By Project
Teacher Professional Development for Learning Equity (TPD4E). Learning Equity Initiative (LEI) is partnering with the Language and Learning Foundation (LLF) in India for a project entitled Teacher Professional Development for Learning Equity (TPD4E), which began in January 2024. LLF, an NGO operating across India, focuses on enhancing language and literacy skills among early-grade students through teacher training and professional development programs. The specific aim is to improve language and literacy instruction to enhance early-grade learning outcomes. TPD4E is developing learning equity audits to better understand outcome metrics and the impact of LLF's TPD programs on marginalized populations, especially those residing in rural locations.
The Learning Equity Initiative (LEI) was launched in Washington DC, at the 2023 annual conference of the Comparative and International Education Society. The vision of the LEI is to achieve educational equity for those most in need in low- and middle-income countries by sharing expertise, promoting research-based innovations, and building partnerships to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The LEI has established a partnership with UNESCO's International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) and plans to work towards LEI goals in several countries including India and in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).
Learning at the Bottom of the Pyramid (LBOP), begun in 2015, was focused on two international conferences, and was designed to help increase our understanding of learning equity, especially in low- and middle-income countries. International experts – including researchers, policymakers, and practitioners – have come together to analyze diverse approaches to improving learning among children at the bottom of the pyramid. The first edited book, entitled Learning at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Science, Measurement and Policy in Low-income Countries, was published in 2018 by UNESCO-IIEP. A second volume, entitled: Learning, Marginalization, and Improving the Quality of Education in Low-income Countries, was published in 2022. Both are open books, freely downloadable at the above links. The LBOP led directly to the establishment of the Learning Equity Initiative.
Global Taskforce on Learning Research (GLTF). The GLTF was established by the Brookings Institution Center for Universal Education to inform appropriate targets for the the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals. Composed of 16 top global specialists, and with input from many others, the GLTF produced a major working paper for Brookings entitled Learning First: A Research Agenda for Improving Learning in Low-Income Countries. In addition, an edited volume with full findings was produced in: Wagner, D. A. (Ed.). (2014). Learning and Education In Developing Countries: Research and Policy for the Post-2015 UN Development Goals. NY. See also a 2020 UNESCO paper entitled: Global learning equity and education.
Bridges to the Future Initiative (BFI) , was a project under Penn ILI that aimed to empower the most marginalized children determine their own social and economic future. With funding multiple multilateral agencies and private foundations (including the World Bank, USAID, Kellogg Foundation and J.P. Morgan Foundation), the BFI supported literacy learning in India (Andhra Pradesh state) and South Africa (Limpopo Province) using multilingual software and was awarded the 2014 UNESCO Confucius International Literacy Prize for its work in South Africa. BFI focused on assisting poor, disadvantaged, and marginalized children, youth, and adults in developing countries to take advantage of new information and communications technologies (ICTs) for improving basic literacy and technological literacy skills as a means to participate in the global information and economic marketplace. Other work includes a UNESCO book on the role of EdTech in literacy, entitled New Technologies for Literacy and Adult Education, as well as recent work on use of languages and technology.
Improving Learning Assessments for Developing Countries The project was a collaboration between IIEP (UNESCO) and ILI, funded by the Fast Track Initiative (now GPE)/World Bank) to review and synthesize a set of policy options for assessment methods of basic skills learning in developing countries. The review, entitled Smaller, Quicker, Cheaper: Improving Learning Assessments for Developing Countries, focuses on school-aged children (5-12 years), as well as on out-of-school children, youth, and adults. It includes an inventory of key indicators and learning measurement methodologies (especially reading assessments) that have been used worldwide. Costs and benefits were seen in terms of fiscal investments and policy outcomes, time to completion, size and nature of human resources inputs, technical complexity, and other aspects of the assessment burden. The review began in 2009 and was published by UNESCO in 2011. A French language edition was also produced: Des évaluations simples, rapides et abordables: Améliorer l’apprentissage dans les pays en développement. IIEP-UNESCO.
Migration and Learning Outcomes. As part of the LBOP2 international conference, a major review was published – Education on the Move: Migration Affects Learning Outcomes – which examines the relationship between education and migration in the Global South, where approximately 82 million South-South migrants account for roughly 36% of all migrants globally. This research studied how policies towards migrants affect their learning outcomes through case studies from Lebanon and Ecuador, which host large number of migrants from Syria and Venezuela respectively. Data on this topic are limited and only infrequently disaggregated, but there is evidence to suggest that migrants in the Global South perform lower on standardized tests than non-migrants due to discrepancies between global norms, national provisions, and local resources. The authors argue that policymakers need to adopt a systemic approach to migrant education that addresses existing inequities within host-state education systems.
The Covid-19 Pandemic. In "Global Learning Equity and Education: Looking Ahead," a paper commissioned by UNESCO, the authors explore three historical periods: progress in the past 50 years, the near-term future of learning systems, and long-term projections of challenges and opportunities in the coming decades. Amidst significant challenges, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, it is crucial to prioritize addressing the widening inequities in learning, which are intensifying at an unprecedented rate and are expected to worsen in the future. Research on the consequences of the Covid-19 Pandemic has only recently begun to appear, with the results indicating major declines in learning, especially among the poorest populations. Many countries are now trying to learn from these experiences and push for a greater emphasis on closing the learning gaps.