The Power of Persistence: Education System ... - EQUIP123.net

to the point of functional literacy and numeracy). This emphasis on expanding
access to primary education has resulted in significant increases in enrollment
and reduction of out-of-school children in many countries. Although a
significant number of countries are not likely to fully achieve the goal of universal
enrollment by 2015, the progress is nonetheless notable.
However, although many more children are enrolled in school, there is
accumulating evidence that many of these enrolled children do not acquire the
desired level of literacy and numeracy—far less the fluency needed for economic
development. In response to this troubling evidence, increased and overdue
attention is being addressed to whether and how widespread development
activities, incentives and modalities result in reforms sought by recipients and
supported by donors.
Recent research by Eric Hanushek and Ludger Wößmann persuasively argues
that it is the students’ acquisition of skills and knowledge, not the number of
years which they complete in schools, that is the more important factor for
contributing to economic growth (Hanushek and Wößmann, 2008). A major
education sector study at the World Bank concluded that improved learning
outcomes should be the central objective of the education portfolio, supported by
improved sector management with the capacity for assessment, evaluation, and
research to inform decisions (World Bank, 2006). Similar recommendations have
come from USAID studies and the EFA monitoring report.
With an intensified focus on improving learning outcomes, education reform’s
access challenge is largely seen as a mix of expanding supply (financing, school
construction and location, provision of teachers and materials) and stimulating
demand, primarily by reducing the direct and indirect cost of attendance.
While these are not insignificant challenges, they are to some degree responsive
to financial solutions, and much of the international response has focused
on the funding gap. Addressing quality improvement and learning outcomes
requires more than getting children into school; improved learning outcomes
for individuals and groups requires a nuanced and nimble address of needs
within an even more complex set of challenges that include teacher and principal
performance, pedagogy, curriculum, materials, education philosophy, language
policy, parental expectations, and culturally appropriate models of education,
among others. Introducing changes of this nature on a system scale requires
complex reforms that must take into account local political, institutional, and
technical contexts.
SECTION 1: INTROdUCTION
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