Quality of learning outcomes
Background. One hundred and fifty rural South African children, newly enrolled in Grade 2 in 1994, were retraced in 1998 when they were scheduled to have entered Grade 7. Only 39% of the cohort had progressed smoothly to Grade 7; more than a third (36%) had left their original primary school, and 25% had been… Read more
Long-term studies of early intervention, spanning over decades, are scarce in the United States and nonexistent in the rest of the world. The Turkish Early Enrichment Project (TEEP) is the only non-U.S. example to date. This paper reports a new follow-up assessment of the long-term outcomes of TEEP, an intervention carried out in 1983–1985 with… Read more
This guide aims to contribute to what we know about the relationship between educational technology (edtech) and educational outcomes by addressing the following overarching question: What is the evidence that the use of edtech, by teachers or students, impacts teaching and learning practices, or learning outcomes? It also offers recommendations to support advisors to strengthen the design, implementation and evaluation of programmes that use edtech. We define edtech as the use of digital or electronic technologies and materials to support teaching and learning. Recognising that technology alone does not enhance learning, evaluations must also consider how programmes are designed and implemented, how teachers are supported, how communities are developed and how outcomes are measured. Read more
A good quality education arises from interaction between three enabling environments: policy, the school, and the home and community. Policies aimed at raising the quality of education for disadvantaged learners in sub-Saharan Africa and other low income contexts need to start by identifying key priorities for a specific national or local context. A framework for… Read more
Research using data on 17,000 grade six learners and their teachers in a thousand primary schools across six countries in East and Southern Africa has identified factors both in and out of school affecting pupil scores in reading and maths tests. Key findings: In and out of school factors not only directly affect the scores… Read more
Over the past five years, a polarised debate about the potential contribution of low-cost private schools (LCPSs) to achieving Education for All (EFA) objectives has received growing coverage in international policy circles. At the heart of this debate are disputed questions about whether these schools are providing quality education, reaching disadvantaged groups, supporting or undermining… Read more
The UK Department for International Development (DFID) has commissioned a series of rigorous literature reviews focused on different aspects of education. The reviews identify critical evidence gaps to guide future research programmes and present existing evidence for the development of effective interventions. Dr Jo Westbrook from the University of Sussex and colleagues authored the review… Read more
Although many countries are aggressively implementing the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) program, there is a lack of empirical evidence on its effects. This paper presents the impact of the first large-scale randomised evaluation of the OLPC program, using data collected after 15 months of implementation in 319 primary schools in rural Peru. The results indicate… Read more
The goal of the Bridgeit program in Tanzania was to significantly increase the educational quality and achievement among students at primary school level in mathematics, science and life skills through the innovative use of cell phones and digital technology. Principal evaluation findings: Test scores of BridgeIT students in maths and science were significantly higher, 10-20%,… Read more
This paper presents the results of two randomized experiments conducted in schools in urban India. A remedial education program hired young women to teach students lagging behind in basic literacy and numeracy skills. It increased average test scores of all children in treatment schools by 0.28 standard deviation, mostly due to large gains experienced by children at the bottom… Read more
This paper explores aspects of exclusion from education and how patterns of participation have been changing using national data sets. The first part of the analysis uses administrative data from countries in Sub Saharan Africa to chart enrolments by grade over the last decade and explore how enrolment has been changing in terms of grade,… Read more