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Blog Post
July 30, 2023
In a new paper, we examine the connection between exposure to lead—a dangerous but prevalent neurotoxicant—and children’s learning outcomes. We find that lead poisoning alone could account for more than 20 percent of the learning gap between rich and poor countries. Given the comparative ease of, sa...
Blog Post
July 14, 2023
It’s rare to read an education report that doesn’t mention the learning crisis. As data on low learning levels have emerged in recent years, global education aid has swung its focus sharply toward improving test scores among primary school children. Of course, learning to read is a good thing in its...
Blog Post
July 11, 2023
There is no substitute for an effective teacher. Great teachers make an enormous difference in their students’ learning outcome s: in Ecuador, teachers who had higher quality interactions with their kindergartners improved their language and math skills. Just as importantly, great teachers help stud...
Blog Post
July 11, 2023
Even prior to the pandemic, the educational achievements of Bangladeshi children were below desired levels. The prolonged disengagement from learning during the pandemic raised concerns about learning gaps or even learning loss. But there are limited data on children’s learning status (foundational ...
Blog Post
July 03, 2023
The global debate around high-stakes exams is strongly influenced by research from high-income countries. That research emphasises who gets sorted into the “best” schools. An alternative perspective that hasn’t received enough attention takes exams as artificial bottlenecks that prevent many childre...
Blog Post
July 03, 2023
UNESCO tells us that only one in seven low- and middle-income countries knows how much learning has been lost due to COVID school closures. Where there has been no measurement, simulations of learning loss are beginning to take the place of empirical facts. Yet countries examine millions of kids eac...
WORKING PAPERS
June 28, 2023
Improving school quality in low- and middle-income countries is a global priority. One way to improve quality may be to improve the management skills of school leaders. In this systematic review, we analyze the impact of interventions targeting school leaders' management practices on student learnin...
Blog Post
June 28, 2023
In a new systematic review and meta-analysis, we compile the evidence on school management training programs. After combing through more than 2,500 studies, we found 20 experimental or quasi-experimental evaluations of school leader training which reported student learning outcomes.
WORKING PAPERS
June 20, 2023
In many countries children need to become proficient in both their home language and an international language, such as English, and governments face trade-offs in how to prioritize these two objectives. It is cost effective to prioritize learning to read in students' home language, as well as suppo...