Egypt promises "education for all". Primary attendance and completion have increased substantially. Still, many children remain out of school. There remain questions about the quality of education. Since the early 1990s, community-based education (CBE) has been part of Egypt's educational programme. Community-based education is meant to educate girls living in isolated communities who failed to enter school on time, or dropped out, but wish to rejoin formal schooling. Existing literature says CBE provides superior education and empowers girls. A criterion referenced assessment of these goals and claims collected data on students in three types of schools: CARE multi-grade schools, other community/one-classroom schools and regular government schools. Out-of-school girls were also interviewed. This study finds that CBE in Egypt is meeting neither the criteria laid out in project descriptions nor the accomplishments claimed in the community school literature. Still there remains a need for a well-designed CBE programme.