Evidence to policy in education: leveraging rigorous research for improved education quality

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

Policymakers, educators, and researchers want to leverage the lessons of rigorous research to improve education for students around the world. But how can they do this, in practice? How can researchers collaborate with educators and policymakers to produce research that builds the body of evidence by contributing to important theoretical debates while also helping policymakers make improved policy decisions in contexts of limited resources? What kinds of lessons for education policy can we draw from the vast body of existing evidence on education quality around the world? What does strong collaboration between researchers and policymakers on a specific research project look like, and what kind of generalizable and context-specific knowledge can such a project produce? Finally, what are the opportunities for leveraging existing (administrative) data in education, and how can we leverage this data in a cost-effective way to improve education for students?

In this panel, researchers, policymakers, and leaders from international research and policy organizations will discuss their experiences in helping to deliver on the promise of rigorous research for improved education policy. The first presentation will present a synthesis of rigorous evidence generated in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, focusing on a model for synthesizing research findings accurately and with any eye to real-world policy openings and on-the-ground challenges. The second presentation will highlight an example of this kind of research, a play-based preschool learning program in rural Ghana, which contributes to the body of evidence in quality of education and exemplifies the collaboration between researchers and educators to influence policy and programmatic decisions. The third presentation will focus on how to build a research project at scale with government ownership, using the Ghanaian targeted instruction project Strengthening Teacher Accountability to Reach All Students (STARS) as an example, The final presentation will discuss the promise of existing administrative data as an opening for rigorous research as well as improved decision-making in education policy. Examples from Peru and Zambia will illustrate the contribution of this information to both general knowledge in the field of comparative and international education, as well as to improved education policymaking, including the scale-up of education interventions that have been proven to work.

Throughout the panel, presenters will draw on examples from Latin America, Africa, and Asia to discuss the connections between conducting research and influencing education policymaking.

Sub Unit

• General Pool

Chair

• Annie Duflo, Innovations for Poverty Action

Individual Presentations

• Strengthening the Quality of Education in Developing Contexts: Rigorous evidence from randomized evaluations - Heidi McAnnally-Linz, Innovations for Poverty Action

• The Effects of a Play-Based Preschool Learning Program in Rural Ghana - Bet Caeyers, Institute for Fiscal Studies; Sonya Krutikova, Institute for Fiscal Studies; Pamela Jervis, Institute for Fiscal Studies

• Building a Research Project at Scale with Government Ownership: The Strengthening Teacher Accountability to Reach All Students (STARS) Project - Bridget Konadu Gyamfi, Innovations for Poverty Action

• Strengthening and Leveraging Administrative Data to support evidence-based decision-making in education - Bethany Park, Innovations for Poverty Action

Discussant

• Cynthia Bosumtwi-Sam, Ghana Education Service