The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for education represent a major departure from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - at least if educational leaders act seriously in their pursuit - in at least two important respects. First, the goals now pertain to learning outcomes. Second, there is a great deal of focus on inequality in the SDGs. Taking note of this new dual emphasis of the SDGs, this paper assembles the largest database of learning outcomes inequality data that we know of, and explores key issues related to the measurement of inequality in learning outcomes, with a view to helping countries and international agencies come to grips with the key dimensions and features of this inequality. Two issues in particular are explored. First, whether, as countries improve their average cognitive performance (as measured by international learning assessments) from the lowest to middling levels, they typically reduce cognitive skill inequality or, more importantly perhaps, whether they reduce absolute lack of skills. Second, whether most of cognitive skills inequality is between or within countries. In dealing with these measurement issues, the paper also explores the degree to which measures of cognitive skills are “proper” cardinal variables lending themselves to generalizations from the field of income and wealth distribution—the field for which many measures of inequality and its decomposition were first applied. To do this, we look into whether using the item response theory (IRT) test scores of programmes such as TIMSS influence these types of findings, relative to the use of the underlying and more intuitive classical test scores. Patterns emerging from the classical scores are far less conclusive than those of the IRT scores, in part due to the greater ability of the IRT scores to discriminate between pupils at the bottom end of the performance spectrum. An important contribution of the paper is to examine the sensitivity of standard measures of inequality to different sets of test scores. The sensitivity is high, and the conclusion is that meaningful comparisons between test score inequality and, for instance, income inequality are not possible, at least not using the currently available toolbox of inequality statistics. Finally, the paper explores the practical use of school-level statistics from the test data to inform strategies for reducing inequalities.

This circular from the Uganda Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) describes a new mandatory requirement under the "National Strategy and Action Plan on Violence Against Children in Schools (VACiS), the Reporting, Tracking, Referral and Response (RTRR) Guidelines on Violence Against Children in Schools, and the Alternative to Corporal Punishment Guidelines" to use the Journey's handbooks developed by RTI under the USAID/LARA program in primary schools. The circular makes recommendations for including a range of education sector stakeholders in ensuring sufficient time spent using the materials.

n roughly thirty-five to forty countries that are expanding education very quickly, experts have noticed that learning problems originating in the earliest grades are showing as a massive over-enrolment. In Grade 1, it is not unheard of for ratios of enrolment to population of appropriate age to be as high as 150 percent. This problem is not typical of upper-middle or high-income countries, where the issue has been resolved. Nor, does it seem to affect the very poorest countries where massive enrolment expansions have not yet taken place, and so “don’t even have the problem yet.” Instead, the typical countries showing over-enrolment tend to be those that have received a great deal of funding and attention from development agencies and have expanded enrolment quickly in the last decade or two. This piece looks at the evidence of the enrolment bulge starting in Grade 1. It shows there is a set of inter-related problems occuring, including the lack of "Teaching at the Right Level," that is leading to high enrolment figures, but low levels of learning. The Insight concludes by stating that given the inefficiency signified by the foundation-years over-enrolment, “Teaching at the Right Level” could be an investment that, if tied to proper accountability measures, could essentially pay for itself, and lead to improved foundations for learning in the later grades, and (meaningful) completion of primary school.

This background paper was written for the RISE Program. This paper was written to contribute to the discussio of how RISE approaches the challenge of research into systems change. Drawing on years of experience and research dealing with the complexities of education reform to consider how to link changes in system-level capacity to appreciable improvements in learning outcomes. It also describes a basic notion of how a system adds value to schools, namely by performing three bare-bones functions: • Setting expectations for the outcomes of education • Monitoring and holding schools accountable for meeting those expectations • Intervening to support the students and schools that are struggling, and holding the system accountable for delivering that support

Presentation delivered at CIES 2017 (Atlanta). As the READ TA project’s main focus is on providing technical assistance to and building the capacity of the Ethiopian Ministry of Education and its Regional Education Bureaus to develop and conduct the foundational components of a reading program (i.e., curriculum development, in-service and pre-service teacher training, and teacher support), the project has had to work through government systems to accomplish its objectives. This has provided great opportunities along with challenges. While there are some activities in which the project has direct involvement in the inputs and outcomes (curriculum development workshops, training of trainers, incorporating technology), there are others which are largely outside of the control of the project (printing of textbooks, training of teachers, government approvals). But all activities are necessary for the reading program to be successful. This requires establishing strong collaborative relationships with government counterparts and having the flexibility to adjust to the ever-changing situation.

Link to an announcement and background information about an ECCN-sponsored webcast, March 29, at 10 a.m. EST, about education in Syria, especially in Dara’a, Idlib, and Aleppo. This webcast features a review of the literature carried out by RTI for USAID in late 2016. Learn more and join the discussion on a number of important issues, including: the status of key inputs that make an education system function; education delivery systems inside Syria and how they differ in areas controlled by the Syrian government, the Syrian Interim Government (SIG), and other areas under the control of ISIS or unknown actors; as well as the international community’s response to the crisis.

Presentation delivered at CIES 2017 (Atlanta.) In 2004, the Federal Government of Nigeria passed the Universal Basic Education Act. In order to support State governments to implement this Act, a Federal Intervention Fund was established and financed by a 2% deduction from the Consolidated Revenue Fund. This UBE fund allocates funds equally to States, on a matching basis, to fund school construction, textbook provision, teacher training and other equity activities. This presentation looks at evidence from the 2010 and 2015 national household surveys on education to examine whether this Federal fund has improved educational opportunities for the poorest quintile and whether the fund has affected household expenditures on education. The presentation concludes that the middle quintiles have benefited most from the fund, that the richest quintile has opted out of Government education and into private education, whilst the poorest quintile remains financially unable to meet basic requirements of school uniforms and school supplies.

[Presentation delivered at CIES 2017]. Education system data has indicated a pattern of over-enrollment in the early grades in some low-income countries. One factor that may influence the observed enrollment bulge is access to pre-primary education programs, as children who do not enter school prepared could be more likely to repeat leading to more children enrolled than are of enrollment-age. This presentation reports on a research study undertaken in Uganda to better understand pupil enrollment and repetition in Primary 1 as it relates to pre-primary access. Data was collected from schools in a district with high reported repetition, lack of or low preprimary access, and high apparent dropout between grade 1 and 2, and a district with low reported repetition, high preprimary access, and low apparent grade 1 dropout. School records were reviewed to collect ages of enrolled pupils and repeater status, in order to calculate age patterns and repetition rates in Primary 1 for each district. In addition, parents of randomly sampled pupils were interviewed about their child’s preprimary attendance, repetition of primary one or other grades, and access to preprimary education programs. Teachers of the sampled pupils were also interviewed regarding pupil age and repetition history. Overall, data was collected on 1,909 pupils in 80 schools, and 1,792 parents were interviewed. The presentation will focus on the following research questions: 1) What are the estimated repetition rates as reported by parents and schools in Primary 1 in schools in the sampled low- and high-risk districts in Uganda; 2) What are the ages of the pupils attending Primary 1 in our sample of Uganda schools and how does this relate to repetition; 3) How do the reported repetition rates relate to parent report of ECD attendance and access; and 4) What is the discrepancy between school-reported and parent-reported repetition rates. Data collection methods, measurement of repetition and ECD attendance and access, and policy conclusions will also be discussed.

Presentation delivered at CIES 2017 (Atlanta).

The purpose of the data gap analysis is to help the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education to identify ways to improve the integration and utilization of its data systems for policy, planning, and management, as well as reporting and feedback to the public and stakeholders. With funding through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), RTI International (www.rti.org) fielded a three-person team to survey Ministry offices, assess existing data systems and applications, and debrief the Ministry and USAID on summary findings.