Project details
In France, about 100,000 students drop out of secondary school every year, leaving the education system without a diploma. This problem particularly affects schools located in underprivileged areas. Decreasing school dropout rates in these areas could have a major impact on the personal and professional development of the students. Consequently, a family foundation mandated KOIS to assess the feasibility of a Social Impact Bond in this context. The SIB would serve to finance the scale-up of a programme decreasing school dropout rates. The project does so by integrating the practice of a musical instrument into schools’ curriculum.School dropouts rates have a high human & societal costs
The gap between school leavers and the others starts to widen at a very early age. Indeed, 80% of the school dropouts were already facing learning difficulties in primary school. Eventually, they left primary education with an insufficient mastery of basic skills. However, primary education has a great impact on children’s development. For instance, a child’s reading ability is deeply linked to a their language repertoire. Studies have shown that at 3 years old, a child from a disadvantaged background knows no more than 500. On the other end, a child from a priviledged area already uses more than 1000.
In addition to causing education and employment issues later on, this discrepancy also comes at a high societal cost. In 2012, the total cost of a school dropout for the French society was around €230,000. Studies have also demonstrated that by investing 1€ in early childhood, we can avoid spending up to 8€ later on education, security, justice or social services. To achieve this, early identification of at-risk students is key.
Using music to bridge the gap
In 2014, the French Ministry of Education implemented a comprehensive programme to decrease school dropout rates. The programme covered three main components: prevention, support and remediation. However, only a few initiatives are focusing on prevention and early childhood (3 to 8 years old).
In this context, a family Foundation designed a unique programme aiming to decrease school dropout rates in underprivileged areas. Their programme does so by integrating the practice of a musical instrument into schools’ curriculum.
This four-year programme is based on the strong belief that brain connections created before the age of 8 years old are acquired for life. It aims to contribute to develop their cognitive (e.g. reading, concentration, memory, etc.) and non-cognitive skills (e.g. self-esteem, interpersonal relationships, perseverance, etc.). Eventually, the hope is to use these skills in order to increase their performance at school.
A Social Impact Bond to prevent school dropouts
In 2019, KOIS was mandated to assess the feasibility of launching a Social Impact Bond to finance the scale-up of this programme. The SIB would focus specifically on priority education schools in Val d’Oise, a French Department in Ile-de-France. The study demonstrated that a SIB could indeed serve to demonstrate the impact of this programme. The impact would be measured both on children’s cognitive and non-cognitive skills, as well as on their performance at school. The aim would be that the results allow the programme’s replication by the French Ministry of Education on a national scale. Through this significant scale-up, the foundation hopes to help decrease school dropout on a larger scale.
Potential Impact of a SIB
Discover our other projects
BeCode: Training vulnerable job seekers to the digital jobs of tomorrow
BeCode aims to tackle the digital skill gap and unemployment issue all at once. By offering intensive digital training to vulnerable populations, this Belgian NGO already managed to put 65% of its trainees back to work.
From 2020 to 2025, BeCode will receive financing through a Social Impact Bond structured by KOIS. Actiris, the Brussels Employment Agency, will act as the outcome funder. The funding will support the training an additional 450 beneficiaries, with a focus on non-EU immigrants and women.
GIST Impact: measuring what matters, to make sustainability accessible to all
GIST Impact is a technology enabled impact measurement company. Their mission is to become the world’s leading Analytics, Solutions and Insights firm. This way, they want to help their clients discover, measure, value and manage their externalities’ impact, and thus make more sustainable decisions.
miDiagnostics: creating the future of diagnostic care
Today, ensuring a fast diagnosis of the high number of patients to avoid transmission is critical. Unfortunately, diagnoses are highly time-consuming and hard to get for people in more remote areas. In fact, most accurate diagnostics require drawing blood, sample preparation & lab work. This can result in a long time between testing & treatment. It also means patients cannot be followed-up at home and that carrying out fast & accurate testing in the field is very difficult.
