmentoring program with a home visit component implemented at scale in Mexico, under different modalities (original andenhanced training for mentors) and different situations (field experiment and policy implementation). While theprogram was ineffective when implemented by the government in its original modality, the enhanced modality boostschildren’s outcomes, both in the field experiment and during the government implementation. Higher-quality home visitsencourage parent/child and parent/community interactions, which in turn are found to promote the scalability of theprogram. The work provides new knowledge on the socially determined nature of scaling educational programs.