Operationalizing Impact

Abstract

Education is important for economic development and human flourishing. Receiving a quality education leads to better health, well-being, and productivity, and a recent study found education accounts for 50 percent of global economic growth, 70 percent of income gains amongst the world’s poorest communities, and 40 percent of extreme poverty reduction since 1980 (Gethin, 2023). However, access to quality education is far from guaranteed globally, with an estimated 70% of 10-year-olds unable to understand a simple written text (World Bank, 2022). There is an urgent need to improve learning for all and especially for those in under-resourced and marginalized communities. A growing body of recent research offers evidenced-informed ways to improve education outcomes (Angrist et al., 2023; Lomborg, 2015). Further and ongoing research about how to support quality education and learning is needed – especially as educational systems are affected by and must respond to rapidly transforming climates, populations, and technologies – but we have a strong and growing foundation of knowledge to build from. This compendium represents an important subset of such knowledge. This compendium compiles a decade's worth of education-focused impact evaluations (IEs) supported by the Development Impact Group (DIME), the Development Research Group (DECRG), the Education team, and the Strategic Impact Evaluation Fund (SIEF) of the World Bank. By IE, we mean rigorous evaluation methods designed to measure the causal effect of a program by comparing outcomes between a group that received an intervention (or treatment group) and a group that did not receive the intervention (or the comparison group). The selection of studies featured in this compendium includes the latest rigorous evidence on key education issues affecting learning in low- and middle-income countries worldwide. Each study provides policymakers and practitioners with specific information to enhance evidence-based decision-making. This compendium serves as an essential, actionable resource for policymakers and project implementers, designed to facilitate the implementation of evidence-based interventions that aim to improve student learning outcomes. It highlights recent evidence, primarily from World Bank-funded projects or authored by World Bank researchers, to guide strategies for enhancing education quality. Covering early childhood to secondary education, the compendium summarizes global impact evaluations addressing key areas of interest in education policy. These include topics such as performance-based incentives for schools and teachers, approaches to parental training, and strategies for improving student retention in secondary education. By presenting results from specific studies in various contexts, this compendium provides valuable insights to inform decision-making, while acknowledging the complexity and context-dependency of education interventions.