Impact on student achievement of randomly assigned students working individually or collaboratively in mixed- and matched-gender pairs at a computer on predetermined science tasks was investigated. Collaborative dyads shared a computer and screen as each operated an independent keyboard and mouse. A mixed gender control group working individually…

This paper considers what multilevel modelling approaches to analysing large scale cross-national surveys of education quality can tell us about the capabilities that support primary school children in learning to read. The impact of pupil background characteristics on achievement in reading towards the end of the primary cycle in sub-Saharan…

This paper and the four commissioned works on which it is based are guided by the important question: How can we start valuing practices and outcomes of teaching and learning that are difficult to reduce to numbers? As the process of developing indicators for the Post-2015 education targets unfolds, some of the targets are at risk of being dropped…

As necessary as reading is to the success of a child--and entire nations--many low-income countries overlook the fundamental duty of their school systems to produce readers. Galvanized by the Education For All (EFA) mission to provide universal access to primary education by 2015, donors and low-income countries have focused on scaling up inputs…

India has witnessed substantial diversification of provision to basic education. Policy changes from 1980s onwards, has seen the creation of para-formal delivery systems and the inclusion in the system of non state providers. The Education Guarantee Scheme and the Alternate Initiatives in Education programmes have generated new pathways to access.…

This dissertation focuses on a key challenge facing developing countries intent on enhancing their human capital base--namely, the issue of quality. One of the chapters evaluates the effectiveness of the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) initiative in Nepal's primary and lower-secondary schools. Although the OLPC program is being heavily promoted in…

Inclusive education (IE) is at an early stage of development in Bangladesh. In response to international policies and declarations over the past two decades (UNESCO, 1990; UNSCO, 1994, UNESCO, 2000) IE reform in Bangladesh has enacted a number of national policies and developed several professional development initiatives. This paper reports on…

In this paper we consider why students in poor and rural regions of China are dropping out of school in numbers that may be greater than official statistics admit. With questions about education quality among the most intractable in Education for All initiatives across the developing world, we sketch a portrait of education in a remote mountain…

This dissertation evaluates programs seeking to address educational access and quality in developing countries. Chapter 1 examines the impact of two school feeding programs on enrollment in Sri Lanka. Chapter 2 assesses the relative productivity of several modes of implementing an Indian English education curriculum in India. Finally, chapter 3…

Based on a fieldwork study, this article seeks to investigate the implementation of "thematic curriculum" in Uganda from the perspectives of teachers. The article shows that although the majority of teachers are enthusiastic about the new curriculum, their implementation efforts are constrained by a multitude of challenges. The findings…

The purpose of this paper is to review recent developments related to the development of indicators of educational progress in the context of the Post 2015 deliberations to generate a new international architecture for educational investment through to 2030. There have been a plethora of suggestions and several parallel consultation processes…

This report reviews the conceptual debates and existing data sources that relate to three ambiguous and controversial targets included in the post-2015 education framework: Relevant Learning Outcomes; Knowledge, Skills, Values, and Attitudes (for education for global citizenship and sustainable development); and Teachers and Safe, Inclusive, and…

This study analyzed the spatial distribution of gender differentials in Mathematics and Language Arts on national assessments of educational achievement in the primary school system of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. The findings indicate statistically significant medium-sized differences favouring females on Language Arts primarily in the…

The authors use population census data to project school enrolment for Kenya. They also employ current education sector budget and national revenue base statistics to model the sector budget and to forecast the revenue base growth required to sustain universal primary education (UPE). The 2003 fiscal year unit cost of education is used as the base…

The intent of this study is to understand both direct and indirect resource effects in the context of a mass education system in Uganda. We find that under certain conditions, policies that promote physical resource availability can lead to substantial equity gains. A school's social composition appears to improve educational quality but it is…