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\"The 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision required desegregation of America's schools, but it also set in motion an agonizing multi-decade debate over race, class, and IQ. In this innovative book, Michael E. Staub investigates neuropsychological studies published between Brown and the controversial 1994 book, The Bell Curve. In doing so, he illuminates how we came to view race and intelligence today\"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents: The conceptual framework -- Educational outcomes and their impact on labor market outcomes -- Employment outcomes and links to the broader economic context -- Conclusion : how education can improve labor market outcomes.

Sub-Saharan African countries are increasingly recognizing the contribution of post basic education to economic growth and social development. However, policy makers in many poor countries struggle to balance expansion and upgrading of post-basic education reform against competing development priorities. They must consider how and sometimes whether, to fund post-basic education in the face of demographic growth, limited public resources, and political and social imperatives. In its new poverty reduction and growth strategy, the Madagascar Action Plan (MAP), the Government of Madagascar made the transformation of its education system one of the key pillars of its development agenda. An important decision was the reform of basic education, covering primary and junior secondary education, including extension of the basic education cycle to 10 years. The Government's new Education for All (EFA) plan provides the policy framework and operational strategies for basic education, covering changes to curricula and learning materials, teaching methods and student assessment. The EFA plan was endorsed by donors and the reform of basic education launched in 2008.The main purpose of this report is to provide analytical inputs for the development of post-basic education reforms. Specifically, the report identifies and prioritizes: (i) the need for change in the structure, content and delivery of Madagascar's post-basic education and training system, and (ii) the key reforms in financing, governance and sub-sector management required to support changes to the structure, content and delivery of the post-basic system.

Introduction - International trends influencing secondary education in Sub-Saharan Africa - Issues of governance in secondary education in Sub-Saharan Africa - Management of secondary education: focus on the school - Accountability - The governance and accountability of private schools - Special issue: addressing ICT and technical training - Recommendations.

The report aims to gain a better understanding of youth employment outcomes in the hope of crafting more sound and responsive policies. The first part of this study provides an analysis of how youth spend their time and the determinants of this time use. The second part of the study provides an overview and analysis of the technical and vocational education and training sector. It also provides recommendations on how the sector can be made more responsive to the needs of youth in the light of the findings of the first part of the study.

The integration of Augmented Reality (AR) in welding training is considered to increase the efficiency, security and time gain in operations, reducing consumable and infrastructures costs. Prior research has examined the integration of AR-simulation in applications, like medical operations or aviation, showing the need for greater usability of these systems. However, research on AR integration in welding training is yet limited. It can help new welders learn effectively and be prepared to work in the industry. The motivation of this study was the ongoing use of AR in manufacturing training and its novelty is the analysis of the most significant factors affecting the actual AR system use. The main objective of this research is to evaluate the use of AR technology in welding training using an innovative model, appropriately extended to consider pedagogy and technology. The contribution of this paper is the exploration and understanding of the factors associated with the AR welding training which can lead to goal fulfillment and, subsequently, impact users’ choice. This study is based on a modified Technology Acceptance Model, extending it by two external variables (perceived enjoyment and system quality) and the sample is 200 trainees. The findings show that the external variables are predictors of perceived usefulness and ease of use. The intention to use AR simulator is positively influenced directly by system quality and perceived ease of use. The findings help AR developers enhance the quality of AR-simulation training systems to enhance users’ experience and their behavioral intention to use them.

Virtual Reality (VR) technology is a growing technology that has been used in various fields of psychology, education, and therapy. One group of potential users of VR are children with autism who need education and have poor social interactions; this technology could help them improve their social skills through real-world simulation. In this study, we evaluated the feasibility of conducting virtual music education programs with automatic assessment system for children with autism at treatment/research centers without the need to purchase a robot, resulting in the possibility of offering schedules on a larger scale and at a lower cost. Intervention sessions were conducted for five children with high-functioning autism ranging in age from 6 to 8 years old during 20 weeks which includes a baseline session, a pre-test, training sessions, a post-test, and a follow-up test. Each music education sessions involved teaching different notes and pieces of music according to the child’s cooperation, accuracy, and skill level utilizing virtual reality robots and virtual musical instruments. Actually, by analysis of psychological tests, and questionnaires conducted by a psychologist, we observe slight improvements in cognitive skills because of the ceiling effect. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of the proposed method was proved by conducting statistical analysis on the child’s performance data during the music education sessions which were obtained by using both video coding and the proposed automatic assessment system. Consequently, a general upward trend in the musical ability of participants was shown to occur in these sessions, which warrants future studies in this field.

The first part of the report presents stylized facts of youth and labor markets in Africa. The second part discusses past youth employment interventions in the region. It argues for the need of an integrated approach should governments want to tackle youth employment issues in a sustainable manner. Indeed, in African countries, with large informal sectors and dominance of rural population, solely reforming labor market institutions and implementing active labor market policies are likely to have limited impact. It argues that the most needed and well-rounded approaches are: expanding job and education alternatives in the rural areas, where most youth live; promoting and encouraging mobility; creating a conducive business environment; encouraging the private sector; improving the access and quality of skills formation; taking care of demographic issues that more directly affects the youth; and reducing child labor.

Grounded in game-based learning and problem-based learning, this study compared the effects of an augmented reality (AR) mobile game and a printed game on student engagement and attitudes toward foreign language learning. For this purpose, a narrative-driven, location-based AR mobile game was developed based on the analysis, design, development, implementation and evaluation approach. The participants were 42 undergraduates studying English as a foreign language (EFL) in South Korea. The AR group played a location-based AR mobile game in English while moving around the university campus and collaborating with team members, whereas the print-game group played the same game color-printed onto paper in teams in the classroom. After the activities, both groups completed case reports, Likert-scale surveys, and adjective checklists, and participated in interviews. The results indicated that both groups demonstrated comparable levels of behavioral, cognitive, and emotional engagement as well as positive attitudes in learning EFL, without significant group differences. The adjective checklist also indicated that the AR- and print-games provided students with a similar quality of experience. The qualitative data suggested that, if the EFL instruction is performed in accordance with game-based learning and problem-based learning principles, students may sustain high levels of engagement and positive attitudes, regardless of the medium (AR technology versus print). However, the only significant group difference was found in the perceived usefulness for learning EFL, which favored the print-mode game. While AR technologies provided authentic and immersive learning environments, EFL students perceived print reading as more useful for learning English than digital reading. This study makes a case for the development and application of narrative-driven, location-based AR games in foreign language education.

PurposeEducation system stimulates the development of human capital and provides informative signaling allowing to differentiate productivity of individuals. If education system is efficient then higher levels of education usually associated with greater returns on labor market. To evaluate the efficiency of Russian education system we aim to estimate the effect of vocational education and different levels of higher education on wages.Design/methodology/approachWe use data on 8,764 individuals in the years 2019–2021. Our statistical approach addresses two critical issues: nonrandom selection into employment and the endogeneity of education choice. To tackle these problems, we employed Heckman’s method and its extension that is a structural model which addresses the issue of self-selection into different levels of education.FindingsThe results of the analysis suggest that there is a significant heterogeneity in the returns to different levels of education. First, higher education, in general, offers substantial wage premiums when compared to vocational education. Specifically, individuals with specialist’s and bachelor’s degrees enjoy higher wage premiums of approximately 23.59–24.04% and 16.43–16.49%, respectively, compared to those with vocational education. Furthermore, we observe a significant dis-parity in returns among the various levels of higher education. Master’s degree provides a substantial wage premium in comparison to both bachelor’s (19.79–20.96%) and specialist’s (12.64–13.41%) degrees. Moreover, specialist degree offers a 7.16–7.55% higher wage premium than bachelor’s degree.Practical implicationsWe identify a hierarchical pattern in the returns associated with different levels of higher education in Russia, specifically “bachelor-specialist-master.” These findings indicate that each level of education in Russia serves as a distinct signal in the labor market, facilitating employers' ability to differentiate between workers. From a policy perspective, our results suggest the potential benefits of offering opportunities to transition from specialist’s to master’s degrees on a tuition-free basis. Such a policy may enhance access to advanced education and potentially lead to higher returns for individuals in the labor market.Originality/valueThere are many studies on returns to higher education in Russia. However, just few of them estimate the returns to different levels of higher education. Also, these studies usually do not address the issue of the endogeneity arising because of self-selection into different levels of education. Our structural econometric model allows addressing for this issue and provides consistent estimates of returns to different levels of education under the assumption that individuals with higher propensity to education obtain higher levels of education.