Evaluation of National School for Professional Technology Education in Mexico

Abstract

National School for Professional Education Technology (CONALEP) is Mexico's largest and oldest technical education system. CONALEP serves lowincome students at the upper-secondary school level in Mexico. The labor market performance of CONALEP graduates has been evaluated four times in the past. These evaluations have yielded encouraging results, showing that CONALEP's graduates find jobs faster and earn higher wages than similar "control" groups. In contrast, using non-experimental methods, this paper suggests that CONALEP's graduates might earn higher wages but do not find jobs faster compared to control groups.

Keywords: impact evaluation, technical education