When a policymaker or donor partner (a “decision maker” for the purposes of this post) poses a policy question—“What’s the best evidence to retain health workers in rural clinics?” “How can we scale an agricultural extension program effectively?” “Was that program to root out school violence success...

We are often asked whether teacher professional development “works.” But it’s an impossible question to answer because we call so many different things teacher professional development. Some of these things—like coaching in South Africa and Peru, assessment-informed instruction in Liberia, or traini...

This week was the Centre for the Study of African Economies’ annual conference. Every year, scholars from around the world—including many based on the African continent—convene to present their research findings on a vast array of topics. This year’s conference included more than 200 presentations o...

While learners are at the heart of education, teachers are the main veins carrying blood to that heart. At the recent Comparative and International Education Society conference, I shared ten things—six I know and four I want to know—about supporting teachers to end the global learning crisis.

You’ve got an education program, and you’re confident that it’s having an impact. But is it worth the cost? How can you know, and how can you compare it to other education programs? Cost-effectiveness analysis tells you how much you pay for a given increase in student learning or student school part...

Ravallion was influential and prolific. He has more than 370 publications that have been cited at least ten times. His articles extend from a 1979 theoretical note in Urban Studies on why wages may vary within an urban area to a full nine articles published last year in 2022, mostly on his primary t...

In Brazil, the number of children in daycare programs is increasing rapidly. Studies show that publicly provided daycare can benefit children’s nutrition and yield short-term benefits to children’s cognitive development, without having adverse impacts on children’s behavioral development. It can als...