By Ghulam Omar Qargha Over the past decade, it has become evident that although more children are gaining access to schooling, there needs to be improvement in learning outcomes. The recent Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) highlighted a decline in reading proficiency in 28 out of the 45 participating countries between 2016 and 2021. The current model of schooling is not meeting the needs of a significant portion of the world’s population and is extraordinarily vulnerable to catastrophic events such as the COVID-19 pandemic. We need to transform our educational systems i ..read more

By Ghulam Omar Qargha, Emily Markovich Morris Last month, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed acknowledged that achieving the goal of quality education for all by 2030 is unlikely due to the “triple crisis in education” many countries face—”equity and inclusion, quality, and relevance.” Ensuring education systems are relevant requires reflecting on the historical purposes of schooling and examining how those purposes have evolved in different contexts. Having dialogues about what relevant, inclusive, and quality education means for diverse communities and societies is a critical part of ..read more

By Mary Burns Many readers may remember the massive open online courses (MOOC) craze of the early 2010s and the frothy prognostications of their transformational power. MOOCs were the future—they would furnish the least advantaged learners with the highest-quality learning, revolutionize the brick-and-mortar university, and directly deliver education that was accessible and equitable to anyone who wanted it. For those in the international development field, like me, MOOCs would eventually spell the demise of certain types of technical assistance as part of foreign aid. Readers will a ..read more

By Colin Crossley, Jenny Perlman Robinson The world is still coming to terms with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. With over a billion children experiencing some form of extended school closure from 2020 to 2022, children’s learning remains severely affected. At the same time, COVID-19 forced rapid innovation and testing new ways of doing things, including in education. Youth Impact, a nongovernmental organization based in Botswana, has been at the forefront of this response. Since 2019, Youth Impact and partners from the Center for Universal Education have documented the process of implem ..read more

By Christopher J. Thomas Since 2010, the ASU-GSV Summit has connected people focused on transforming society and education. This year’s theme was “ensuring everyone has an equal opportunity to participate in the future.” It energized and focused the attention of more than 7,000 educators, philanthropists, and business leaders. They know that the world has big problems—climate change, jobs and technology, peace and security, and inequality—and that young people will need a high level of education and skills to navigate the complex, interconnected world that they are inheriting. Educators are tr ..read more

By Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Lisa Guernsey, Phillip Ellis, Roberta Michnick Golinkoff Daniel Pink’s seminal book, A Whole New Mind, presaged a paradigm shift. His ominous words, “The keys to the kingdom are changing hands,” put lawyers, programmers, and data crunchers on alert. He predicted that makers and creative empathizers would soon take their place as workers with the most valued skills. They would be the ones to find success in the 21st century. In November 2022, the release of ChatGPT, which can synthesize data, write like Shakespeare, and replicate images like Picasso, made this warning ever ..read more

By Ghulam Omar Qargha, Tendekai Mukoyi Successful scaling of education initiatives requires the effective coordination and collaboration of many individuals. Among these individuals, experience and research show that champions of the initiative are essential, along with innovation originators, funders, policymakers, and practitioners.  Champions can be leaders of NGOs, policymakers, teachers, and parent groups, and play a crucial role in increasing visibility, building political will, fostering support, mobilizing resources, and creating an enabling environment for scaling. Although there ..read more

By Rebecca Winthrop Last week Representative Suzanne Bonamici, a Democrat from Oregon, introduced a resolution on the “The Bill of Rights for Students and Parents,” in public education to respond to the introduction of H.R.5, a bill titled the “Parents Bill of Rights Act,” introduced on March 1 by Republican Representative Julia Letlow of Louisiana. These dueling proposals have different flavors, with H.R.5 focused on public transparency around education content (e.g., curriculum, library books, and teachers’ materials such as manuals and videos they may use in the classroom) and resources (e ..read more

By Nasrin Siddiqa, Arundhuti Gupta, Anthony Luvanda Every year, the UN marks International Women’s Day by identifying a critical challenge impacting women and girls and advocating new policy tackling the issue. As the world continues to grapple with the implications of AI chatbots and the strong link among social media, misinformation, and democracy, this year’s theme “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality” examines the link between digital technologies and gender. At the forefront of building an inclusive digital world for girls and women are several Echidna Global Scholars ..read more

By Amna Qayyum, Atenea Rosado-Viurques The UN’s theme for this year’s International Women’s Day, “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality,” highlights the impact of a growing digital gender divide on social and economic inequalities. Girls and women are consistently less likely to have access to information communication technologies, such as the internet, cell phones, and financial services. An estimated 43 percent of women compared to 38 percent of men around the world do not have access to the internet. The gendered nature of this divide is especially stark in some regions a ..read more