What’s the big idea? In my lifetime (I was born in 1959) the world has been transformed by a massive expansion in schooling. To first approximation the world in 1959 was a place in which relatively few adults in the developing world had been to any school whereas today (2018) nearly every child in the world attends some school. This is a massive success of the development process. However, the goal of schooling was for children to learn the skills(hard and soft), competencies, knowledge, and practices they would need to be successful adults. But, tragically, “schooling ain’t learning” and the place to find uneducated children today is in school. This lack of schooling to convey sufficient learning to prepare children for their future is the “learning crisis.”
“A Millennium Learning Goal: Measuring Real Progress in Education,” Center for Global Development Working Paper no. 97, 2006. (with Deon Filmer and Amer Hasan).
The Indian NGO Pratham and the annual ASER assessment of learning they pioneered in India (and now adopted in many countries around the world) have been massively influential on my thinking–and on the world. Their annual reports (the latest report on 2018 will be launched January 15th, 2019) and their previous year’s study on youth aged 14-18, Beyond Basics, are key evidence of the learning crisis.