Evidence in International Education: Design, Implementation, and Impact

Catalog description

This course explores the use of evidence in international primary education and child development efforts. It begins with an overview of how evidence is used in three phases of reform or intervention: design, implementation, and impact. It offers a framework for thinking about where research questions are in a project cycle. Students will be asked to systematically consider who is asking the question and the implications of the answer for whether and how evidence is used. The course uses real cases from international education to explore key topics, such as: structured pedagogy, education technology, bi- and multi-lingual classrooms, time on task, equity, learning materials, school readiness, social-emotional learning, girls education, parents’ roles in learning, teaching at the right level, and scaling. With each topic, the class will read current evidence syntheses and explore the production and use of evidence in at least one real-world setting. Guest speakers from several of these efforts will share their experience and engage the class in learning in more depth about evidence use in ongoing reforms. We’ll explore concepts of replicability, external validity and evidence use in adaptative management. Students will also learn about the types of outcome measures commonly used in generating this evidence – assessments of basic reading and math skills, holistic child development and social-emotional, or “21st century skills” – as well as some of their challenges. They will learn about measures commonly used to capture implementation fidelity and quality of learning environments. Students will become familiar with current debates in international basic education and child development. They will know the current state of the evidence that underpins these debates, and the measures used to move these fields of inquiry forward. Assignments will challenge students to…