Bulgaria implemented sweeping decentralization and efficiency-focused reforms in basic education in 2007 and 2008. The education system adjusted to the negative demographic trends by optimizing the network of schools (closing and merging schools), introducing per-capita based financing and...

Teachers are the single most important input to learning, and in many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa teachers' emoluments account for most of the spending on basic education (Bold et al., 2017). However, in many countries in the region teachers are poorly distributed between schools. Schools in...

This report presents detailed findings of a teacher performance study in Lebanon, one of four studies carried out under the Research for Results (R4R) program, a partnership between the Lebanese Ministry of Education and Higher Education and Development Partners. The objective of the research...

"Expanding and improving basic education in developing countries requires, at a minimum, teachers who are present in the classroom and motivated to teach, but this essential input is often missing. This paper describes the findings of a series of recent World Bank and other studies on teacher...

The following report is the first of a two-stage video study to examine teaching practices and activities in Indonesian classrooms. The first stage is linked to results of the 2007 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) where 100 of the 150 classes that participated in the...

Educators and education policy makers are concerned with creating the best possible learning environment for students. How to do this, especially in primary school, where reading, writing and mathematical skills are first acquired, is the subject of policy debates in many parts of the world....

The effective management of Indonesia's teaching force is of crucial importance to the development of the country's educational system. The study aimed to investigate the policies and practices governing teacher employment and deployment in primary and junior secondary schools. The major issues...

The document is organized as follows. Section one provides an overview of the general approach, main components and objectives of the framework, as well as an explanation of the evidence base that supported its development. Section two focuses on the first component of the framework, and...

The certification program aimed to certify all teachers by 2015. The program was rolled out at a rate of approximately 200,000 teachers each year. This report evaluates the certification program as it was implemented, in terms of its impact on student-learning outcomes. Results of the analysis...

This policy brief highlights the key messages for policy makers from the World Bank report "Seeing the Invisible: A Strategic Report on Groundwater Quality" (Ravenscroft and Lytton 2022a). This report and “A Practical Manual on Groundwater Quality Monitoring" (Ravenscroft and Lytton 2022b)...