In Central America, child labor is a major impeding factor to a country's path towards economic progress and education. Nicaragua, the largest country in Central America, has a long history with child labor and its effects on employment opportunities, access to sanitation facilities, medication, and health care. In 2008, the ...
Conducting research and providing technical assistance in developing countries has long been challenging and unpredictable. Here, experts from AIR and local staff in the field share learned lessons this year about creative solutions to research problems that they will carry with them when encountering future challenges. ...
Bangladesh has been recognized for its great success in improving educational and health outcomes during the past few decades. AIR is investigating the impacts of offering an additional year of preschool education in Bangladesh on child development outcomes (cognitive and social emotional), and will examine the benefits relative to the ...
In recent years, one of the most pressing problems that plagued public sector education in Pakistan was the perpetuation of outdated methods of teaching and learning. Students left the system with no capacity for critical thinking, or much worse, illiterate. The objective of ED-LINKS was to improve the quality and ...
The Ethiopian government has made a firm commitment to supporting early childhood development and school readiness support nationally. However, the creation of (Grade 0) kindergarten classes in all primary schools cannot be achieved overnight. UNICEF Ethiopia received a challenge grant to test the effectiveness of two accelerated school readiness programs ...
The armed conflict in Côte d'Ivoire had serious consequences on the country’s education sector. The destruction of thousands of school infrastructure and classroom materials considerably compromised access to quality education. As part of peace-building efforts, AIR implemented a program with the goal of increasing equitable access to education, especially for ...
Jessica Heppen, a nationally recognized expert in education research, policy, and practice, is the president & CEO of AIR. Dr. Heppen been with AIR for 20 years and, in that time, has held several key roles during her tenure.
AIR believes that personalized learning efforts must have critical foundational elements, build in the relevant essential hallmarks, and opportunities to amplify learning with technology. Our approach to personalized learning draws upon our rigorous research base and strong field experience in facilitating educational system change efforts across the nation and globe. ...
Working with states and districts, we apply evidence-based strategies to designing and developing policies and practices in order to create education systems centered on high-quality standards and assessments for all students. AIR’s Standards and Assessment ecosystem provides a cohesive and comprehensive structure to guide the development of standards-based systems. ...
Chronic absence is a nationwide problem, even among young students. Those with poor attendance are more likely to face challenges later in school and in life. This study tested four versions of an adaptive text messaging strategy to see which, if any, would reduce chronic absence among 26,000 elementary school ...