Recommended
Recommended
More Related Content
What's hot
What's hot (20)
Similar to Reporting on Education: What You Need to Know
Similar to Reporting on Education: What You Need to Know (20)
More from David Evans
More from David Evans (18)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
Reporting on Education: What You Need to Know
- 1. Reporting on Education What You Need to Know David K. Evans World Bank 1 November 10, 2016 impactAFRICA webinar
- 2. What we’ll do in this webinar 1. What are the big issues in education? 2. How should we even think about education? 3. How should we think about education programs? 4. What actually works to improve educational outcomes? 5. Tips 6. Resources 2
- 3. A few big issues 3 All photos in this presentation that are not in news clips are from the World Bank Flickr feed
- 4. Access and quality Africa has made major strides in education access. But there are still far too many children out of school! 4 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 1975 1978 1981 1984 1987 1990 1993 1996 1999 2002 2005 2008 2011 Decreasing children out of school Adolescents out of school (% of lower secondary school age) Children out of school (% of primary school age)
- 5. Access and quality Quality education is a major struggle. 5 Average math score (Grade 4) on TIMSS Source:MathematicsEducationinSub-SaharanAfrica,byGeorgeBethell
- 6. Access and quality Quality education is a major struggle. 6 Average math score (Grade 4) on TIMSS Average math score (Grade 4) on SACMEQ3 Source:MathematicsEducationinSub-SaharanAfrica,byGeorgeBethell
- 7. This comes up in the news 7 http://frontpageafricaonline.com/index.php/news/2374-liberia-s-education-sector-still-low-compared-to-international-standard
- 8. This comes up in the news 8 http://www.maravipost.com/11-candidates-score-6-points-check-2016-malawi-school-certificate-of-education-examination-results-here/
- 9. Point to Remember When there is an intervention on access, is it affecting quality? When we seek to improve quality, what is the impact on access? 9
- 10. Private versus public sector 10% of primary school students in private schools Malawi 1% Mozambique 2% South Africa 4% Namibia 5% Sierra Leone 8% Madagascar 19% Togo 27% 20% of secondary school students in private schools South Africa 5% Malawi 6% Sierra Leone 7% Mozambique 12% Tanzania 21% Togo 23% Madagascar 40% 10 Source: World Development Indicators In some countries, such as Liberia, there have been steps to dramatically expand private provision.
- 11. Private versus public sector 11 https://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-a1ff-Uganda-Teachers-hail-ruling-against-tin-shack-school-profiteers
- 12. Private versus public sector 12 http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2016/11/09/kenya-teachers-take-after-uganda-want-uk-backed-private-schools-banned_c1453098
- 13. Point to Remember What are private school expansions likely to do for access? What about quality? 13
- 14. There are many others! Teachers Exams 14 http://allafrica.com/stories/201611090084.html http://allafrica.com/stories/201611070083.html
- 15. The direct factors in education 15
- 16. But that’s not all the players 16
- 17. And everyone reacts to everyone else 17
- 18. Point to Remember With a new education policy that affects one actor, how will it affect others? (Teacher policies on students. Input policies on teachers.) 18
- 19. How to governments and NGOs seek to improve education? Providing information Providing information Public-private partnerships Remedial education Teacher training Merit-based scholarships Cash transfers School-based management New schools and infrastructure Hiring teachers School-based health Reducing fees Community-based monitoring Providing materials Teacher incentives and accountability School feeding Extra time Grouping by ability 19 Source: Snilstveit et al., “The impact of education programmes on learning and school participation in low- and middle-income countries,” 2016.
- 20. Each of these focuses on enrollment, or attendance, or learning (or a combination) Providing information Providing information Public-private partnerships Remedial education Teacher training Merit-based scholarships Cash transfers School-based management New schools and infrastructure Hiring teachers School-based health Reducing fees Community-based monitoring Providing materials Teacher incentives and accountability School feeding Extra time Grouping by ability 20 Source: Snilstveit et al., “The impact of education programmes on learning and school participation in low- and middle-income countries,” 2016.
- 21. Point to Remember • Who is an education policy or program principally affecting? • What mechanism is it working through? • How will it affect other actors? 21
- 22. Do we know anything about what actually works? I did a recent study on this with Anna Popova. 22 Source: Evans and Popova, “What really works to improve learning in developing countries?” 2016
- 23. Massive expansion in evidence Recent years have seen an explosion in evidence on learning Six reviews over last two years on the same topic: How to improve learning outcomes for children in low and middle income countries We went through these reviews and found what they had in common 0 50 100 150 200 250 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 Cumulative learning studies 227 total studies 32 total studies 23
- 24. What works: (1) Pedagogical interventions that match teaching to individual student learning levels - Assessment in Liberia: Train teachers to use an initial reading assessment and then continually assess student performance (Piper & Korda 2011) - Tracking in Kenya: Assign students to separate classes based on initial ability so that teachers can focus instruction at the level of learning of individual students (Duflo, Dupas & Kremer 2011) - Assessment & tracking in India: Teach daily Hindi sessions tailored to ability on initial test, regardless of age or grade (Duflo et al 2015) 24
- 25. …including computer-assisted learning (CAL) 25 - Use math software to help students learn at their own pace in India (Banerjee et al. 2007) - Provide laptops including learning software & games linked to the curriculum to students in China (Mo et al. 2012) - But just giving out laptops or desktop computers won’t guarantee gains • One Laptop Per Child in Peru unaccompanied by parent or student training (Cristia et al., 2012) & mainly used to search the internet in Uruguay (De Melo et al. 2014) • Computers not tied to curriculum or integrated into classroom instruction in Colombia (Barrera-Osorio & Linden, 2009)
- 26. What works: (2) Individualized, repeated teacher training - Train teachers and provide them with regular mentoring to implement early grade reading instruction in local language in Kenya & Uganda (Lucas et al. 2014) - Provide local contract teachers with two weeks of initial training but reinforcement throughout the year in India (Banerjee et al. 2007) 26
- 27. … often associated with a specific method or task 27 - Combine student reading groups with in-school supervisors to provide ongoing guidance to group leaders in Chile (Cabezas et al. 2012) - Help teachers learn to use storybooks and flash cards in India (He et al. 2009) • As opposed to a similar (not identical) program introduced without teacher preparation (He et al. 2008)
- 28. Many other types of programs have been effective in a given context. • Deworming in Kenya led to more school participation and better labor market outcomes • Providing information on the returns to education improved both attendance and learning in Madagascar • Building rural roads improved attendance and learning in India 28
- 29. Point to Remember When reporting on a proposed policy or program, is there evidence from other countries that can inform your country’s experience? 29
- 30. A few tips 30
- 31. Tip 1: Use the dual lens of access and quality How will this affect children’s access to education? How will it affect how effectively they learn? 31
- 32. Tip 2: Beyond the direct players, who is affected? 32
- 33. Tip 3: Not just speeches but actual programs 33
- 34. Tip 3: Not just speeches but actual programs 34
- 35. Tip 3: Not just speeches but actual programs What else to report on? • New policies • New programs from government or non-government organizations • New studies of programs in your country 35
- 36. Tip 4: Complement reporting with real data • World Bank – World Development Indicators: http://data.worldbank.org/data-catalog/world- development-indicators • Service Delivery Indicators (detailed education outcomes across several African countries): http://www.sdindicators.org/ • The Demographic and Health Surveys: http://dhsprogram.com/data/ • Local surveys • Uwezo in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda - http://www.uwezo.net/ • Household surveys 36
- 37. Tip 4: Complement reporting with real data Data will also come from global and regional reports • Annual: The Global Education Monitoring Report http://en.unesco.org/gem-report/ • The Education Commission http://report.educationcommission.org/ • The World Bank’s World Development Report on Education [coming next year!] • Regional – Mathematics Education in Sub-Saharan Africa : Status, Challenges, and Opportunities https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/ 25289 37
- 38. Tip 5: Complement reporting with evidence of impact • In Tanzania, there is a major cash transfer initiative, with conditions on whether children stay in school. • There was a pilot initiative there in Tanzania 38
- 39. Tip 5: Complement reporting with evidence of impact • Where to find this evidence? • Check reviews of evidence: https://sites.google.com/site/davidkevans/database-of-education-studies • Search for “impact evaluation” and “class size reduction” or “computer- assisted learning” or “…” 39
- 40. Tip 6: People, not just programs Education is about learners. Journalists have a unique opportunity to make data and statistics come alive with the stories of students. • Very few people are moved by statistics. They are moved by stories. • Choose stories that demonstrate the truth about programs: If 90% of students failed to benefit from a program, make sure you tell some of their stories. (Not just the 10%.) 40
- 41. Tip 6: People, not just programs This applies to reporting on studies as well. • Who are the researchers? • Why did they ask this question? • Am I getting their results right? Most researchers are desperate for their evidence to make it into the media. They want to talk with you. 41
- 42. Education matters • No country escapes poverty without quality education. • Good reporting can hold policy makers accountable and keep citizens motivated and informed. • Thank you for your service! 42
- 43. Don’t miss the previous impactAFRICA webinars • Measuring the impact of development projects • Early childhood nutrition, health and education • How journalists can use data to improve reporting on water and sanitation issues • Reporting on mother and child healthcare • All available at http://impactafrica.fund/webinars 43
Editor's Notes
- Good morning! In our few minutes together, I’m going to share with you evidence on what works to improve learning in developing countries, drawing on evidence from more than 200 studies.
- Uses evidence from a new survey
- This is based on analysis that my colleague David Evans and I were motivated to do in light of the explosion in evidence on the effectiveness of learning interventions in recent years, and the inconsistency in the reviews that summarize this evidence. As you can see in this graph, we went from having access to a total of 30 studies on learning interventions in 2000 to 32 new studies coming out in 2013 alone. Up to 2014 there had been a total of 227 studies that look at learning interventions. We were able to identify 6 systematic reviews in 2013 and 2014 which summarize the evidence from these studies, addressing the question of how to improve learning outcomes for children in low and middle income countries. A note here is that there are more reviews published outside of this time period but we chose quite a narrow time window to maximize the probability that the reviews we look at draw on a similar underlying population of studies. But, even so, when we read these reviews we found they had often quite different conclusions so we wanted to find out what was going on. Here are the six reviews and their findings…
- First, pedagogical interventions that match teaching to individual student learning levels. This was one of the two intervention categories which most commonly produces large improvements in student learning across the 6 reviews. First we’ll look at teacher-led methods of doing this. Teacher-led interventions that match teaching to learning levels either emphasize formative assessment, or targeted instruction, or both. One example of successful assessment is the full EGRA (Early Grade Reading Assessment) program in Liberia, in which students’ reading levels were evaluated using a diagnostic exam, and teachers were then trained in how to continually assess student progress. (Learners in treated schools scored 0.79 SDs higher on reading comprehension.) An example of tracking that was effective is a program in Kenya that streamed students into classes based on ability so that teachers could tailor teaching to the appropriate level. (Increased test scores by 0.166 SDs in language and 0.156 SDs in math. Even for low-performing students, tracking improved student performance by 0.156 SDs with results carrying over into the next school year after the program had stopped.) And a new program in India found that combining these two elements had significant impacts. Giving students a brief assessment of basic language skills at the start of the academic year, and then setting aside a portion of the school day to teach students in groups according to ability level, regardless of age or grade, improved both oral and written test scores. (Recipients performed 0.152 SDs higher on oral tests and 0.135 SDs higher on written tests.)
- In addition to teacher-led methods, pedagogical interventions that match teaching to learning levels also include computer-assisted learning (CAL) programs which adapt to the student’s learning level and help them learn without substituting away from class time. For example, a program which provided maths software to help students learn at their own pace was effective at raising maths scores in India (increased math scores by 0.47 SDs), as was a program that gave laptops to students in Beijing that were preloaded with learning software including games with material consistent with the official curriculum (improved maths scored by 0.17 SDs and computer skills by 0.33 SDs). BUT giving out materials like laptops without tailoring them to learning, or providing training on how to use them, is pretty ineffective, perhaps unsurprisingly. For example, Peru’s One Laptop Per Child program had no effect on test scores because the laptops weren’t accompanied by any training on how to use them. Another example is the Computers for Education program in Colombia, which gave computers to schools and DID train teachers on how to use them in class, but since they weren’t tied to the curriculum teachers didn’t integrate them into their classroom instruction in practice.
- The other most effective intervention category is individualized teacher training. This is repeated, in school training. This is really important. Note that none of the successful interventions are ones where teachers go to a training center for a few hours a month and listen to a lecture about pedagogy. For example, the Reading to Learn program in Kenya & Uganda which provided initial training followed by regular mentoring to early grade teachers increased student test scores (0.08 & 0.20 SDs). As did a similar combination of initial training and continual reinforcement for contract teachers in India (average 0.28 SDs, mostly due to gains experienced by children at the bottom of the test-score distribution).
- This individualized teacher training is often associated with a specific method or task, to help teachers learn how to take advantage of some other intervention. For example, a program in Chile, which both set up student reading groups and provided in-school supervisors to provide ongoing guidance to group leaders was found to increase reading scores (by 0.15-0.20 SDs after one year and 0.24 SD after two years). Similarly, a program in India which both provided storybooks and flash cards AND trained teachers individually on how to use these raised basic literacy scores (by 0.12-0.70 SDs), while a similar intervention without the teacher training component had no effect.