Education, economics and public policy

[From HuffPost] I just read The Happiest Kids in the World: Bringing up Children the Dutch Way by Doing Less by Rina Mae Acosta and Michele Hutchison. It turns out that by relaxing more you can raise happy, well-adjusted, bright children. It’s great parenting advice. Dutch children are globally ranked Number 1 in happiness. Also,Continue reading “Happy and Smart Kids: 3 Lessons from the Netherlands”

Autonomous higher education

  Learning for all: shared principles for equitable and excellent basic education systems  More than 200 participants – including government officials, policymakers and education experts from over 20 countries gathered in Jakarta, Indonesia, for the global conference Learning for All: Shared Principles for Equitable and Excellent Basic Education Systems.  The conference addressed themes related to improvingContinue reading “News and Research 42: Shared principles for equitable and excellent basic education”

In 1980 China’s GDP per capita was $193. Lower than that of Bangladesh, Chad and Malawi.  This means that average food consumption was below basic nutritional standards.  But 30 years later, China is the world’s second largest economy, the world’s largest exporter and GDP per capita jumped 30-fold to $6,091 – at the same timeContinue reading “How China Escaped the Poverty Trap”

  China to make high school compulsory Move expected to raise enrollment ratio, support children in less developed areas. The country is to extend the current nine-year compulsory education to encompass high school students nationwide by 2020, according to a guideline recently released by the Ministry of Education and other three ministries. The Guideline forContinue reading “News and Research 41: China to make high school compulsory”

  Tonga PEARL Music Video produced for public awareness.  Titled “Read with Your Child for At Least 10 Minutes a Day” it will air on national television starting Monday. This is one of the various ways we are working with the Ministry of Education in Tonga to promote school readiness and early childhood development underContinue reading “News and Research 40: Netherlands & Finland at Top of World in Life Satisfaction for Students”

The impact of an accountability intervention with diagnostic feedback Evidence from Mexico The Mexican state of Colima implemented a low-stakes accountability intervention with diagnostic feedback among schools with the lowest test scores in the national assessment. A difference-in-difference and a regression discontinuity design are used to identify the effects of the intervention on learning outcomes.Continue reading “News and Research 39: The impact of an accountability intervention with diagnostic feedback”