Foundational First Five: Need, Measurement, Response in Early Childhood

It is common cause that there is a “crisis” in education in developing country education. Large efforts are devoted by both international development agencies and the countries themselves to dealing with this crisis. The... [ view full abstract ]

It is common cause that there is a “crisis” in education in developing country education. Large efforts are devoted by both international development agencies and the countries themselves to dealing with this crisis. The paper argues that unless the issues are addressed at the foundation, namely in the first few years of schooling (encompassing the first few grades and the years prior), much money will continue to be wasted. The paper shows that there is a complex set of inter-related issues that all point at the same problem: lack of care and education of the youngest children, creating a weak foundation for schooling in the first few grades, that shows up as very large and unreported repetition, very inflated and deceptive rates of intake into the first grade, non-reading even as late as grades 3 or 4, and that these issues all then show up again in all the dire end-of-primary cycle learning achievement statistics that the world—or at least the more perspicacious leaders—have come to decry. We call this the “crisis at the foundation” and call for taking care of “Foundational First Five” years (two pre-Grade 1, and Grades 1 to 3). While most of the paper points to the problem, the paper concludes by quickly noting that there is hope: there is a literature that shows emergent clarity about actions that could be taken to overcome this problem.

There is growing evidence on the importance of children’s experiences in early childhood for later achievement and well-being, leading to notable increases in investments and interest in early childhood development, or the... [ view full abstract ]

There is growing evidence on the importance of children’s experiences in early childhood for later achievement and well-being, leading to notable increases in investments and interest in early childhood development, or the period from birth through 8 years. Accordingly, there is interest in measurement of young children’s development and learning prior to or at the start of formal schooling, the quality of their learning environments in homes and schools, and other contextual factors that have been shown to have implications for school achievement and well-being. The Measuring Early Learning Quality and Outcomes project (MELQO) is a consortium led by UNESCO, Brookings Institution, World Bank and UNICEF to promote reliable, feasible measurement of early childhood development and learning and quality of learning environments. MELQO is working with a number of organizations to develop prototypes that can be adapted for use within low-resource countries to measure child development/learning and quality of learning environments. This session will outline MELQO processes and products, as well as key issues in measurement of early childhood development including approaches to developing culturally-relevant yet widely applicable measures and ensuring links between measurement of children’s development prior to school and measurement of early foundational skills in reading and math.

Many emergent education systems face a dilemma about where to prioritise investment and reform. Positive indicators on primary school enrolment disguise less encouraging evidence on efficiency and effectiveness – in terms of... [ view full abstract ]

Many emergent education systems face a dilemma about where to prioritise investment and reform. Positive indicators on primary school enrolment disguise less encouraging evidence on efficiency and effectiveness – in terms of attendance, retention, drop-out, low achievement etc. While school quality improvement is a continuing priority, growing research evidence points to the potential of early child development programs (ECD) within any comprehensive system. These are the two sides of ‘school readiness’ – making sure schools are ready for children, as well as ensuring that children are ready for school. This paper will summarise the growing evidence (especially from well designed RCTs focused on a range of populations and delivery platforms) that investing in high quality ECD can deliver compelling long term outcomes across a range of indicators and in a variety of contexts; and the increasing engagement of governments and donors in related policy and program development. The paper will consider the opportunities and challenges of delivering on the potential of ECD programs within a lifecourse perspective on school systems, drawing on evidence from Young Lives longitudinal research in Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam. Specific issues include: the challenge of delivering high quality early learning in low resource contexts; the variable and highly contextual linkage between provision of pre-school services and evidence of school effectiveness across the four countries; the potential and risks of private sector providers filling a governance and resource vacuum, and the major challenges of ensuring basic equity in access to quality early learning services.

In keeping with the theme of “Learning for Sustainable Futures,” the panel will argue that, with the current levels of low investment in young children in the low-income countries, sustainable futures for the children and... [ view full abstract ]

In keeping with the theme of “Learning for Sustainable Futures,” the panel will argue that, with the current levels of low investment in young children in the low-income countries, sustainable futures for the children and for their countries are hard to envision. New evidence on lack of investment and its consequences for inter-sectoral and longitudinal impacts will be presented. In terms of “whose needs to prioritize,” the implicit advocacy is that the needs of the youngest, and least able to advocate for themselves, should receive a reasonably high priority (1st paper). The 1st paper also touches on the “planning and resources” theme of the conference. The 3rd and 2nd papers touch on pedagogies and assessment as per the conference themes, by sharing approaches rooted on emerging consensus on these topics. The 2nd paper touches on the theme of “What types of evidence are needed to inform learning?”

The three papers would:

1. Highlight numbers on the issue and its importance, noting that in many countries as many as 50% of the children appear to be “churning” in grades 1 and 2, which means that systems are in already paying for early childhood care but inefficiently.
2. Describe current work trying to develop better measures of preparation for school that tries to be as cutting-edge as possible yet practical for the context of developing countries.
3. Describe what is currently known from rigorous research on the best ways to address the issues.