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What makes a good teacher? (Hint: commitment and training)
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We all instinctively recognize a good teacher when we meet one—someone who brings the subject matter to life, makes it relevant, supports critical engagement, and so much more. Many of us can name at least one teacher who made a big difference in our educational journey. Perhaps that is why writers and movie makers—from the musty days of Goodbye, Mr. Chips and Blackboard Jungle, to Sidney Poitier Show MoreWe all instinctively recognize a good teacher when we meet one—someone who brings the subject matter to life, makes it relevant, supports critical engagement, and so much more. Many of us can name at least one teacher who made a big difference in our educational journey. Perhaps that is why writers and movie makers—from the musty days of Goodbye, Mr. Chips and Blackboard Jungle, to Sidney Poitier in To Sir with Love to Meryl Streep in Music of the Heart, to Robin Williams in Dead Poet’s Society and Richard Dreyfuss in Mr. Holland’s Opus—have found success in relating stories of the profound effect that good teachers can have on learning and on the lives of their students.
While the personal and vocational qualities that characterize all good teachers are important, other factors also inform the making and nurturing of good teachers, including quality training. In this three-part blog series drawing on the findings of IEG’s Selected Drivers of Education Quality: Pre- and In-Service Teacher Training we first discuss what underpins effective teacher training then, in subsequent blogs, we look at World Bank support for quality teaching. Of course, we recognize that context—governance, the policy environment, the quality of service delivery, resources, incentives—can also shape and influence how teachers are trained and the expectations under which they operate. Even allowing for this, the importance of training in producing quality teachers who contribute to quality learning outcomes cannot be underestimated.
So, what do we know? First, we know that teacher effort and capacity are critical to student learning and educational outcomes. We also know, as highlighted in the World Development Report 2018: Learning to Realize the Promise of Education, that quality learning is, or at least should be, central to any education system. Finally, we know that, in line with the World Bank’s Human Capital Project, education is critical for human development. Put simply, we know that the stakes are high.
As such, and as illustrated below, support for professional development to improve teacher capacity—both pre-service and in-service—is a critical input in pursuit of education quality.
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Quality pre-service training relies, in the first instance, on screening and filtering mechanisms designed to ensure the selection of quality candidates. But the efficacy of these mechanisms is itself reliant on high demand premised on the attractiveness of teaching compared to other professions. The attractiveness of teaching rests on factors such as initial pay, career opportunities, incentive and support structures, classroom and school working conditions, as well as cultural aspects related to how society views teachers. To ensure the selection of quality of candidates, screening requires transparent and meaningful requirements to enter and exit pre-service institutions, such as examinations, grades, or graduation requirements.
Coursework in both content and pedagogical knowledge that is grounded in the curricula of the schools where trainee teachers will eventually teach is clearly essential. This requires the availability of qualified teacher educators who can impart relevant skills. But it also needs to be supported by the necessary learning materials as well as the requisite duration and intensity of teacher training courses –determined with reference to context—to ensure the development of effective teachers.
Teaching involves the mastery and exercise of various skills, which makes practicum—the supervised practical application of a previously or concurrently studied field or theory—a critical component of well-rounded professional development. Effective practicums help teachers gradually assume more tasks and more responsibilities supported by monitoring and mentoring based on productive partnerships between training institutions and schools. This, in turn, should help create a trainee-centered experience that allows for formative assessment based on constructive feedback, accompanied by reflection and dialogue.
Effective quality assurance mechanisms can underpin the entire education system through, for example, provision of accreditation for training institutions and support for certification and alternative preparation for teaching. More specifically, quality assurance can underpin quality, objectivity, and transparency for both pre- and in-service training systems. It can help ensure adherence to training standards, removal of political influence, and the exercise of effective control over the number of candidates entering the system. Quality assurance can also ensure regulation of screening mechanisms regarding, for example, the implementation and integrity of assessment and examinations, providing clear signals that such screening mechanisms are free from manipulation.
Finally, quality in-service training can be vital in supplementing and improving teachers’ instructional practices and knowledge conducive to student learning. Quality in-service training observes adult learning principles, is implemented over an adequate duration, and offers sustained follow-up support through coaching or feedback that promotes reflection. It may be easier to ensure the presence of these characteristics in smaller pilot efforts, but it is imperative, if enhanced learning outcomes are the focus, that quality is maintained and sustained when in-service training is scaled up.
In the second and third blog in this series we elaborate on what the World Bank has done to support pre- and in-service teacher training, where it has placed an emphasis, what it has done well, and where it might need to improve to scale-up training programs.
Read IEG's report: Selected Drivers of Education Quality: Pre- and In-Service Teacher Training
Pictured above: A teacher trainee helps out in the class two classroom by passing out textbooks. As part of her training she will spend three weeks observing and working with each teacher in the school. Sandogo “B” primary school, District 7, Ouagadougou. Credit: GPE Kelley Lynch
Convening for Peace: Lessons from Evaluating the World Bank Group
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More and more, the World Bank Group is contributing to international collective action to realize Sustainable Development Goal 16 for just and peaceful societies. A recent evaluation assesses the Bank Group’s global engagements of the kind. It finds that the Bank Group is a sought-after global player. Aligning global convening efforts with in-country programs, and monitoring them systematically, Show MoreMore and more, the World Bank Group is contributing to international collective action to realize Sustainable Development Goal 16 for just and peaceful societies. A recent evaluation assesses the Bank Group’s global engagements of the kind. It finds that the Bank Group is a sought-after global player. Aligning global convening efforts with in-country programs, and monitoring them systematically, could further benefit the World Bank Group’s convening for peace.
This week the World Bank will wrap up its Fragility Forum, a biennial event that brings together practitioners and policymakers from around the world to exchange knowledge about engaging in contexts affected by fragility, conflict and violence (FCV).
The World Bank Group’s ability to bring together, or convene, actors on major global issues this way is an example of the convening power it holds.
Alongside its capacity to mobilize financing and provide advisory and analytical services to address development challenges, the Bank Group’s role as a global convener is a cornerstone of its value proposition to clients and shareholders. How well does the Bank Group deploy its convening power? IEG recently explored this.
We assessed how the World Bank Group convenes international partners to act collectively on global issues critical to its mission. This is a first-of-its-kind evaluation, that explores what global issues the Bank Group convenes on, what factors drive its convening choices, and what factors determine its convening effectiveness.
We found that that the World Bank Group is increasingly engaging in efforts that relate to fragile contexts, driven by high demands from shareholders and donors to help achieve Sustainable Development Goal 16 (SDG 16) on peace. The Bank Group largely meets these demands, assuming the role of a responsive global convener.
Aligning the World Bank Group’s global and country-level work
Stakeholders typically request the Bank Group to work in tandem with other specialized international organizations, particularly the UN, when convening around FCV issues. Our evaluation found that the Bank Group’s convenings on many such themes – including crisis response, forced displacement, and the humanitarian-development-peace nexus – are indeed based on strong collaborations with different development partners, including the UN.
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A recent IEG evaluation finds that the World Bank Group has strong comparative advantages in catalyzing action on global agendas.
Some of the Bank Group’s financial mechanisms to address FCV and forced displacement respond to demand from prominent stakeholders to help shape multilateral responses to these issues. Financial mechanisms such as the State and Peacebuilding Fund, the Global Concessional Financing Facility for middle-income countries, and IDA, including IDA’s Sub-Window for Refugees and Host Communities, help make the Bank a stronger convener on FCV issues.
At the same time, our interviews and case studies identified weaker translation of these global agendas into country-level engagements. While at times this can be due to political sensitivities of operating in FCV contexts, our findings suggest that internally within the World Bank Group, the global work could benefit from more consistent reflection in country programs. This could help ensure better results on the ground.
At times, the Bank Group’s country engagement model can be limiting when addressing challenges that cross national boundaries. World Bank projects predominantly implement country-focused solutions – improving coordination across the Bank’s country teams, and strengthening ownership of regional programs among partner governments, could benefit the global work.
Improving accountability for convening results
The share of the World Bank’s operating budget going to global engagements is around 13 percent. Yet there is no clear system to track convening initiatives and results.
Successful global convening should lead to outcomes such as shared understanding, or changes in positions and attitudes; shared solutions, or negotiated changes in standards, policies, and financing practices; and shared implementation, or setting up programs and partnerships to finance and coordinate given development challenges.
In the absence of tracking systems, managerial attention to the convening portfolio risks being uneven and less systematic. Attention gets paid to some prominent initiatives and many of the formal partnership programs.
However, there is less oversight of convening initiatives when they are managed below the corporate level, at the department or vice-presidential unit levels. This occurs because convening initiatives sometimes lack explicitly stated objectives, success cannot be measured easily, and managing units face relatively weak accountability for their performance.
To improve the effectiveness of global convening, including on efforts to support Sustainable Development Goal 16, corporate processes and systems could better support managing convening initiatives over their life cycle. Many of the global and regional initiatives that the World Bank Group convenes in the space of fragility, conflict, and violence are relatively recent, and some have already passed their piloting phase. It is critical to have these initiatives periodically assessed to ensure better selectivity of global engagements and a focus on results.
Learn more about the effectiveness of the World Bank Group’s global convening in The World’s Bank: An Evaluation of the World Bank Group’s Global Convening. The report seeks to inform discussions about the Bank Group’s role as a major actor on global development policy issues at a time when demand for collective response to crises is increasing but support for multilateralism from major powers is fragile.
To read about the Bank Group’s convening on issues related to FCV, please see Appendix E of the evaluation and the World Bank Group’s FCV Strategy.
Image credit: Andrea Schmitz
When Conflict and COVID Collide: Towards a Risk Analysis Framework
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As COVID reaches the world’s most fragile states, understanding how it is impacting conflict dynamics is critical. How do we best monitor these effects? As COVID reaches the world’s most fragile states, understanding how it is impacting conflict dynamics is critical. How do we best monitor these effects?
Nicaragua: Fourth Roads Rehabilitation and Maintenance Project and Rural Roads Infrastructure Improvement Project (PPAR)
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The World Bank has supported the road sector in Nicaragua since early 1990. It has helped remove road infrastructure bottlenecks, introduced innovations in road work delivery and maintenance, and strengthened capacity and institutions in the sector. In the course of this three-decade collaboration, cooperative-based road maintenance enterprises, concrete block roads, and concrete block surfacing Show MoreThe World Bank has supported the road sector in Nicaragua since early 1990. It has helped remove road infrastructure bottlenecks, introduced innovations in road work delivery and maintenance, and strengthened capacity and institutions in the sector. In the course of this three-decade collaboration, cooperative-based road maintenance enterprises, concrete block roads, and concrete block surfacing through communitybased surfacing units have become salient features of the World Bank’s engagement in the sector. Both projects in this assessment, the Fourth Roads Rehabilitation and Maintenance Project and the Rural Roads Infrastructure Improvement Project, approved in 2006 and 2011, respectively, were preceded by the original Rehabilitation and Maintenance Project and the Second and Third Road Rehabilitation and Maintenance Projects. These projects were approved by the World Bank between 1996 and 2001. They were followed by the ongoing Urban Access Improvement Project, which was approved in 2017.
Ratings for the Fourth Roads Rehabilitation and Maintenance Project are as follows: Outcome was satisfactory, Risk to development outcome was moderate, Bank performance was satisfactory, and Borrower performance was satisfactory. Ratings for the Rural Roads Infrastructure Improvement Project are as follows: Outcome was satisfactory, Risk to development outcome was substantial, Bank performance was satisfactory, and Borrower performance was substantial. This assessment offers the following lessons: (i) Rigor in the selection of roads to be financed and continued support for road planning can help countries use resources effectively and create a planning culture. (ii) Contract features and strict enforcement appear critical to taking full advantage of performance-based routine maintenance contracts. (iii) Upgrading rural roads to all-weather access needs to be comprehensive. (iv) Providing limited technical assistance support in many areas with little upfront preparation might restrict project results. (v) Close stakeholder involvement and post-completion outreach strategies might increase the usefulness of project-financed studies. (vi) A strong results framework is likely to facilitate results measurement.
Investing in Evaluation Capacity Development in India: Why it Matters Now More than Ever
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Investing in evaluation capacity development in India: Why it matters now more than ever
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Governments around the world face the daunting task of addressing a downward spiral of economic activity coupled with a growing health burden from the spread of the coronavirus disease. India is no exception, and the government has had to be innovative in both designing policies and deploying resources to cope with the twin challenges.
We believe that two elements can be game-changers in Show MoreGovernments around the world face the daunting task of addressing a downward spiral of economic activity coupled with a growing health burden from the spread of the coronavirus disease. India is no exception, and the government has had to be innovative in both designing policies and deploying resources to cope with the twin challenges.
We believe that two elements can be game-changers in addressing the crisis: the use of data and leveraging partnerships. For almost a decade, CLEAR South Asia has been collaborating with state governments in India to undertake systematic capacity-building efforts on data and evidence use for policy decision-making.
Policymakers at the state and central levels have to lead the charge on developing data capacity and building strategic partnerships. They will need to think innovatively to respond swiftly to emerging challenges.
It has been gratifying to see the government’s creative use of real-time data and technology for planning containment strategies and service delivery. We are also seeing an exciting mix of organizations, such as technology enablers, private companies, non-profits and research institutions complementing government efforts to tackle the most difficult challenges and protect the most vulnerable.
For these opportunities to be genuinely advantageous, the government must be able to collate and analyze data from multiple sources to understand fully the nature of problems confronting us and to respond effectively. Strengthened data capabilities of the government, whether independently or by leveraging partnerships, to interpret, absorb, and use data and evidence to make informed decisions are urgently needed.
However, system-level changes take time, and data use capabilities cannot be built overnight. The foundation of a systems change that is conducive and incentive-compatible for governments to internalize a data-driven approach needs to be laid in advance.
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Creating sustainable channels
Leveraging our host institution J-PAL SA’s institutional partnership (now in its sixth year) with the state government of Tamil Nadu in India, CLEAR SA, in collaboration with the state bureaucracy, has developed and executed a multi-pronged, customized capacity-building strategy. We engage with multiple levels of government to build capabilities across domains, using customized workshops, hands-on training, and advisory.
These efforts have culminated in structural channels that allow for useful feedback loops to inform decisions. Our capacity-building approach had three key features:
First, our long-term, government-wide partnership in Tamil Nadu is founded on a 360 degree, deeply embedded life-cycle approach which forges linkages between research, capacity building, and policy advisory to enable data use for decisions.
Second, we now know that knowledge transfer is most effective when combined with live examples. Adoption is greater when demonstrated and allows for learning by doing. Multiple touchpoints and continued engagement have helped build trust and value, and sustain the commitment through elections, transfers of key personnel, and shifts in policy priorities.
Third, we recognize that decision-making, especially on the adoption of new ideas or practices can be non-sequential– meaning that what we build and recommend today, could come to use a year or more later. A key strength is in being able to identify and be responsive to an opportunity whenever it emerges. In our experience, this is possible when the groundwork is laid upfront. Thus, when a policy window opens, the only incremental effort needed is to refresh and connect the dots, and not have to start from scratch.
A longer-term systems-driven capacity-building approach can lead to increased sensitivity and reception to data-driven decision-making among governments.
Tamil Nadu is a good example, which has a substantial aging population, and their well-being is an important priority. The Department of Economics and Statistics, in collaboration with leading researchers, launched the first-ever state-wide elderly panel survey in 2016-17. For almost four years, CLEAR SA provided technical advisory services and training workshops (mirroring activities on the project timeline) on sampling, questionnaire design, and data quality to enable rigorous and efficient data collection.
Our capacity-building efforts led to the adoption of independent backchecks (a standard practice in research) by the department to ensure the quality of data. Last year, the department completed the baseline survey across five districts. Taking cognizance of a critical finding of a growing proportion of elderly living alone, the government announced in their latest budget, a pilot intervention of elderly daycare centers in the state. In addition to these policy wins, the department also adopted digital data collection for their surveys and plan to conduct a follow-up wave next year.
We are now planning an evaluation of this pilot to inform expansion approaches. Further, during the current crisis, via the use of phone surveys, the government and researchers can track whether the elderly covered in the survey are facing any issues during the Covid-19 lockdown.
Such a holistic, long-term, and embedded approach was instrumental in creating systems for new and high-quality data collection, use of data for planning, decisions, and increased appetite for further evaluations. It also means that the goal of adopting a systematic approach to designing innovative policies and deploying resources to protect a vulnerable population such as the elderly, is achievable.
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Tajikistan: Energy Loss Reduction Project (PPAR)
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This project was approved on June 30, 2005, for a cost of $30.0 million, including an International Development Association credit of $17.9 million. The project cost increased to $48 million after restructuring and additional finance of $18.0 million. The project closed on December 31, 2014, two and a half years later than the originally scheduled date of June 30, 2012. The original objective was Show MoreThis project was approved on June 30, 2005, for a cost of $30.0 million, including an International Development Association credit of $17.9 million. The project cost increased to $48 million after restructuring and additional finance of $18.0 million. The project closed on December 31, 2014, two and a half years later than the originally scheduled date of June 30, 2012. The original objective was, to assist [Tajikistan] in reducing commercial losses in the electricity and gas systems, and to lay the foundation for the improvement of the financial viability of the electricity and gas utilities in a socially responsible manner. In 2012, the project objective was expanded to include, to assist in the viability assessment of the proposed Rogun HEP [hydroelectric project] in Tajikistan.
Ratings for the Energy Loss Reduction Project are as follows: Outcome was moderately unsatisfactory, Risk to development outcome was high, Bank performance was unsatisfactory, and Borrower performance was moderately unsatisfactory. Lessons from this project include: (i) The development effectiveness of the World Bank’s continuous sectorwide engagement in a country can be diminished significantly if the risk analysis at project appraisal is not comprehensive and candid and if prompt course corrections are not made during implementation when a major risk is realized. (ii) The World Bank should proactively ensure that a project component that is crucial to achieving the project development objective and is funded through parallel financing arrangements is designed and implemented in an effective and complementary manner. (iii) The World Bank’s convening capacity can contribute to resolving politically complex and technically demanding development issues that cut across national boundaries, by creating a transparent and inclusive consultative process, and marshaling globally recognized expertise.
When evaluators cannot make it to the field, they can always observe from space
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Field missions are at the very core of project evaluation. An evaluator will start with a desk-based review of available project information and prepare a methodology to assess the effectiveness of a project. However, it is only by interacting with policymakers, implementing agencies, and project beneficiaries that the evaluator gets a better understanding of the reality affecting the design and Show MoreField missions are at the very core of project evaluation. An evaluator will start with a desk-based review of available project information and prepare a methodology to assess the effectiveness of a project. However, it is only by interacting with policymakers, implementing agencies, and project beneficiaries that the evaluator gets a better understanding of the reality affecting the design and implementation of projects. This ‘reality-check’ stimulates learning and allows the evaluator to fine-tune their questions and methodology.
The current COVID-19 travel restrictions pose significant challenges to field-based assessments of project effectiveness. So, what can evaluators do when they can’t get in the field?
One possibility is to observe project impacts from space. Geospatial data is information collected by satellites pinpointed to an exact geographical location on earth. It is often freely available, covers several time periods, and offers a wide range of interesting indicators. Popular geospatial data are indicators of market accessibility, agroecology, and the environment. A geospatial dataset can thus be constructed by linking multiple geospatial data points with the geographical location of project activities and their surroundings.
The possibility to construct a geospatial dataset for evaluating a project provides a unique opportunity for a robust quantitative assessment of project effectiveness. Beyond effectiveness, geospatial data can also provide a wealth of descriptive information that allows evaluators to better understand the local context. Even if visiting a project site is no longer possible due to COVID-19 related travel restrictions, evaluators can get a detailed picture of what is happening where in the project area by observing from space.
IEG is analyzing geospatial datasets in several of its ongoing evaluations including an urban transport project in Mozambique, a sustainable land- and water-management project in Ethiopia, and a biodiversity project in Madagascar.
Geospatial analysis usually involves two steps. First, geospatial data is used to precisely and accurately measure an indicator of project effectiveness. When a chronological series of geospatial data is available, changes in the indicator can be calculated using different measurements over time. The geospatial data on land use and road infrastructure are of particular interest to IEG’s evaluations. The ‘vegetation greenness’ of the land in Ethiopia is measured by looking at changes over time in the coverage of land with green vegetation. Similarly, deforestation rates in Madagascar are measured as the change in forest coverage of the land surface over time. In Mozambique and India, the density of social and economic activities is measured by the travel distance to urban amenities using roads.
Second, as geospatial information is available for locations beyond the project boundaries, a proper ‘counterfactual’ can be constructed. The counterfactual illustrates a ‘with and without’ scenario - what would have happened at the project location if project activities were not implemented there. Combining the temporal and spatial variation in geospatial data provides a very robust ‘difference-in-difference’ assessment of project effectiveness. The temporal variation identifies the ‘before-and-after’ difference, and the spatial variation identifies the ‘with-and-without’ difference.
The ‘difference-in-difference’ assessment of project effectiveness is applied as follows. In Mozambique and India, IEG compares changes in economic activity between urban areas that were either adjacent to a road improved by the project or adjacent to a nearby but non-improved road. Similarly, long-term changes in vegetation cover in Ethiopia are compared between land parcels in treated watersheds with similar parcels in untreated watersheds within a reasonable distance from the project site. Finally, IEG compares changes in deforestation rates between patches of forests on either side of the border of conservation areas in Madagascar. Then, these changes are compared between conservation areas supported by the World Bank and areas without project support. In each of these scenarios, the analysis informs the broader question of ‘what difference did the project make?’.
This 3D map shows the changes in the height of the built-up area in Mumbai.
However, not all projects allow for a geospatial analysis of effectiveness. The availability of geospatial data to measure project indicators depends on the sector, the type of project, and the nature of activities. Projects without a specific geographic location, such as projects supporting a development policy at the national level, do not lend themselves to a geospatial analysis.
But even if a quantitative geospatial analysis is possible, asking whether a project was effective might not be the most important question for the project evaluation. The more interesting evaluation questions are often those looking at the factors limiting the project’s impact. These factors are often highly contextual and linked with human behavior, which is much more difficult to measure from space. So, the quantitative geospatial analysis is an important first step to assess project effectiveness, but evaluations need to go further and understand why the project has been effective or not.
But geospatial data can have an important contribution here as well. The geospatial information on contextual factors, such as the cover of the land or travel time to reach a given location, can help to identify different levels of project effectiveness and understand the role of underlying drivers in explaining the observed differences. In a follow-up blog, we will elaborate on how geospatial analysis can guide the design of a qualitative data collection method.
Pictured at the top of the page: This image displays the change in forest cover of the land surface in Madagascar from 1990 to 2017. The black line represents the boundary of two Protected Areas for biodiversity conservation in Madagascar, Manongarivo and Tsaratanana. The blue dotted line is the 5 km buffer around the border of the Protected Area. Green dots are land that remained forest over time, white dots are land covered with forests, and red dots are land that were deforested during the period 1990 to 2017. IEG analyzed the share of different dots on each side of the border of Protected Areas to assess deforestation rates in and around Protected Areas.
Keeping the Private Sector Alive During the Coronavirus (COVID-19): 5 lessons from past crises
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Lessons from Evaluation: Support and Financing to the Formal Private Sector in Response to COVID-19
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This note identifies core lessons for the Bank Group on addressing the impact of the crisis on business and enterprises, based on evaluative evidence from the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG). It particularly draws on Bank Group experiences in addressing earlier crises, including the global economic crisis of 2008–10, the food crisis of 2007–8, and the East Asian crisis of 1998. It also reviews Show MoreThis note identifies core lessons for the Bank Group on addressing the impact of the crisis on business and enterprises, based on evaluative evidence from the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG). It particularly draws on Bank Group experiences in addressing earlier crises, including the global economic crisis of 2008–10, the food crisis of 2007–8, and the East Asian crisis of 1998. It also reviews evidence from responses to other systemic shocks, such as natural disasters and crises arising from conflict. However, it does not reinterpret past findings in light of subsequent developments. Lastly, it incorporates IEG’s broader evaluative findings on instruments that support business and market development. It complements other IEG notes on crisis response topics under preparation, including those on distressed assets and trade finance.