EVALUATING CONTEXT AND ADAPTATION MECHANISMS OF THE SCHOOL MOBILIZATION PROGRAM IN REMOTE INDONESIA: A DEVELOPMENTAL EVALUATION APPROACH IN SUPIORI, PAPUA

Abstract

Program Sekolah Penggerak (PSP) is a major systemic educational reform in Indonesia designed to transform schools into hubs of high-quality, student-centered learning. However, implementing such a standardized national policy in Frontier, Outermost, and Remote regions presents severe geographic, digital, and infrastructural challenges that traditional, top-down evaluation models fail to capture. This study evaluates how the local implementation context in a 3T region influences the execution of PSP, identifies the local adaptation mechanisms triggered by regional actors, and analyzes the resultant school-level outcomes. Utilizing Michael Quinn Patton Developmental Evaluation framework and the Context-Mechanism-Outcome (CMO) heuristic, this qualitative study investigates the experience of Junior High Schools in Supiori Regency, Papua. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with key educational stakeholders, including the Head of the Education Office, school supervisors, and teachers. Data analysis was performed using thematic coding, validated by an NVivo-equivalent word frequency and node coding analysis to map coding densities. The findings reveal that, the implementation context was characterized by severe digital infrastructure gaps (e.g., intermittent internet and frequent power outages) and geographic isolation, local actors activated resilient adaptation mechanisms, including peer-led horizontal logistics networks and targeted regulatory incentives by the local education office, and the outcomes included significant contextual pedagogical innovations (e.g., coastal-based teaching media) and systemic school governance improvements (e.g., resolving teacher mismatching to achieve linear teaching distribution). By adapting standard program requirements to local socio-ecological realities, local agency transformed infrastructural limitations into opportunities for contextual learning and sustainable school improvement, providing a model for tailored educational policies in remote regions.