News and Research 237

It Is Critical to Reopen Schools, Says World Bank’s Malpass | World Bank President David Malpass says reopening schools is critical for developing nations (Bloomberg).

Simulating the Potential Impacts of COVID-19 School Closures on Schooling and Learning Outcomes: A Set of Global Estimates | Congratulations Aroob! | World Bank Research Observer | This paper presents simulations of the potential effect of COVID-19-related school closures on schooling and learning outcomes.

Школа, мы готовы? Влияние COVID-19 на образование: рекомендации и возможности для Украины (School, are we ready? Impact of COVID-19 on Education: Recommendations and Opportunities for Ukraine) | Prepared with James Gresham and Robin Donnelly | In Ukrainian; Russian; on Facebook | The closure of schools due to COVID-19 has caused a significant disruption in the provision of educational services across Europe.

Educated Americans live longer, as others die younger | A college degree, rather than sex or race, is becoming the main factor accounting for the difference in expected lifespans.

Tackling the Global Learning Crisis | Pinelopi Goldberg | By exacerbating a pre-existing “learning crisis,” the COVID-19 pandemic has undermined many developing countries’ long-term economic prospects. Even in the face of today’s fiscal constraints, immediate action to improve educational outcomes has become an urgent priority… the World Bank has built a database of Harmonized Learning Outcomes, comprising data from 164 countries between 2000 and 2017…

Back to the future: Harnessing women’s capital for new growth in Turkey | For nearly a century, Turkey has broken ground in areas of economic empowerment for women. Historically, the country was among the first nations to ratify laws that empowered women – from suffrage to the civil code. Despite this progress, however, old challenges persist as new ones arise, calling for renewed action.

Lessons from Denmark about Inequality and Social Mobility | Many American policy analysts point to Denmark as a model welfare state with low levels of income inequality and high levels of income mobility across generations. But powerful forces not easily mitigated by Danish-style welfare state programs operate in both countries.

Assessing the effect of Massive Open Online Courses as remedial courses in higher education | The current study assesses the effect of using Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) with the specific goal of providing remedial education.

Better Jobs and Brighter Futures: Investing in Childcare to Build Human Capital | This paper presents the evidence on why childcare matters, looks at the current status of childcare provision, including an estimate of the global gaps in access, and proposes specific actions countries can take to expand access to quality, affordable childcare for all families that need it, especially the most vulnerable.

Addressing the digital skills gap for future education | The COVID-19 pandemic has caused rushed digitalization of primary and secondary (K12) student education, and cyber-risks such as bullying, technology addiction, and misinformation must be addressed.

The schooling and labor market effects of eliminating university tuition in Ecuador | Ecuador eliminated tuition fees at public universities in 2008. The fee elimination increased college attendance and take-up of white-collar jobs. These effects were concentrated among groups of higher socioeconomic status.

Is four less than five? Effects of four-day school weeks on student achievement in Oregon | Examines the achievement impacts of four-day school weeks (4DSWs) in Oregon. 4DSW reduces achievement by between 0.033 and 0.059 SD. Examines returns to time in school using 4DSW adoption as an instrument. Hour increase in weekly time in school increases achievement by 0.006–0.018 SD.

Does Covid-19 make us more averse to inequality? | Inequality aversion (IA) reflects how much a society is willing to give up to achieve a more egalitarian distribution of well-being. IA is partially responsible for the observed levels of inequality in society, and may vary with individual characteristics such as age (more averse), income (less averse), aversion to other risks (more averse to inequality) and education (more averse).

Implications of COVID-19 for Low-cost Private Schools | COVID-19 has hit low-cost private schools (LCPS) especially hard. The economic shock of the pandemic has placed LCPS under significant financial stress; teachers reported losing their jobs, having their salaries cut, or not being paid at all. Thousands of LCPS have already shut down, and thousands more are on the brink of permanent closures.

COVID-19: Bringing Girls Back to School(WISE) | The impact of COVID-19 on girls’ education with HE Aïcha Bah Diallo, Noella Coursaris Musunka and Ana Rold. During the conversation, speakers looked at how to tackle measures that were put in place during the pandemic to bring girls back to school and the policies that need to be put in place to remedy the situation post-pandemic. Watch the replay of the conversation.

Commission adopts Green Paper on Ageing | The Commission has presented its Green Paper on Ageing as part of its efforts to launch an EU-wide debate on demographic change. The Commission’s Green Paper takes a life-cycle approach to changing demographics and intends to frame the debate. It highlights the need to encourage healthy ageing, lifelong learning, and improving access to education.

A chance to reboot globalization | Most fundamentally, there needs to be a radical rethink of life-long learning. During the first three industrial revolutions, the skills of workers were transformed by the advent of primary, secondary, and tertiary education, respectively. Now, we need to institutionalize retraining in mid-career — quaternary education — and integrate it with the social welfare system. After the tragedy of education under Covid, where poor broadband access meant that many children struggled, it should be clear now that universal, affordable, and fast internet access is a right. We should explore all options, including ambitious low Earth orbit satellite systems that leapfrog existing technologies, not least because, in a world where remote working is increasingly possible, the potential of the revolution in information and communications technology to “level up” can finally be realized.

First-of-its-kind database reveals global ‘learning crisis’ threatening economic development | A globe-spanning database sheds light on the scale of an education crisis that jeopardizes economic growth in developing economies, underscoring the need for education policy focused on giving children the skills and knowledge they require to build much-needed human capital. In an article published March 10 in Nature, researchers using globally comparable data on test outcomes from 164 countries found that despite increases in schooling across much of the world, students aren’t making measurable gains in learning itself.

¡De vuelta a clases! La educación como clave del crecimiento económico | La semana pasada muchos niños y niñas regresaron a las aulas, enfrentando este año el desafío de aprender en medio de una pandemia.

新冠肺炎之下的学校封锁严重影响了女性的经济未来 (World Bank: COVID-19 school closures threaten women’s economic future)

Chile destaca entre los países de Latinoamérica en estudio que mide alza de escolaridad y aprendizaje efectivo | La evidencia sugiere que a menudo este no es el caso, dice Noam Angrist.