What we know and don't know about improving learning outcomes: A mixed methods systematic reviews

There has been significant progress in improving access to education, but in many countries the promise of schooling has failed to translate into improved learning. As policymakers are focusing their attention learning for a... [ view full abstract ]

There has been significant progress in improving access to education, but in many countries the promise of schooling has failed to translate into improved learning. As policymakers are focusing their attention learning for a sustainable future there is a need to identify what we already know about the effects different programs, and where more evidence is needed. This presentation will provide the findings of a mixed-methods systematic review assessing the evidence on interventions aiming to improve learning outcomes of primary and secondary school children in low and middle income countries. The review covers a broad range of interventions trying to address barriers to children’s learning at the individual, household, school, teacher and systems levels. It assess the evidence on school feeding, cash transfers, computer assisted learning, different pedagogical methods, interventions to improve the quality of teaching and school based management, among others. In addition to analysing the evidence on effects of different interventions, the review also assess how education interventions affect different sub-groups of children, and address questions relating to process, implementation and context. To address these questions the review includes evidence from quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods studies, and structure the analysis using program theory. The presentation will summarise the findings from the review: highlighting what we already know, outline knowledge gaps where new research can add value and outline implications for the design of future studies.