Education reform and the quality of kindergartens in Jordan

The present study evaluates a major education reform in Jordan-the implementation of public kindergartens-and provides an example of how evaluation can be incorporated into education reform. In the context of education reform in Jordan, 532 public kindergartens have been created over the last five years. A stratified random sample of kindergartens was selected to represent these new public kindergartens (n = 84) and previously existing private kindergartens (n = 23). Independent observers rated the quality of kindergarten environments in seven domains. Overall, 13% of public kindergarten environments were observed to be inadequate, 43% were of minimal quality, 43% were good, and 1% were excellent. In four of the seven domains, the quality of public kindergartens was significantly higher than the quality of private kindergartens; there were no significant differences in the other domains. Findings suggest the importance of continuing to implement high quality kindergartens in Jordan and of incorporating evaluations into education reform.