What’s the big idea? The basic theme of this line of research is that there is, in many (though by no means all) developing countries a “learning crisis” and that efforts need to be focused no just on expansion in time in school but focused on whether children are emerging from their schooling experience adequately equipped for their future.
Development economics and development practice has always emphasized that expansion of education is a key element of development. In practice, this became an emphasis on the expansion of schooling, having children spend more and more of their youth inside a school, perhaps even moving from grade to grade. However, the connection between the input of “schooling” and the outcome of “education” depends on how much “education” is actually acquired per unit schooling.
And this is not an economic reductionist view of the education should be about creating productive workers with high “human capital.” This starts from the premise that education is to prepare youth for their many roles as adults in the society they will live in. Education is preparing people to be successful adults as parents, as citizens, as members of their respective communities (e.g., religious communities) and affiliations, and, yes, as adults equipped to contribute to the production of value.
My own research. I was the Research Director of the research project named RISE (Research on Improving Systems of Education) from its beginning to its (planned) end in March 2023. Although the project is over, the RISE website is still active has a wealth of papers, blogs, and other information by the many researchers associated with the project. Many of my most recent papers and blogs on education ( particularly about the learning crisis) are on that website.
The Rebirth of Education: Schooling Ain’t Learning, 2013. Center for Global Development: Brookings Institution Press.
“The Learning Crisis of Developing Country Elites: Lessons from PISA-D.” World Bank Economic Review, 37(2). May 2023. (with Martina Viarengo).
“Effective investment in women’s futures: Schooling with learning.” International Journal of Education and Development, 86. October 2021. (with Michelle Kaffenberger).
“A Structured Model of the Dynamics of Student Learning in Developing Countries, with Applications to Policy.” International Journal of Education and Development, 82, April 2021. (with Michelle Kaffenberger).
“Learning Equity Requires More than Equality: Learning Goals and Achievement Gaps between the Rich and the Poor in Five Developing Countries.” International Journal of Education and Development, 82. April 2021. (with Maryam Akmal).
“The Risks to Education Systems from Design Mismatch and Global Isomorphism: Concepts, with Examples from India.” UNU-WIDER Working Paper 39. 2014.
“Does Public Sector Control Reduce Variance in School Quality?” 2015. Education Economics. (with Martina Viarengo).
“Slow down you’re going too fast: Matching Curricula to Student Skill Levels.” 2015. International Journal of Educational Development. (with Amanda Beatty).
“The Politics of Learning: Directions for Future Research.” 2018. RISE working paper 18/020.
“Girls’ Schooling and Women’s Literacy: Schooling Targets Alone Won’t Reach Learning Goals.” 2017. (with Michelle Kaffenberger). Center for Global Development Policy Paper #104.
“More Schooling and More Learning: Getting to the SDG of Universal Literacy.” 2017. (with Michelle Kaffenberger). RISE Working Paper 17/012.
“Producing superstars for the economic Mundial: The Mexican predicament with quality of education.” 2009. Mexico Competitiveness Report 2009. R Hausmann, E. Austin and I Mia (eds). World Economic Forum: Geneva, 2009. (with Martina Viarengo).
“The Policy Irrelevance of the Economics of Education: Is ‘Normative as Positive’ Useless, or Worse?” 2008. in “What Works in Development?: Thinking Big and Thinking Small. William Easterly and Jessica Cohen (eds.) Washington DC: Brookings, 2008.
“Does Schooling Help Explain Any of the Big Facts about Growth?” 2009. Education and Growth. Pedro Carneiro and Michael Spence (eds). Growth Commission, 2009.
“Long term challenges in education: Are there feasible steps today?” 2009. in Shaping Tomorrow Today Near-Term Steps Towards Long-Term Goals. Robert J. Lempert, Steven W. Popper, Endy Y. Min, James A. Dewar (eds). Rand Corporation: Santa Monica CA, 2009.