Syndicate content

Education

Student assessment: Supporting the development of human capital

Victoria Levin's picture



At the Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund in Bali, Indonesia, the World Bank highlighted the importance of human capital for economic development.
 
Central to the World Bank’s motivation for the Human Capital Project is evidence that investments in education and health produce better-educated and healthier individuals, as well as faster economic growth and a range of benefits to society more broadly. As part of this effort to accelerate more and better investments in people, the new Human Capital Index provides information on productivity-related human capital outcomes, seeking to answer how much human capital a child born today will acquire by the end of secondary school, given the risks to poor health and education that prevail in the country where she or he was born.

Lessons from China: Vocational education for economic transformation in Africa

Girma Woldetsadik's picture
“African participants visit modern container port in Ningbo, China. Photo credit World Bank”

This September I traveled to Beijing and Ningbo, China, to participate in the second Africa China World Bank Education Partnership Forum on Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET). The Forum--co-hosted by the China Institute for Education Finance Research, Peking University, Ningbo Polytechnic and the World Bank Group-- served as a platform for discussion and knowledge exchange to encourage stronger partnership efforts between African TVET institutions and some of China’s best ranking TVET centers and industries.

The Economic Case for Early Learning

Harry A. Patrinos's picture
Also available in: Español | العربية 

 

Photo credit World Bank

We are living in a learning crisis.  According to the World Bank’s 2018 World Development Report, millions of students in developing countries are in schools that are failing to educate them to succeed in life. According to the UNESCO Institute of Statistics, there are 617 million children and youth of primary and secondary school age who are not learning the basics in reading, two-thirds of whom are attending school. The urgency to invest in learning is clear.

What The Wire can teach us about psychometrics

Alaka Holla's picture



In the first season of The Wire, an American crime drama television series, a young girl who lives in a poor and crime-ridden neighborhood asks Wallace, a teenaged drug dealer, for help with a math problem. It's a word problem that has multiple passengers getting on and off a bus and that asks how many passengers are on the bus at the end of it. The girl is lost. Wallace reframes the problem for her, describing a situation in which different buyers and sellers of crack cocaine take and give her different numbers of vials. When she answers correctly, Wallace asks her why she can't do the same problem when it's in her math book. She explains that if she gets the vial count wrong, the drug dealers will hurt her, so she must get it right.

My teacher Estela

Valeria Bolla's picture
Also available in: Español
Photo credit World Bank

When I was 13, my literature teacher Estela asked the class to look at two drawings and write down a story about each one them. I looked at the drawings: one was of a man in a suit and tie who was carrying a suitcase and wearing a watch. The other was of the same man but he had a beard, torn clothes and broken shoes. I wrote the first story about a successful man with an amazing family, the second about a poor, sad man who had no friends. Estela seemed disappointed and asked me if people are defined by their clothes. That day, my teacher spoke about prejudices and I learned something that I won’t forget.

Helping Every Teacher Be Their Best

Jaime Saavedra's picture
Also available in: Español | Français
Ecoles Oued Eddahab school in Kenitra, Morocco. Photo: World Bank

In every country, there are dedicated and enthusiastic teachers who enrich and transform the lives of millions of children. Silent heroes who often lack proper training, teaching materials and are not recognized for their work. Heroes who defy the odds and make learning happen with passion, creativity and determination.

Excuse me, can anyone tell me the cost of this education program?

Samuel Fishman's picture


With the World Bank’s assistance, many governments are seeking to expand or improve early childhood education programs. The Strategic Impact Evaluation Fund is supporting a number of evaluations that will help us estimate the benefits of these investments, but we shouldn’t just care about effectiveness. In a world of resource constraints, we also need to tell countries about the cost-effectiveness of these investments. To do this, we need to know the costs of the programs we’re evaluating. Unfortunately, organizations often don’t collect and regularly report intervention specific cost data.

Educating for the future: The case of East Asia

Raja Bentaouet Kattan's picture
Photo by World/Bank

The purpose of any education system is to equip learners with the ability to live a fulfilling and productive life. Currently, East Asia is home to seven of the top ten education systems in the world. Despite impressive achievements, these above-average performing systems are not resting on their accomplishments—they continue to deepen the quality of education, tying learning to new and emerging needs. Central to the region’s curriculum reform is a focus on teaching and measuring 21st century skills.

Potenciar las habilidades socioemocionales de los estudiantes en México

Pablo Peña's picture
Also available in: English
El número y el alcance de las intervenciones destinadas a promover las habilidades socioemocionales continúan aumentando. Foto: Curt Carnemark / World Bank

Las habilidades socioemocionales (también llamadas habilidades no cognitivas, del carácter o interpersonales) han ocupado recientemente el centro del debate (PDF, en inglés) sobre cómo mejorar los resultados educativos. Cada vez hay más pruebas (PDF, en inglés) de que estas habilidades son tan importantes como la inteligencia para determinar el éxito académico y profesional. Existen algunas evidencias que indican que las habilidades socioemocionales pueden potenciarse.

Fostering Student Socioemotional Skills in Mexico

Pablo Peña's picture
Also available in: Español
Interventions aimed at fostering socioemotional skills continue to grow in number and scope. However, many questions remain about the extent to which these skills are malleable and exactly how they can be cultivated. Photo: Curt Carnemark / World Bank

Socioemotional skills (also referred to as non-cognitive skills, character skills, or soft skills) have recently become part of the discourse on how to improve educational outcomes. There is growing evidence that those skills may be as important as intelligence in determining academic and professional success. There is already some evidence indicating that socioemotional skills can be encouraged.

Pages