By Audrey­marie Schuh Moore

How do we provide every child with an opportunity to learn in school and succeed in life?

This question’s importance is simple to understand: among other benefits‚ education yields healthier‚ wealthier‚ and stronger communities. However‚ in a world where significant barriers—geographical‚ economic‚ and gender- and ethnic-based—leave populations with limited or no access to schooling; where critical data on school effectiveness are not gathered or examined regularly; and where policymakers do not have access to lessons learned in neighboring countries‚ this question becomes a complex research problem.

“Ultimately‚ successful education reform depends on knowing what works‚” said John Gillies‚ vice president and director of AED’s EQUIP2 project.

EQUIP2—the USAID-funded Education Quality Improvement Program 2—is an AED-led consortium of universities‚ NGOs‚ and research groups that conducts studies to help educators around the world identify and implement effective practices. Helping countries achieve universal primary school enrollment‚ or “Education for All‚” is among its many goals.

Case Studies in ‘Complementary Education’
“One of the biggest challenges we face is that every country has hard-to-reach populations‚ which traditional public schools often fail to serve‚” Gillies said.

Some donor-supported programs have helped establish community schools where public schools were nonexistent‚ but these alternatives are often perceived as expensive and unsustainable‚ as there has been little rigorous evaluation of their cost effectiveness. To address this issue‚ AED’s EQUIP2 team conducted a case study analysis of 10 rural community school models in Afghanistan‚ Egypt‚ Ethiopia‚ Ghana‚ Guatemala‚ Honduras‚ Malawi‚ Mali‚ Pakistan‚ and Zambia to identify the most cost-effective approaches to helping marginalized children get to school‚ stay in school‚ and learn.

This research found that in nine of 10 cases‚ the community schools‚ coined “complementary programs” by AED‚ were more cost-effective than the public schools: their personnel‚ design‚ and support systems provided students with a better opportunity to learn. By showing that children did better in complementary programs‚ AED has strengthened donor support for them and has informed policy dialogue in numerous countries about what is needed to implement them successfully.

The ‘Opportunity to Learn’
In related research‚ EQUIP2 has explored how education is hindered in developing countries‚ not just by the lack of a physical school‚ but also by the failure to use available space to provide the fundamental conditions that give children the chance to really learn. By building on existing research findings about time on task‚ the AED team launched a groundbreaking study on the effective use of instructional time in rural schools on three continents.

Through the collection and analysis of new data‚ field studies in Ethiopia‚ Guatemala‚ Honduras‚ and Nepal revealed that as much as 60-80 percent of the official school year is lost to teacher and student absence‚ late openings and early closings‚ lack of materials‚ and inefficient instruction‚ or time on task. AED thus developed an index of what constitutes the “opportunity to learn” and is working with partner NGOs and USAID missions to assess management and instructional strategies that maximize the effective use of instructional time.

Shaping the Debate
Beyond sharing EQUIP2’s research results online‚ at conferences‚ and through publications‚ AED is directly applying this new knowledge to policy dialogue. Both the “complementary education” and “opportunity to learn” research have attracted much attention in the educational community and are being replicated by numerous NGOs. Moreover‚ EQUIP2 findings were used to frame high­level discussions about national education strategies and donor investments in Egypt and El Salvador.

In addition‚ to prompt education policymakers to learn from relevant decentralization experiences in other countries‚ EQUIP2 used its research to develop a toolkit and a first-of-its-kind series of interactive video conferences in collaboration with the World Bank Institute (WBI) and the British Council. The toolkit helps policymakers understand what policies are in place‚ how they are working‚ and what challenges need to be overcome. Since 2006‚ this EQUIP2/WBI Decentralization Distance Course has been conducted three times‚ connecting hundreds of educators‚ policymakers‚ and NGOs in seven African countries to exchange lessons learned about effective decentralization—a method proven to improve school performance.

“Understanding a problem is the first step to devising a viable solution‚” Gillies said. “Our research serves as a vital starting point for figuring out how we can best help children reach their potential in life.”

For more information, contact John Gillies at jgillies@aed.org or visit www.equip123.net.

Audrey-marie Schuh Moore is deputy director of EQUIP2 with the AED Global Education Center