This is an overview of policy briefs on continuous professional development of teachers, from the ealiest years onward.Studies focussed on the early years are: Effective Teachers and Performance Standards, which looks at how formal qualifications of teachers, and other information frequently...

This report analyzes the results of research on primary and secondary education in Madagascar in order to identify the school-level factors which have the most influence on student learning and on whether students stay in school. Also included are crude estimates of the resources that will be...

Planning and monitoring the quality of primary education in sub-Saharan Africa takes as its starting point the conviction that improvements in the quality of education must focus on the school as the unit of change. Through a review of the qualitative research literature on school improvement...

Given the significance of female education for development, there is an enormous need for data across countries that can be used to inform policy discussions within and among individual countries. Nowhere, perhaps is this need greater than in sub - Saharan Africa (SSA) where female participation...

The debate on whether natural disasters cause significant macroeconomic impacts and indeed hinder development is ongoing. Most analyses along these lines have focused on impacts on gross domestic product. This paper looks beyond this standard national accounting aggregate, and examines whether...

East Asia has experienced a dramatic decrease in output growth volatility over the past 20 years. This is good news, as output growth volatility affects poor households because of coping strategies that have long-term, harmful consequences, and the overall economy through its negative impact on...

This paper analyzes the drivers and consequences of sudden stops of capital flows. It focuses on the impact of external vulnerability on the depth and length of sudden stop crises. The authors analyze 43 developing and developed countries between 1993 and 2006. They find evidence that external...