FOUNDATION ESCALERA INC
School Changes Everything
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Despite the widespread educational reforms approved in 2012, Mexico has one of the highest levels of school desertion between secondary and upper secondary school in the region. An estimated 53% of adolescents between ages 15 and 19 are enrolled in school, yet over 80% of Mexican adults do not actually complete high school. Our data shows that continuation rates to upper secondary are as low as 43% in the areas we work. Moreover, every year over 700,000 students do not continue to upper secondary school in Mexico. A substantial portion of this gap in educational attainment is due to widespread economic barriers in Chiapas where nearly 75% of the population lives in poverty. Education is fundamental to Mexico's long-term development. Students in rural Chiapas earn 8% more over their lifetime for every additional year of upper secondary education completed, are less likely to commit crimes, enjoy greater social mobility, and transfer these benefits across generations.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
REACH
REACH is a tested solution to increase enrollment rates in the most marginalized communities in Mexico. This program tackles the economic barriers that millions of indigenous youth face for accessing education. Escalera partners with the state-level public education systems to ensure that our scholarships reach students in time, just before high school enrollment process. Since 2013 REACH has benefited more than 100,000 indigenous students across Chiapas. Since 2019 we have focused our scope the the Highlands region of the state, where only four out of ten young people go to high school and 70% of population live in extreme poverty. In 2020, we saw an 11% increase in enrollment in the schools participating in REACH over
the previous year.
COBACH Emprende
Escalera goes beyond access to education. Though the Emprende program we work to ensure education quality and equity in Chiapas. We do so though partnering with Chiapas’ public education system to enhance the state’s learning curriculum. Since 2019 we have been training public school teachers at COBACH high schools to promote entrepreneurial know-how and socio emotional skills among their students. The trained teachers provide students a class that combines soft skills with basic business training, an innovative combination that has proved highly successful in the settings across the globe where it has been rigorously tested.
School Building
Every children has a human right to learn in a clean and safe space, Chiapas is the state with the hardest conditions to study in Mexico. In average students in the Highlands walk from 30-60 minutes by foot to reach the closest school. The vast majority of classrooms are shacks or improvised community spaces. Escalera recognizes that this lack of adequate infrastructure is one of the many challenges students face on a daily basis. So far, Escalera has built 191 classrooms in rural villages where classrooms represent much more than school facilities, they are the means to ensure human development for boys and girls.
Where we work
External reviews
Photos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of students enrolled
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Number of students participating in our classroom and scholarship programs
Number of students who receive scholarship funds and/or tuition assistance
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of students per classroom during the reporting period
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Number of students studying in classrooms built by Escalera
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
To close the educational gap, Escalera will increase access to upper secondary education (high school) for nearly 20,000 per year by combining information, motivation, and scholarships to attend high school throughout Chiapas.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Escalera's flagship program, REACH, is a multipronged strategy to increase upper secondary school enrollment. It combines motivational materials based on the experiences of other local youth (video interviews are shown to students and parents) with in-classroom mentoring on the hows and whys of enrolling in upper secondary (student workbook and teacher guide) and a partial scholarship. REACH is implemented by public school teachers who, upon completing Escalera training, utilize the REACH 'mentorship in a box' kit to engage ninth grade students to aspire to go high school and understanding how to enroll. Moreover, all students participating in the REACH program receive a scholarship to cover upper secondary school matriculation fees. Escalera first piloted the scholarship component of the REACH program in 2013, and due to its effectiveness in increasing enrollment, all students participating in REACH now receive scholarships. These small scholarships remove a key economic barrier to enrollment, enabling students to continue their education and further their future goals. Finally, Escalera will use a randomized control trial (RCT) to measure the impact of the program: we randomly assign schools to participate or not in our programs and compare the treatment groups with the control group to determine the effect of the intervention as well as the statistical significance of the results.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Very few organization are able to measure their outcomes with the rigor and statistical accuracy that Escalera can because it conducts its programs as randomized control trials. Escalera's previous Star Scholarship program used cash awards to motivate middle schoolers to learn more and continue to high school. As a result of the program, all students––not just award winners––jumped an entire grade level in reading and math. Over 6,000 students in 60 middle schools in rural Chiapas, Mexico participated in Escalera Star Scholarships. It cost only $38 per student, which met international benchmarks for cost-effectiveness.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Since 1998, Escalera has supported nearly 100,000 students throughout Chiapas through scholarships, school construction, and its high school mentorship programs. Inn 2016, Escalera benefited 21,475 students through REACH and new school infrastructure. In 2015, we improved access to education by building 33 classrooms for 938 students, providing REACH to 6,952 students, and gave scholarships to 1,419 students to attend upper secondary school. At a cost of $59 per student, an improved school structure gives students an additional 12% (about six weeks) of learning time per year, and the 33 classrooms constructed in 2015 will serve approximately 18,475 students over the next twenty years. Escalera provides students from underserved communities with the tools they need in the short term to continue studying, so that in the long term, they can create better futures for themselves, their families, and their communities.
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
FOUNDATION ESCALERA INC
Board of directorsas of 01/21/2022
Jon Nieporte
Garbett Homes
Bryson David Garbett
Garbett Homes
Robin Bastar
Jon Nieporte
Pilot Construction
Jan Vandenberghe Garbett
EPIK
Jeff Garbett
Garbett Homes
Ana Maria Aristizabal
Bamboo Finance
Molly Fisher
Foundation Escalera
Brian Fuller
Research Triangle Institute
David Garbett
Southern Utah Wilderness Association
James McGibney
OC&C Strategy Consultants
Rosemary McKean
Intermountain Medical Center
Hugo Rodriguez Nicolat
UBER
Geoffrey Palmer
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Joseph Wales
Overseas Development Institute
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes