Adapting to Climate Change (News and Research 253)
Is Working from Home a Way of Adaptation to Climate Change? | For workers who have the flexibility to work at home, during extreme events, about 45 minutes of work time is shifted from their workplace to their home on business days.
Climate Risk, Performance, and Human Capital: Evidence From 100-Year Floods | Anticipated flood exposure reduces performance by 7% of a standard deviation. The effects are concentrated in lower elevations.
Data-Driven Change for Preschool Education in Georgia | A lack of data and measurement of early childhood education in Georgia made it difficult to determine the effectiveness of schools. A 2017 grant from the World Bank put in place a benchmarking platform that is helping parents become more informed and advocate for change. As a result of the grant, 877 preschools in Georgia have seen tangible improvements such as renovated classrooms, improved teacher training and increased resources.
Learning Recovery after COVID-19 In Europe and Central Asia: Policy and Practice
The COVID-19 crisis presents an opportunity to restructure educational practices to incorporate valuable lessons from remote learning and develop new strategies for improving student learning and learning equity. The Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region learning recovery plan includes three stages:
- Coping with the closing of schools through remote learning, instructional and psychosocial support, and compensatory programs for preventing learning losses
- Managing Continuity where reopened schools focus on providing foundational skills in language, math, and science to reduce learning loss and to improve learning among minorities and the poor
- From crisis to opportunity: Transforming education in Europe and Central Asia after COVID-19. The Russian translation is live: ВОССТАНОВЛЕНИЕ УЧЕБНОГО ПРОЦЕССА ПОСЛЕ COVID-19 В ЕВРОПЕ И ЦЕНТРАЛЬНОЙ АЗИИ: политика и практика.
Loud and Clear: Effective Language of Instruction Policies For Learning | Children learn more and are more likely to stay in school if they are first taught in their home language. Yet, a huge 37% of children in low- and middle-income countries are taught in a language they do not understand, putting them at a disadvantage and limiting their potential. This new policy approach paper, highlights how the right policies can improve learning outcomes, equity, and inclusion.
Media, Technology and Education in a Post-Truth Society | An accidental book. The backstory for this book is on record, in a whimsical video in June 2019, media interviews and the filmed proceedings of a two-day international conference in Malta in October 2019, convened with media scholars, blockchain experts, film-makers, philosophers, anthropologists, politicians, public prosecutors, data lawyers, bankers, activists, journalists, rock star technology editors and teenage students. The conference was activist by design. Assemble a bunch of brilliant thinkers and doers, get them to spar around the esoteric subject of the post-truth society in a historic building in Valletta, and develop a collective manifesto to combat post-truths. By the end of the two days, the plan was for the 3CL to set up an interdisciplinary global network and reconvene in a different geographical context early in 2020 and explore pilot projects for collaboration…
Lead exposure during childhood has long-lasting effects |Higher levels of exposure seem to stunt social development | That lead is poisonous is not a new discovery. Documentary evidence of health problems associated with lead mining goes back to 2,000BC. In 400BC, Hippocrates, sometimes called the father of Western medicine, accurately described the symptoms of lead poisoning. In the Roman Empire, lead poisoning was common because of the metal’s use in pipes, pottery and food. Exposure to lead in childhood can also have detrimental effects on personality and behaviour, and these last into adulthood.
The Role of Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfers in Improving Education Outcomes |The majority of the world’s children live in countries where local governments are responsible for the provision of basic education services. Although subnational governments manage their own education systems, they often rely on transfers from the central government for funding. The main purpose of this study is to assess how these fiscal transfers affect public funding for education and how they ultimately affect student schooling and learning outcomes. Through a careful analysis of how fiscal transfers have affected education systems in different contexts, the investigation develops a set of principles to support improvements in the design and implementation of transfer systems with a specific focus on the provision of education services. The study is centered on seven country case studies that aim to answer a set of common research questions using a similar approach. Country case studies were conducted in Brazil, Bulgaria, China, Colombia, Indonesia, Sudan, and Uganda. The analysis shows that fiscal transfer mechanisms can improve the adequacy of public education spending, reduce spending inequalities between regions, and improve spending efficiency. Moreover, the study highlights that carefully designed and implemented transfer systems can help raise overall education outcomes and reduce education inequality.
Building Evidence for Preschool Policy Change in Bulgaria
Dua Lipa visited the construction works for a kindergarten in Tirana, Albania, that was damaged by a recent earthquake. The works are partially financed by her Sunny Hill foundation. The Mayor of Tirana attended the event.
COVID-19 Global Education Recovery Tracker Discussion Recording and Materials | YouTube recording. Blog. See also: https://www.covideducationrecovery.global/
The COVID-19 Cost of School Closures in Earnings and Income across the World – now in print in Comparative Education Review | Estimates of the economic loss associated with COVID-19-induced school closures by mapping lost learning to the lifetime reduction of the earnings of graduates from 205 high-, middle-, and low-income countries
HLO (Harmonized Learning Outcomes) | Now in print in Nature: Angrist, N., S. Djankov, P.K. Goldberg and H.A. Patrinos. 2021. Measuring Human Capital using Global Learning Data. Nature 592: 403-408 | Summary in VoxEU | Data | Interesting use of HCI/HLO: Measuring human capital in South Africa using a socioeconomic status human capital index approach; and The dynamics of human capital accumulation in the ex-communist countries in Europe in the context of globalization.
Learning Loss During COVID-19: An Early Systematic Review | With COVID-19 having caused significant disruption to the global education system, researchers are beginning to become concerned with the impact that this has had on student learning progress and, in particular, if learning loss has been experienced. To evaluate this, we conduct a thorough analysis of recorded learning loss evidence documented between March 2020 and March 2021. This systematic review aims to consolidate available data and document what has currently been reported in the literature. Given the novelty of the subject, eight studies were identified; seven of these found evidence of student learning loss amongst at least some of the participants, while one of the seven also found instances of learning gains in a particular subgroup. The remaining study found increased learning gains in their participants. Additionally, four of the studies observed increases in inequality where certain demographics of students experienced learning losses more significant than others. It is determined that further research is needed to increase the quantity of studies produced, their geographical focus, and the numbers of students they observe.
Education, economics and public policy 