1. Learning to Realize Education’s Promise
2018
WORLD DEVELOPMENT REPORT
Learning to Realize Education’s Promise
Themes and Emerging Messages
of the World Development Report 2018

2. Main themes The promise of education The learning crisis
Innovations and evidence for learning
Making the system work to achieve learning at scale

3. Theme 1: The promise of education

4. Theme 1: The promise of education
Education’s promise
A human right, key to human capabilities, that enables richer lives
Eliminate poverty sustainably and promote shared prosperity
High financial and non-financial (e.g. health) returns that accrue to individuals and societies
Foundational to political and social development
Education’s promise is often unrealized
Education can’t do it alone
Investment climate
Norms and laws
Education can produce social “bads”
Can perpetuate social inequalities
Prone to political manipulation
Schooling isn’t learning
Under the wrong conditions, schooling won’t lead to poverty reduction, economic growth, or reduction in inequalities
Promotes equity, social inclusion, and social mobility
Multiplier of other investments and policies

5. Theme 2: The learning crisis

6. Access has increased dramatically
Source: WDR 2018 team with data from Lee and Lee 2016.
Progress towards the MDG has been impressive
Historic Primary net enrollment rates
Historically impressive improvements in access
There are still 260 million primary- and secondary-age children out of school
Fragile and conflict settings
Excluded and disadvantaged groups

7. Remaining gaps in attainment
Patterns differ across countries, but poverty strongly predicts low attainment everywhere
Pakistan 2012
Mali 2012
Peru 2012
Indonesia 2012
Poorest
quintile
Quintile 2
Quintile 3
Quintile 4
Richest

8. Remaining gaps in attainment—Multiple exclusions
Exclusions interact to create groups that lag substantially far behind
Pakistan 2012
Mali 2012
Peru 2012
Indonesia 2012
Girls in the Poorest Quintile

9. Schooling is not learning: Deficits start in early grades
Percent of Grade 2 students who could not
read a single word of a short text
Percent of Grade 2 students who could not
do a 2-digit subtraction
Source:
Source: Uwezo; ASER; and various EGMA reports

10. Schooling is not learning: Extremely low performance
PASEC Math 2014: Proportions of End-of-Primary students scoring at each level— at “Level 1” students can perform only the most basic operations and are considered below “sufficient” for continued schooling
Source: Malpel et al. 2015

11. Schooling is not learning: High inequalities in learning
PASEC Reading 2014: Proportions of End-of-Primary students scoring at each level
Source: PASEC “Report Cards” 2017

12. Learning in MICs falls short of even low performers’ in OECD
In the Dominican Republic, Tunisia, Kosovo, and Algeria the 75th percentile on PISA Math performs below the 25th percentile in the OECD average
75th percentile
25th percentile
Median
Source: OECD (2016). PISA is a test of 15-year-olds in secondary school.

13. Service Delivery Indicators in SSA: Teacher absence
* Nigeria is 4 States
Source: Bold and others (2017)

14. School management capacity: lower in middle income countries
Frequency distribution of scores on assessment of management quality (Reference line is smoothed US distribution)
Source: Reproduced from Bloom and others (2015)

15. Learning metrics are a first step
Many countries don’t know whether students are learning
Percent of countries in each region with a nationally representative learning assessment
Source: UNESCO (2016).

16. Theme 3: Promising interventions to improve learning

17. Theme 3: Interventions to improve learning—promising places to start
Ensure learners are prepared and motivated
Investing in the early years
Demand-side incentives
Preparation for training
Learning
Children and parents
(preparation and effort)
Teachers
School management and governance
(Leadership and community involvement)
School inputs
(infrastructure and materials)
Ensure teachers are skilled and motivated
Effective professional development
Motivation and incentives
Teaching to the level of the students
Ensure school investments facilitate students learning from teachers
Inputs and infrastructure
Technology
School-based decision-making
Preparing young people for jobs requires dynamic systems that link them to employers
Demand-driven
Flexible
Effectively integrated with employers

18. Theme 4: Making the system work to achieve learning at scale

19. Theme 4: Achieving learning at scale
Working at scale is not “scaling up”
Taking an intervention that has shown promise in an “experiment” and implementing it widely won’t typically work
Example: Contract teachers in Kenya
Bold, Tessa, Mwangi Kimenyi, Germano Mwabu, Alice Ng'ang'a, and Justin Sandefur "Scaling up What Works: Experimental Evidence on External Validity in Kenyan Education." Center for Global Development Working Paper (321).
Burns, T, and F Köster "Governing Education in a Complex World." Paris: OECD. Retrieved April 27: 2016.
Harding, Robin, and David Stasavage "What Democracy Does (and Doesn’t Do) for Basic Services: School Fees, School Inputs, and African Elections." The Journal of Politics 76(01):
Pritchett, Lant, and Michael Woolcock "Solutions When the Solution Is the Problem: Arraying the Disarray in Development." World Development 32(2):
Bruns, B, and J Luque Great Teachers: How to Raise Student Learning in Latin America and the Caribbean. Washington, DC: World Bank.
World Bank "Assessing Basic Education Service Delivery in the Philippines : Public Education Expenditure Tracking and Quantitative Service Delivery Study." Washington D.C.: The World Bank Group.
Forgy, L., Per Student Financing in ECA School Systems (No ). The World Bank.
Grindle, Merilee Serrill Despite the Odds: The Contentious Politics of Education Reform. Princeton University Press.
Béteille, Tara Absenteeism, transfers and patronage: the political economy of teacher labor markets in India. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, Stanford University.
Rosser, Andrew J, and Mohamad Fahmi "The Political Economy of Teacher Management in Decentralized Indonesia."
(Note: Under “Components do not align towards learning”, Bruns and Luque 2014 includes an example of how Mexico’s teacher recruitment and remuneration are not related to teacher competency or performance.)
Technical Complexity
Systems are opaque, sticky, and ill-equipped (Burns and Köster 2016; Harding and Stasavage 2014; Pritchett and Woolcock 2004)
Components do not align towards learning (Bruns and Luque 2014; World Bank 2016)
Political economy
Misalignment is not random (Bruns and Luque 2014; Forgy 2009)
Multiple actors have competing objectives (Grindle 2004)
Systems are stuck in low-accountability, high-inequality equilibrium (Béteille 2009; Rosser and Fahmi 2016)

20. Theme 4: Achieving learning at scale
Barriers to learning at scale
Technical complexity
Systems are opaque, sticky, and ill-equipped
Components do not align towards learning
Political economy
Misalignment is not random
Multiple actors have competing objectives  pulled out of alignment
Systems are stuck in low-learning, low-accountability, high- inequality traps
Bold, Tessa, Mwangi Kimenyi, Germano Mwabu, Alice Ng'ang'a, and Justin Sandefur "Scaling up What Works: Experimental Evidence on External Validity in Kenyan Education." Center for Global Development Working Paper (321).
Burns, T, and F Köster "Governing Education in a Complex World." Paris: OECD. Retrieved April 27: 2016.
Harding, Robin, and David Stasavage "What Democracy Does (and Doesn’t Do) for Basic Services: School Fees, School Inputs, and African Elections." The Journal of Politics 76(01):
Pritchett, Lant, and Michael Woolcock "Solutions When the Solution Is the Problem: Arraying the Disarray in Development." World Development 32(2):
Bruns, B, and J Luque Great Teachers: How to Raise Student Learning in Latin America and the Caribbean. Washington, DC: World Bank.
World Bank "Assessing Basic Education Service Delivery in the Philippines : Public Education Expenditure Tracking and Quantitative Service Delivery Study." Washington D.C.: The World Bank Group.
Forgy, L., Per Student Financing in ECA School Systems (No ). The World Bank.
Grindle, Merilee Serrill Despite the Odds: The Contentious Politics of Education Reform. Princeton University Press.
Béteille, Tara Absenteeism, transfers and patronage: the political economy of teacher labor markets in India. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, Stanford University.
Rosser, Andrew J, and Mohamad Fahmi "The Political Economy of Teacher Management in Decentralized Indonesia."
(Note: Under “Components do not align towards learning”, Bruns and Luque 2014 includes an example of how Mexico’s teacher recruitment and remuneration are not related to teacher competency or performance.)
Technical Complexity
Systems are opaque, sticky, and ill-equipped (Burns and Köster 2016; Harding and Stasavage 2014; Pritchett and Woolcock 2004)
Components do not align towards learning (Bruns and Luque 2014; World Bank 2016)
Political economy
Misalignment is not random (Bruns and Luque 2014; Forgy 2009)
Multiple actors have competing objectives (Grindle 2004)
Systems are stuck in low-accountability, high-inequality equilibrium (Béteille 2009; Rosser and Fahmi 2016)

21. Theme 4: Achieving learning at scale
Barriers to learning at the system level: Examples
Technical: Lack of coherence in South Africa
Outcomes-based curriculum in 1990s and 2000s
Inspired by Finland  autonomy for teachers in implementation
But no accompanying reforms—capacity, incentives, support
Political: Political renegotiation in Indonesia
Indonesia doubled salaries for certified teachers (starting in 2005)
But political pressures watered down certification
Massive budget increase, but no improvement in teacher competencies or student learning
Watered down: eg., elimination of competency test, falsified portfolio documentation
Chisholm, Linda, and Ramon Leyendecker "Curriculum Reform in Post-1990s Sub-Saharan Africa." International Journal of Educational Development 28(2):
Chang, M-C, S Shaeffer, S Al-Samarrai, A Ragatz, J. De Ree, and R Stevenson Teacher Reform in Indonesia: The Role of Politics and Evidence in Policy Making.
de Ree, Joppe, Karthik Muralidharan, Menno Pradhan, and Halsey Rogers "Double for Nothing? Experimental Evidence on the Impact of an Unconditional Teacher Salary Increase on Student Performance in Indonesia." NBER Working Paper No

22. Theme 4: Achieving learning at scale
Goal is to align system components and behaviors towards learning, e.g.
Curriculum, teacher preparation, evaluation, assessment
Financing
Accountability and information flows
Government stewardship role (e.g. overseeing public and private providers)
Pritchett, Lant "Creating Education Systems Coherent for Learning Outcomes: Making the Transition from Schooling to Learning." Research on Improving Systems of Education (RISE) Working Paper, Preliminary draft.

23. Theme 4: Achieving learning at scale
Opportunities for creating and sustaining strategic change
Information and metrics
Coalitions and Incentives
Innovation and agility

24. Theme 4: Achieving learning at scale
Information and metrics
Shine a light on the learning crisis and hidden exclusions
Better information/metrics on learning and its drivers can:
Loosen political constraints
Improve system management
Information and metrics need to:
Be publicly available, credible and meaningful
Include targets or realistic expectations of system performance
Align with political/administrative jurisdictions

25. Theme 4: Achieving learning at scale
Coalitions and Incentives
Balance interests and shift systems towards learning
Inclusive coalitions can:
Balance/shift interests
Support design of better policies
Improve implementation
Varying strategies to build coalitions
Examples: Peru, Chile, and Malaysia “labs” model
Some lessons:
Use information/communication campaigns
Focus at all levels and through policy cycle
Recognize high political and system costs of confrontation

26. Theme 4: Achieving learning at scale
Innovation and agility
Develop “good fit” solutions to local challenges
“Good fit” solutions can:
Draw on ideas from anywhere as inspiration
Design solutions that work in local context
How to do this:
Develop environment and autonomy to encourage innovation
Identify and learn from high-performing parts of the system
Build M&E systems that provide rapid feedback for adaptation
Mechanisms to scale out promising innovations

27. LEARNING to Realize Education’s Promise
Countries need to act as if learning really matters to them
Systematically measuring learning and skills, to make the learning crisis visible and track progress
Making better use of what we’ve learned about how to improve learning at the level of students, classrooms, and schools
Taking on the system-level technical and political barriers to learning at scale

28. Thank You

29. Learning to Realize Education’s Promise
2018
WORLD DEVELOPMENT REPORT
Learning to Realize Education’s Promise