During the Covid-19 pandemic, online tutoring emerged as a potential solution to education challenges resulting from school closures on a massive scale. We are just having a first glimpse of the consequences of the pandemic on students’ outcomes—and it does not look good.
More and more people and institutions acknowledge that the foundations of children's cognitive, language, motor and socioemotional development are laid during gestation and the first five years of life. Based on this certainty, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has promoted investments, research, and interventions in favor of children's development in the region over the last 15 years.
How do we make sure that 6.3 million migrant children in Latin America and the Caribbean get quality education? We had the great opportunity to explore this issue during the IDB event “Learning on the Move: Quality Education for Migrant Children & Youth.”
For us and two hundred education policy makers, scientists, field workers, and educators, it was an honor to listen to and interact with three key experts in the field.
Latin American employers cannot find the workers they need. Workers lack the right skills, but they don’t have time or resources to participate in training. Micro-credentials, a type of alternative credentials, could be a solution, given their targeted nature, as they can increase the number of workers with a specific skill. But, for micro-credentials to be a real solution, some challenges must still be addressed. How are other countries addressing these challenges?
Student performance on standardized tests is typically the main measure of school quality. However, is it the case that schools that improve academic test scores are the same schools that also improve important longer-run outcomes such as crime, risky behaviors, college attendance, and earnings?
In 2020, national school feeding programs delivered school meals to more children than at any time in human history, making this the most extensive social safety net in the world. Indeed, approximately $41-43 billion is spent annually on school feeding, which serves not only to create human capital to secure future national economic growth but also as an important investment in local economies.
Obtaining new credentials is a common strategy for workers looking to reskill in advance of a career change or re-employment following a layoff. Increasingly, individuals are seeking credentials, such as certificates, certifications, and badges, in order to maximize their marketability to employers or advance within their current position.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused nearly 15 million excess deaths across the globe. Although mortality rates are lowest among children and youth, the young face another emergency: the learning crisis.
Traditional degrees take years and often thousands of dollars to acquire—and they sometimes fail to prepare students for the workplace. They are costly for individuals, their families, companies, and society, in terms of both direct outlays and opportunity costs. Recognizing the high cost of a post-secondary degree, both students and employers are looking for more pertinent, shorter, less expensive, non-degree, alternative credentials (such as certifications and certificates) as both complements and alternatives to traditional degrees.
Although youth tend to have milder symptoms from the COVID-19 virus, the pandemic has brought unprecedented changes and challenges into their lives and particularly their mental health. Pandemic-related school closures have disrupted their learning and isolated them from peers.