Monitoring and Evaluation for Quality Service Delivery in Pre-Primary Schools in Murang County, Kenya

Monitoring and evaluation of the National Early Childhood Development (ECD) Policy framework in Kenya which has been in place since the year 2006 accompanied by a service guideline is important in promoting its implementation. The extent to which the policy is implemented would have a direct pairing with the quality of early childhood service delivery. The purpose of this study was to investigate the levels of monitoring and evaluation in implementation of the National Early Childhood Development Policy framework for quality service delivery in pre-primary schools in Kenya. Conflict Ambiguity Model of Policy implementation , Broffenbrenner's Ecological systems theory and Lilian Katz perspective on quality theory were used . Mixed methods research approach and concurrent triangulation design guided the study. Data was collected using questionnaire, observation schedule and interview guides. Instruments reliability coefficient was 0.85. Qualitative data was analyzed thematically and quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings indicated that a strong relation between monitoring and evaluation at p < 0.001 and quality service delivery in pre-primary schools. The study concluded that goals of the ECD policy in Kenya of enhancing quality service delivery may not be realized thus compromising on the quality of pre-primary education. Subsequently, the study recommended that the county government should allocate adequate resources both financial and human to ensure regular monitoring of pre-primary schools in an effort to promote actualization of policy guidelines in delivery of quality services and consequently promoting positive child development outcomes.