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• This paper examines whether home overcrowding has a significant effect on children's academic performance. This topic has not been explored in detail in Latin America. • The study uses data from the international SERCE (2006) test conducted in fifteen Latin America countries for a sample of students of sixth grade. • The results show that overcrowding has a negative effect that even exceeds the impact of certain maternal education level on a child's academic performance. After examining the robustness of the model with several techniques, the coefficients remains negative and statistically significant. • The evidence suggests that overcrowding is an important variable that should be considered when creating public policies aimed at improving student performance. This study seeks to determine whether overcrowding has a significant effect on students' academic performance, controlling for variables associated with poverty and low socioeconomic status. It uses data from the international SERCE test conducted in fifteen Latin American countries. Based on multiple specifications and robustness tests, the evidence suggests that overcrowding is a negative and statistically significant factor that even exceeds the impact of certain maternal education levels on a child's academic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes how a primary school affiliation with a professional athlete affects pupils’ educational attainment on Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE). Taking an advantage of a data set of 2010 KCPE scores for 80 primary schools in the Eldoret district, the study statistically illustrates a strong positive correlation between professional athlete sponsorship and educational attainment of pupils on all subject portions of the KCPE exam, except Kiswahili. The evidence presented in this paper highlights the impact of the athlete sponsorship on quality of education in Kenya. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to contribute to the development of the field of ‘schools in extreme settings’ as a specific problem space for research that informs school-focused policies and interventions to support children in adversity. Through a review of articles in this issue of International Journal of Education Development , we argue that such a field can facilitate a much needed discussion on the role of schools in supporting and protecting vulnerable children, highlighting how schools both contribute to and actively address disadvantages and hardship facing children. We end the paper by charting out key research areas for the field. We caution against earmarking schools and teachers as actors responsible for ameliorating the impacts of complex social problems in the absence of efforts to embed schools in supportive local community, national and global responses to support such a trend. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between 2011 and 2012, 40.1% of all sexual offences in South Africa involved children under 18. Important scholarship has demonstrated how large-scale social and economic inequalities structure African girls’ risk to and experience of sexual violence leading to a condemnation of violent masculinities and the social processes that produce it. Under conditions of chronic poverty and unstable living conditions, girls’ vulnerability to sexual violence is increased. Schools located in extreme settings, without adequate material and social resources are often in the frontline in dealing with sexual violence. This paper examines how a selected group of teachers located in a township primary school understand their role in the social protection of young girls in the context of sexual violence. An ethic of care dominated teachers’ responses to girls’ rendered vulnerable to sexual violence, but as this paper argues, caring is both vital and inadequate. This point becomes particularly clear as turbulent social conditions and material struggles beyond the school limit teachers’ potential to safeguard the needs of girls, resulting in their silence and fear contracted by their difficulty to work with parents. These social processes underscore the need to attend to interconnected interventions beyond and within education recognizing that teachers’ work in addressing sexual violence in extreme setting exceeds the terrain of schools. The paper concludes with recommendations within schools and beyond that address teachers and the social, gendered and economic contexts which give rises to girls’ sexual vulnerability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the nationwide school-feeding programme—the Mid Day Meal Scheme (MDMS)—in India as its anchor, this paper critically evaluates the use of schools as sites for discharging social policies. Data from semi structured interviews ( N = 26) and focus groups ( N = 8) conducted in a north Indian village provide evidence that the community distrusts the central and the regional governments and regards state run schools as deficient institutions. In such a social climate, the community perceived the MDMS as an evil governmental design to distract poor people from education. Such representations, the paper argues, further erode the faith of the community in state run schools. Crucially, data from the study indicate that the MDMS has contributed to a shift in community representations of schools from being a site for imparting education to that of an institution providing free meals. It is argued that such a shift in community representations of schools may hinder the agenda of promoting education in disadvantaged settings. The paper concludes by identifying two critical considerations in using schools as the site of social policy: (a) the symbolic environments of meaning making which inform local interpretations of policies; and (b) the local meaning making and representations that communities develop of new or existing social policies. The theory of social representation informs the arguments made in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of parental migration on schooling outcomes for children left behind in El Salvador. Using cross sectional data collected in 2012, outcomes for children are analyzed for children with migrant parents. The outcomes are also analyzed by remitting behavior of the parents and gender of the migrant parent who left his or her child behind. Results are observed using instrumental variable estimations, as well as seemingly unrelated regressions to estimate the impact of migration on children's time allocation. Results show that children with at least one migrant parent will complete more years of school. The gender of that migrant parent has no significant impact. Lastly, parental migration has no significant influence on work time but does decrease time devoted to education. This paper studies the impact of both migration and remittances on a child's schooling behavior. Results suggest that the same factors that affect schooling may have a strong correlation with the propensity to migrate as well, hence the use of instrumental variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children around the world largely rely on the formal education system to teach them foundational mathematics and reading skills. The inability of an education system to do so may indicate it has structural constraints. In this paper, we use three rounds of a nationally representative government-run household survey to examine trends in the mastery of foundational mathematics and reading skills among grades 4–10 students between 2003 and 2019 in the Philippines. We find that not all higher-grade students master the skills that are taught by grade 3. Comparing between cohorts, we find that foundational mathematics skills continued to decline between the 2003 and 2019 cohorts. Foundational reading skills, however, trended up among the early grades between 2013 and 2019 after stagnating between 2003 and 2013. The latter is suggestive evidence that major educational reforms implemented by the Philippine government since 2012 may have successfully improved reading skills but not mathematics skills. We also find that inequality in foundational skills by sex and wealth has decreased. Overall, the Philippine basic education system, building on its success in ensuring virtually all children attend elementary schools, still has ample room to ensure all students master foundational mathematics and reading skills. • We examine foundational skills among Filipino students over 19 years. • We find a significant decline in foundational mathematics skills. • Foundational reading skills in early grades significantly improved. • Gaps between sex, wealth quartiles, and language diversity declined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the extent to which teacher behaviour in classroom affects student achievement gains in mathematics in Ghana. A representative sample of primary schools from three districts of the Upper East Region of Ghana was selected (n = 73) using stage sampling procedure, and written tests in mathematics were administered to all grade six students at the beginning and end of school year 2013–2014. Two observation instruments and a student questionnaire were used in collecting data on quality of teaching. Multilevel analyses revealed that teacher factors are associated with student learning outcomes. Implications for promoting quality in education are drawn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: India''s Parliament passed the Right to Education Act in 2009, which entitles all children 6–14 years old to at least eight years of schooling. This paper examines the cost of achieving this right to education, and asks whether India can fill the financing gap that must be filled if the right is to be realized. The paper notes the very considerable increase in central and state government allocation implied by the Act, and finds that there will be difficulties in finding the resources, given the large fiscal deficit occasioned by the global economic crisis. However, the paper goes on to suggest a series of measures that can be taken so that the right to schooling is no more denied or delayed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Although primary education in Brazil has achieved universal enrollment levels, the management of the educational system is decentralized with high heterogeneity at municipal level. The goal of this paper is to perform an efficiency analysis of the Brazilian elementary public schools. This study performs a thorough efficiency analysis of around 10,600 Brazilian elementary public schools, for the year 2017. The empirical assessment is conducted through Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) with double-bootstrap method. The model includes five inputs (teaching intensity, teaching quality, student-per-classroom ratio and two variables of prior achievement) and three outputs (progression rate and standardized scores on Math and Portuguese). Eleven different non-discretionary variables are employed to assess the determinants of the efficiency scores. The results show a relatively high average efficiency score (87 %), but also relevant disparities across the country's Regions. Eight out of the eleven non-discretionary variables are statistically correlated with efficiency scores, with an important role of indicators dealing with socioeconomic background (community and family). Importantly, potential attention must be posed about the apparent positive relationship between the efficiency of schools and the income inequalities in the cities where they operate. • This study performs a thorough efficiency analysis of around 10,600 Brazilian elementary public schools. • The results show a relatively high average efficiency score (87 %), but also relevant disparities across the country's Regions. • potential attention must be posed about the apparent positive relationship between the efficiency of schools and the income inequalities in the cities where they operate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the effect of education aid on primary enrolment and education quality. Using the most recent data on aid disbursements and econometric specifications inspired by the general aid effectiveness literature, we find some evidence that donors’ increase in funding has substantially contributed to the successful increase in enrolment over the last 15 years. The most robust effect is obtained by aid for education facilities and training. In addition, we find complementarities between aid for primary and secondary education. Our qualitative comparative analysis of education quality also highlights the relevance of a balanced mix of educational expenditures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is widespread agreement that schooling quality should be a priority in the post-2015 education agenda, but less agreement on how quality can be enhanced in a cost effective manner. In Uganda, classroom overcrowding is often considered a critical cause of poor learning outcomes. This paper investigates how various aspects of classroom composition, including class size and the achievement distribution of classmates, affect individual learning. Using test score data for over 250,000 children, such compositional factors are found to be relevant. However, their influence on learning is not so large as to justify major standalone policy interventions. Rather, pedagogical changes that support children with literacy difficulties merit particular consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Education about sex, relationships and HIV and AIDS in African contexts is riddled with socio-cultural complexity. In this paper the authors argue that in extreme contexts education can lead change further by developing young people as significant actors in their own lives and in the lives of the community by bringing about change in attitudes in the community, as well as practices in schools. A qualitative study was undertaken in eight primary schools of the use of student knowledge and voice to change attitudes, impact upon socio cultural beliefs, adult–child dialogue and drive changes in practice in AIDS education. Drawing on a contextual framework that includes a socio-cultural approach to education, Basil Bernstein's well established theories of everyday and school knowledge and Catherine Campbell's notion of AIDS competent communities, it shows how this initiative variably unfolded in six sub-Saharan countries (Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Swaziland and Tanzania – although only the latter three are discussed in detail) and analyses the potential of schools to operate for the benefit of children in difficult circumstances, especially with regard to poverty, gender, sexual violence and health. Participation, dialogue and agency were the key factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the extent to which increased access to primary schooling in ten Southern and East African countries between 2000 and 2007 was also accompanied by increased access to actual learning. We develop a measure of access to learning that combines data on education access and learning achievement to measure the proportions of children in the population (including those enrolled and not enrolled) that reach particular thresholds of literacy and numeracy. In all countries there was greater access to learning in 2007 than in 2000. These improvements in access to learning especially benefited girls and children from poor households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For children living in the context of political violence, school is often conceptualized as a safe physical place with education representing hope for the future. Yet school can also be a place of violence for some children, especially as they encounter the Israeli military and settlers on their journeys to and from school. Framed by Relph's (1976) theory of place as physical setting, activity, and meaning, this paper uses examples from research with 18 Palestinian families to better understand the tensions posed by school as a place of both violence and hope. The research suggests that children and families’ understandings of the place of school are complicated by the ongoing occupation and protracted political violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What should be considered when developing a literacy intervention that asks teachers to implement new instructional methods? How can this be achieved with minimal support within existing policy? We argue that two broad sets of considerations must be made in designing such an intervention. First, the intervention must be effective by bridging the gap between current teacher practice and the scientific literature on effective instruction. This broad consideration is detailed with 10 design recommendations. Second, the intervention must be amenable to being scaled-up and mainstreamed as part of government policy. This involves being (i) simple and replicable; (ii) well received by teachers; and (iii) cost effective. The paper describes how these factors were considered in the design of a literacy intervention in government primary schools in coastal Kenya. It also includes reactions from teachers about the intervention and their change in knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study quantifies a year's worth of mathematics learning in South Africa (0.3 standard deviations) and uses this measure to develop empirically calibrated learning trajectories. Two main findings are (1) only the top 16% of South African Grade 3 children are performing at an appropriate Grade 3 level. (2) The learning gap between the poorest 60% of students and the wealthiest 20% of students is approximately three Grade-levels in Grade 3, growing to four Grade-levels by Grade 9. The paper concludes by arguing that the later in life we attempt to repair early learning deficits in mathematics, the costlier the remediation becomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how teaching quality impacts students’ outcomes in public and low fee charging private schools in India. Drawing on Young Lives longitudinal study, students in private schools have a significantly higher mathematics score than public schools. Across public and private schools, teachers’ characteristics such as experience, gender, content knowledge and general education qualifications do not have significant influence on students’ learning outcome. Proximity of teacher's residence to the school, teacher's professional qualification and teacher's attitude towards schools and students and teaching practices such as regular checking of books, emerge as important determinants of students’ outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we propose a social psychological framework for studying the role of schools in promoting positive intercultural relations. We draw on data from schools in England where addressing issues of cultural diversity is a key aim of educational practice. We focus specifically on the role of social context in educational activities that tackle discrimination. We consider the socio-political context, local community context, and immediate school context from a social representations theory perspective. Using data from interviews with staff and focus groups with students in schools from three very different localities, we show that the socio-political context may limit schools’ ability to promote positive intercultural relations but also that it is possible for schools to promote broader change from the bottom-up, acting as agents of change at a societal level, i.e. in terms of changing the local and broader societal contexts in which they are located. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is consensus in the international mathematics teacher education literature that teachers should, at the most basic level, have mastery of the content knowledge they are required to teach. In this paper we test this assumption empirically by analyzing the South African SACMEQ 2007 mathematics teacher test data which tested 401 grade 6 mathematics teachers from a nationally representative sample of primary schools. With items matched to curriculum grade bands, findings indicate that 79% of grade 6 mathematics teachers showed content knowledge levels below the grade 6/7 band, and that the few teachers with higher-level content knowledge are highly inequitably distributed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates whether the Brazilian conditional cash transfer programme, Bolsa Família (BF), contributes to improvements in school performance in test scores and pass-grades, and reductions in dropout rates for 4th grade children. Our results suggest a positive effect of length of participation in BF and amount of cash received with respect to school outcomes, but with substitute effects. A trend of increasing gains in school outcomes over time associated with BF participation raise an important challenge for policy makers: how much support to give, and for how long, to ensure progress in school outcomes? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this paper is to investigate the optimal age category at which primary school pupils from low income families perform their best in literacy at grade 6 level. Age is a potential learning barrier because of its link to cognitive development as well as its influence on interactions between pupils within classrooms. The sample consisted of 7041 grade 6 pupils, spread in 226 schools across six major urban slums in Kenya. Using descriptive statistics, we examine the distribution of grade 6 pupils’ age. We then examine incidences of over-age pupils and incidences of grade repetition across various subgroups of pupils disaggregated by factors such as sex, wealth background, grade repetition, school type and geographical location. Finally, using multilevel techniques, we estimate the pupil age category that has greatest positive impact on literacy achievement at grade 6 after controlling selected pupil and school factors. Irrespective of pupil sex, grade repetition, wealth background, school type or geographical location the results indicate that grade 6 pupils perform their best in literacy when they are in the age category ranging from 10 years 6 months to 11 years 5 months. The results also indicate that, in general, younger pupils were likely to achieve better than older pupil in literacy regardless of the background under consideration. Implications of the findings for policy and practice as well as further research are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on data from the Southwest Basic Education Project, this paper provides an empirical estimation of gender gaps in Chinese and math among primary and lower-secondary school students in poor counties of Southwestern China. Major findings from 2-level HLM analysis by grade (3, 5, 7, and 9) include: (1) small positive gaps favoring girls in Chinese and negative gaps in math were found for all grades. (2) Gaps were larger in higher grades, girls’ advantage in Chinese experienced a small increase over the 2006–2010 period, and gaps varied by province. (3) Being a minority and having a low SES interplayed with gender in some circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Despite moves to ‘fast-track’ progress towards universal primary education, few fragile states have been able to access Fast Track Initiative (FTI) funding facilities. Weak systems and capacity have made these countries a high-risk proposition for donor investment. The absence of credible education sector plans has meant that the majority of fragile states are not eligible for endorsement to receive financial resources via the FTI. The analysis presented in this paper suggests that the FTI has struggled to identify suitable channels for resourcing education in these difficult development environments. Importantly, it finds that procedural and governance issues in particular have presented obstacles that have stymied the promotion of wider access to education in fragile states under the FTI umbrella. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In the last decade the national Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) programme has focussed on universaling access to elementary education (Grades I–VIII). Most recently the Right to Education Act provides the legislative framework to guarantee schooling to all children between 6 and 14 years of age. It remains the case however that less than half of all children attend and complete secondary school especially in the Northern states. Under the 11th National Plan Rastriya Madhyamic Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) has been launched to increase the numbers entering secondary school. This paper explores some of the key issues in planning and managing the growth in participation that is envisaged so that 75% or more enjoy the benefits of transition to Grades IX and X. The issues include the constraints on expansion that arise from the restricted output of elementary school graduates, the continued exclusion of the poorest and those from disadvantaged groups from progression to Grade VIII, the costs to households and government of universal secondary schooling as currently structured, the limits to growth of private provision, the massive infrastructure needs, and the problems associated with increasing teacher supply and deployment. Policy dialogue around secondary school expansion is a central concern if India is to close the gap between itself and China and other rapidly developing countries in educating most of its population beyond the elementary level. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This article explores the effects of national policies associated with “Education for All” on a disadvantaged region, the highlands of Lesotho. Since 2000 a programme of “Free Primary Education” has improved the position of the highlands in access to primary schooling; nevertheless, highland primary schools compare poorly with those in the lowlands on various indicators of pupils’ outcomes and school resources. They are also found to have relatively difficult relations with local communities. The paper reflects critically on the management of the “Free Primary Education” initiative and the implications for educational opportunity and for community empowerment in the highlands region. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The paper aims to assess the impacts of a dramatic decentralisation reform in Indonesia on access to and quality of primary and secondary education. The research draws on qualitative and quantitative data from interviews, focus group discussions and household surveys in four selected districts. The main conclusions are threefold; the administration of educational services is without transparency and accountability, household expenditures on children''s education are high and increasing, and huge social and geographical disparities exist. Policy recommendations include increased government spending to make primary education available to all and improved measures to control public policies and expenditure in this sector. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper reports on findings from a large sample survey in the states of India that account for two thirds of the children out of school. It then examines the feasibility of the central government''s goals to ensure all children complete 5 years of school by 2007, and 8 years by 2010. These goals—more ambitious than the global EFA goals—are unlikely to be achieved without significant reforms by the central and state governments. It examines key reform options: in the public spending pattern; improving teacher accountability and work environment; incentives to improve demand for schooling; and the private sector. It argues that central to universalising elementary education will be improving the level, equity and efficiency of public spending. However, even with these reforms, improving teacher accountability will still remain key to the achievement of the goals. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• Using DHS survey data, the paper finds that reaching universal completion of grade six among girls will not achieve universal female literacy. • Across nearly 50 developing countries, calculations suggest 40% of women would be illiterate even if all women completed at least grade six. • Results vary considerably; in Nigeria universal completion increases women's literacy by only 5%, while in Ethiopia it raises it by 57%. • Achieving SDG targets requires both universal schooling and dramatic improvements in the learning profile in most developing countries. Using the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data on the ability of women at various levels of schooling attainment to read a simple sentence, we show that reaching universal completion of grade six among girls would not bring the world anywhere close to the goal of universal female literacy. These calculations are based on the empirical relationship between grades completed and ability to read, a descriptive 'learning profile.' The large literature on schooling and life outcomes suggests simple correlations are a reasonable guide to causal effects, and the typical concern is over -estimation of the true return to schooling – implying our calculations using a descriptive and not causal learning profile are a best-case scenario. This best case is often not at all good: the learning profile is so weak in Nigeria that even if all women had completed grade six, adult female illiteracy would only have fallen from 58 percent to 53 percent. In contrast, children in many other countries do learn to read in much higher numbers and enrolling out-of-school girls would dramatically reduce illiteracy. For instance, in Ethiopia the same calculations yield a reduction in illiteracy from 82 to 25 percent. But across nearly fifty developing countries with available data our calculations suggest 40 percent of women would be illiterate even if all women completed at least grade six. Achieving new Sustainable Development Goal targets of universal literacy and numeracy will require both achievement of universal schooling and dramatic improvements in the learning profile in most developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]