This impact case study describes what Young Lives research shows on school effectiveness and its impact on poor children. For related impact stories, please follow us on Twitter @yloxford.

In overview:

With most children in the world now having access to primary education, the global focus is shifting from access to quality, effectiveness, equity and learning outcomes. These are huge national policy concerns given the size of education budgets, and the hundreds of millions of children worldwide who are not developing adequate basic skills. Young Lives longitudinal data offer detailed evidence of inequality of educational outcomes within each of the four countries, and between poorest and least poor. The data have been used at both national and international levels to inform and support recommendations for change in education, including by UNESCO and the World Bank. Young Lives designed its dedicated school effectiveness surveys in collaboration with key stakeholders in the study countries to ensure that they reflected local policy demands in education and that findings had maximum potential for impact. Young Lives’ work on school effectiveness and learning has had significant influence on the Department for International Development’s (DFID) RISE programme (Research on Improving Systems of Education).