Mastering basic numeracy and literacy skills is one of the most fundamental goals of education. However, it is estimated that 250 million primary-school-age children lack basic reading, writing and math skills (UN, 2013). Children living in war and poverty stricken countries are among the least likely to attain those basic goals. The United States…

The purpose of this research was to report on a Child-Friendly School (CFS) initiative pilot project in Jordan, which aims at initiating the creation of CFS and to raise stakeholders' awareness of the importance of this project in promoting and implementing Child Rights Conviction (CRC) in Jordan. The study was conducted by a joint team selected…

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…

This paper looks at several dimensions of the grade failure issue in Honduras using a unique data set compiled by the UMCE evaluation project in 1998 and 1999. The analytical framework incorporates econometric analysis of standardized tests and teacher pass/fail decisions for roughly 13,000 second and fourth grade students. The results show that…