Quality Education for All Children?

This working paper shows what works in getting children into school in developing countries, keeping them there, and ensuring that they learn whilst there. 

It is based on a systematic review undertaken by WestEd (a nonprofit, public research and development agency) on studies from 1990 to 2009 (Petrosino et al., 2012), plus additional studies with evidence on test scores and studies which were published after 2009 (see appendix 1 on the search strategy, and the list of included studies on pages 47-52). The WestEd review identified all studies that reported outcomes related to enrolment, attendance, progression or graduation. Eligible studies were those which had assessed primary or secondary school outcomes linked to the four main schooling effects under examination, used robust evaluation methods and had been conducted in a low- or middle-income country.

Each chapter describes the intervention, its theory of change, implementation experience and evidence of impact. The final chapter pulls together conclusions about what works and what does not.