Nudging for Student Success: How Behavioral Science Can Improve Education
Over the last several years, countries across the globe—from the United Kingdom to Japan, Lebanon to Australia—have turned to behavioral science to improve the quality of services that governments provide to their citizens. Commonly called “nudge units,” these offices are charged with leveraging behavioral insights about how people navigate complex decisions and critical transitions […]
Learning Disabilities in the Age of Disruption
Most likely you managed to make sense of the title above, with a short corrective hesitation. Give yourself a pat on the back. But for young learners with dyslexia, the confusing mirroring of some letters such as b and d, poses a constant struggle to find meaning, to read fluently, and can often trigger a cascade of behavioral […]
Smart Scaling, a Key Part of Liberia’s Education Plan
The Liberian Ministry of Education envisions a day when its students outpace Africa and the rest of the world. While they still have a long way to go, the promising results from a bold new initiative, Partnership Schools for Liberia, suggest that Liberia is on the right path. The Ministry intends its Partnership Schools for […]
Reimagining Schools in a Hyperconnected World
Before March 2016, I would never have thought of myself as having any connection to the word ‘education’ in a professional sense. I was busy being a working mother, with three children and a decent career as a partner at McKinsey. I have no doubt that if somebody had told me that I would […]
Opportunities for Investors in African Education
Emerging markets are a growing opportunity for global investors in education, and the quantum of transactions in emerging markets education grew nearly 70 times between 2001 and 2015. Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is no exception to this trend, with an estimated private investment requirement in education over the next five years of $16 billion to $18 […]
Bigger Isn’t Necessarily Better – the Impact of Small Data in Education
Should I be worried that Amazon seems to know more about me than I do? Amazon definitely seems to know what I need to buy before I know that I need it. Should I be worried that Facebook seems to think it can manage my social circle better than I can? It decides which friends […]
Liberia’s First Successful Steps Toward “Getting to Best”
Students in Liberia lag far behind their peers in the developing world. Their education has been disrupted by more than a decade of civil war, post-conflict stress, and the Ebola health crisis. The international response has provided necessary funding for teacher training and educational resources, but has not been sufficient to realize the children of […]
Why Schools Need to Do What Works
I want to see – as I am sure do you – an education system which allows every single pupil to flourish, no matter who they are or where they come from. Yet far too often we see the same story in schools across the globe: the poorest pupils – those who can’t afford […]
Measure, Match and Mobilize: Rethinking Learning in the Digital Age
Digitization is both a challenge and part of the solution for lifelong learning. When we discuss its impact, we often focus on two questions: what and how we will (have to) learn in the future. Going beyond that I would like to draw attention to how these new technologies change our education system as […]
Maximizing the Contribution of Private Education: Policy and PPPs
The growth of private education in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has sparked robust debate about the private sector’s place as an education provider. In light of this debate, it is important to explore how governments—guardians of their countries’ education systems—can choose to encourage and regulate private sector participation. In what follows we explore the tools governments […]