Scaling Impact in Education for Transformative Change: Practical Recommendations from the Real-Time Scaling Labs

In 2018 the Center for Universal Education (CUE) at Brookings launched a series of Real-time Scaling Labs (RTSL) to generate more evidence and provide practical recommendations on how to expand, deepen, and sustain the impact of education initiatives leading to transformative change in education systems, especially for the most disadvantaged children and youth. The purpose of this report is to look across all six of the RTSL cases to analyze common themes, insights, and lessons learned about the process of scaling as well as interesting divergences, and to offer considerations for others looking to learn from or build on this work. This report is intended for governments, education implementers, donors, and researchers who are interested in collaborative approaches to scaling impact in education. Section 1 examines key scaling lessons that emerged across all of the RTSL cases and analyzes scaling drivers (key levers, forces, or factors critical to making progress toward the scaling goal) at three different units of analysis to explore the way scaling happens at the system, institution, and individual levels. The second section analyzes how the RTSL model worked in practice, its strengths and challenges, and how it contributed to scaling. The report concludes with a set of core recommendations for governments, implementing organizations, donors, and researchers developed in consultation with the RTSL learning community. [This report was written with assistance from Brad Olsen and Katie Portnoy.]