About the Program

The STARS program is an initiative to improve education quality in Rwanda through performance-based compensation. It builds on a previous evaluation supported by IPA and gui2de, which found that pay-for-performance contracts improved teacher performance—particularly in classroom presence and pedagogy—and enhanced student learning outcomes, with no negative impact on teacher recruitment. IPA is now partnering with researchers, gui2de, and the Rwandan government to identify, test, and scale the most effective designs for integrating performance-based compensation into teacher contracts and to provide technical assistance for nationwide implementation.

Researchers Clare Leaver  University of Oxford Owen Ozier  Williams College Pieter Serneels University of East Anglia Andrew Zeitlin  Georgetown University Research Partners   Georgetown University Initiative on Innovation, Development and Evaluation (gui2de) Implementation Partners   Rwanda Ministry of Education (MINEDUC) National Examination and School Inspection Authority (NESA) Rwanda Basic Education Board (REB) Funding Partners     AFD Fund for Innovation in Development (FID) FCDO What Works Hub for Global Education (WWHGE)   USAID-DIV supported the project from August 2022 through January 2025.

The Challenge

Rwanda's education system faces multi-dimensional challenges with teaching and learning.

• Nearly 20 percent of primary school teachers leave the profession annually
• Only 37 percent of teacher graduates actually pursue teaching jobs after graduation
• 43 percent of Primary 4 students perform below Primary 3 expectations in numeracy, and 37 percent fall below them in literacy
• Performance gaps are widening in economically disadvantaged districts

In response to these challenges, in recent years, Rwanda has implemented education reforms including a 2022 salary increase of 80 percent of net income for primary school teachers and 40 percent for secondary school teachers, and the development of the Comprehensive Assessment Management Information System (CAMIS) launched in 2019-2020. CAMIS serves as Rwanda's national digital platform where teachers regularly record student learning outcomes.

The Evidence

From 2015 to 2018, researchers partnered with IPA to rigorously evaluate whether a pay-for-performance model could improve teacher performance. The study found that this approach led to better teaching quality and improved student learning, without discouraging teacher recruitment—a common concern with performance-based pay.

Building on these positive findings, Rwanda’s Ministry of Education (MINEDUC) established a government task force—led by IPA, gui2de, and the National Examination and School Inspection Authority (NESA), and including departmental agencies and development partners—to guide the design and scale-up of performance-based bonuses within national teacher contracts. This effort is being implemented through the STARS program, a four-year initiative that began in the 2022–23 school year.

The STARS Approach

Teacher contracts in Rwanda have traditionally relied on the imihigo teacher performance management system, where teachers set annual targets and receive bonuses of 0–5 percent of their salary based on their performance. However, the system was hindered by:

• Subjective evaluation criteria
• Fixed bonuses rather than meaningful performance incentives
• Lack of clear links between teacher practices and student learning
• No standardized method for measuring classroom effectiveness

The STARS program introduced a pay-for-performance contract model to strengthen teacher performance and student learning outcomes in Rwanda. All STARS contracts are built on a common performance-based framework that evaluates teachers across five key dimensions, known as the "5Ps":

• Presence: Classroom attendance, verified through unannounced visits
• Preparation: Quality of lesson planning, assessed during unannounced school visits
• Pedagogy: Teaching quality, evaluated through classroom observations
• Participation in CAMIS: Accurate and consistent entry of student assessment data into the national system
• Pupil Learning Gains: Student progress measured against previous performance

Teachers receive annual bonuses of 3 percent or 5 percent of their salary, based on their overall performance scores (3 percent for scores between 70–79 and 5 percent for scores of 80 or above). IPA and the research team are testing several variations of this contract model to determine which approaches most effectively drive improvements in teacher performance and student learning.
 

Variations Tested

Collaboration Model: Embedded Evidence Lab

To support the scale and sustainability of the STARS initiative, IPA established an Embedded Evidence Lab within Rwanda’s Ministry of Education in 2019. These Labs are dedicated teams embedded in government institutions to enhance policymaking through the routine use of data and evidence. In Rwanda, the Lab goes beyond generating research. It plays a central role in:

• Informing policy with evidence: Together with IPA, gui2de and researchers, the Lab supports the Ministry in identifying effective performance-based teacher contracts and other education reforms. It also helps integrate data from national systems like CAMIS (school-level data) and TMIS (teacher-level data) into decision-making processes.
• Strengthening systems for scale: The Lab is enhancing Rwanda’s education data infrastructure by improving the coverage and use of systems like CAMIS and TMIS. It supports real-time monitoring of teacher performance and contract compliance, streamlines data reporting from schools to national systems, and builds the capacity of inspectors and district officers to use this data—laying the groundwork for nationwide adoption of performance-based contracts.
• Enabling institutional change: The Lab supports the long-term integration of performance-based teacher contracts by providing technical input on policies and legal frameworks, revising teacher management and inspection guidelines, and helping establish delivery units to monitor progress under the imihigo system. It also strengthens coordination across government partners to ensure effective implementation.

This embedded model ensures that evidence is not only produced but used—supporting lasting improvements in student learning, teacher performance, and system-wide accountability.

Impact

The STARS program is playing a pivotal role in advancing Rwanda’s Foundational Learning Strategy by helping to translate policy goals into meaningful change in classrooms. It supports two key pillars of national education reform: improving instructional quality and strengthening accountability systems.

At the classroom level, STARS is improving how teachers teach and engage with students. Through performance-based imihigo contracts, teachers are rewarded not just for showing up, but for how well they teach and how much their students learn. This approach gives teachers a clear incentive to focus on what matters most—better learning outcomes for children—and equips headteachers to support and manage performance more effectively.

At the system level, STARS is helping Rwanda build the infrastructure needed for sustainable, data-driven education reform. For example, the program has supported improvements to CAMIS, the national education data system, which now tracks learning outcomes for 89 percent of enrolled students. This data is essential for monitoring progress, identifying gaps, and making informed decisions at scale.

By aligning incentives, improving data systems, and building government capacity, STARS is creating the conditions for long-term impact. It is embedding a culture of accountability and continuous improvement across Rwanda’s education system—helping ensure that every teacher is supported to succeed, and every student has a better chance to learn.

Read our Impact Narrative for a detailed look into how STARS is transforming how the government implements policy to achieve education goals.