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Purpose - Recent educational research has demonstrated rural-urban gaps in achievement and schooling conditions. Evidence from developing countries is still sparse. This study seeks to report rural-urban disparities in achievement, student, teacher, and school characteristics based on a nationally representative sample of grade four students from four provinces of Pakistan. The study aims to take into account the limitations of previous research, mainly the issues of non-representative samples and inadequate sampling techniques, by using proportionally adequate sample to address the potential differences in achievement of rural and urban students and how schooling, students and teacher-related factors account for gap in achievement.Design methodology approach - The primary data source for the study was the 2006 national assessment survey of year four students in government school across four provinces in four core subjects. The sample design included a two-stage stratified random sample, where the major strata of national interest were student and school gender, geographical location and region. First stage involved selecting schools and in the second stage students were selected from schools. The procedure of estimation involved computing the average of each group's achievement scores and attached standard errors, the gap of standard errors and statistical significance of standard errors at 0.05 level.Findings - The results show that rural and urban students had comparable levels of achievement in some of the tested learning areas. In Balochistan province, rural students outperformed their urban counterparts in three out of the four tested subjects. In Punjab and Sindh, urban students performed significantly better in social studies and language tests; scores on social studies and language did not differ significantly across location in the North West. The differences appeared to be partly explained by variation in schooling conditions, students' home background, and teachers' characteristics. Teachers' training turned out to be decisive in determining students' achievement, whereas availability of resources and multi-grade teaching was less important.Originality value - Recent educational research from around the world has demonstrated rural-urban gaps in achievement and schooling conditions. Evidence from developing countries is still sparse. This study is the first attempt to report rural-urban disparities in academic achievement, student, teacher, and school characteristics based on a nationally representative sample. The study has employed an appropriate sampling strategy and proportionally adequate sample to address the potential differences in achievement of rural and urban students in four provinces. The findings could therefore be used to guide policy interventions in areas of curriculum differences, schooling conditions, teachers' training and multi-grade teaching across provinces.

This book provides opportunities for older and younger children in different grades to work together on standards-based activities. It contains over 40 lessons in which elementary school students of different ages can learn together. Each activity can be assigned as a special project or as part of an organized program in which teachers work together on a regular basis. For each activity, you will be provided with: standards -- reading, writing, or mathematics, and assessment rubrics, student handouts, ready for photocopying. To help you assess your students objectively and confidently, about a quarter of the lessons are accompanied by samples of student work along with its score and an explanation of why the work deserved that score.

This study aims to evaluate a curriculum designed for a course as “Teaching in Multigrade Classrooms” available in pre-service teacher education by using participatory evaluation approach. The case study, one of the qualitative research designs, was used in the study. The participants of the study consisted of the teacher candidates who studied as the senior students majoring in Primary School Teaching at a state university in the Eastern Mediterranean region and taking the Teaching in Multigrade Classrooms course, and one of the researchers who implemented the curriculum as well as an observer participating in the implementation process of the relevant curriculum. Observation, interview, and document analysis were used to collect data. The data were inductively and deductively analyzed. As a result, it was decided through this study that the curriculum developed was applicable and could meet the requirements emerging in the context of the current situation, contributing to teacher candidates personally and professionally.

School Construction Strategies for Universal Primary Education in Africa' examines the scope of the infrastructure challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa and the constraints to scaling up at an affordable cost. It assesses the experiences of African countries with school planning, school facility designs, and construction techniques, procurement and implementation arrangements over the past thirty years. It reviews the roles of the various actors in the implementation process : central and deconcentrated administrations, local governments, agencies, social funds, NGOs, and local communities. Drawing upon extensive analysis of data from over 200 250 projects sponsored by the World Bank and other donor agencies, the book draws lessons on promising approaches to enable African countries to scale up the facilities required to achieve the EFA goals and MDGs of complete quality primary education for all children at the lowest marginal cost.

'Language, Literacy, and Learning in Primary Schools' is a synthesis of the findings arising from four years of policy research and development in Nigeria's primary schools that focused on the gap between what teachers should know and be able to do, and the realities of teaching and learning in classrooms. It begins by critically examining the outcomes of primary schooling as measured by learning achievement results from national assessments, and by identifying some core learning problems for Nigerian primary school children. It reviews the findings from recent research reports that studied teaching and learning processes in primary school classrooms, and it identifies the pedagogical issues in primary classrooms that contribute to poor learning achievements. This report describes a research and development program that set out to improve teaching and learning in core learning skill areas of the curriculum. This study identifies priority areas for teachers' professional development. It suggests a policy framework for the continuing professional development of primary school teachers, including the initial preparation of teachers and their induction into teaching. It proposes medium and long-term strategies to bring about the desired changes in teaching and learning through school-based approaches to teacher development.

This book diagnoses Cambodian teaching quality and presents policy options for reform. Through classroom observation, assessments of mathematics and pedagogical content knowledge, and surveys of teachers and school directors, it sheds light on content and instruction, interactions with school directors, instructional support systems, and the implementation of teacher standards. The book investigates the competencies and skills of those attracted to teaching; it assesses the extent to which preservice education in Cambodia is delivering graduates with high content mastery and exposure to a student-centered learning environment; and it examines how teacher performance has been impacted by national incentives, an evaluation system that is disconnected from classroom realities, and the extent to which opportunities to learn and share best-practice lessons with peers exists. Out of the diagnosis follow three policy pillars to reform how teachers are trained, maintained, and motivated. First, the government must make teaching a much more attractive profession. Second, it must improve how teachers are prepared. And third, it must encourage stronger classroom performance. The book contains detailed recommendations under each policy pillar and provides the platform for Cambodia to undertake its next generation of educational reform.

As in most countries worldwide, Sub-Saharan African countries are striving to build their human capital so they can compete for jobs and investments in an increasingly globalized world. In this region, which includes the largest number of countries that have not yet attained universal primary schooling, the ambitions and aspirations of Sub-Saharan African countries and their youth far exceed this basic goal. Over the past 20 years, educational levels have risen sharply across Sub-Saharan Africa. Already hard at work to provide places in primary schools for all children, most countries of the region are also rapidly expanding access to secondary and tertiary levels of education. Alongside this quantitative push is a growing awareness of the need to make sure that students are learning and acquiring the skills needed for life and work. Achieving education of acceptable quality is perhaps an even greater challenge than providing enough school places for all. Thus, Sub-Saharan African countries are simultaneously confronting many difficult challenges in the education sector, and much is at stake. This book gives those concerned with education in Sub-Saharan Africa an analysis of the sector from a cross-country perspective, aimed at drawing lessons that individual country studies alone cannot provide. A comparative perspective is useful not only to show the range of possibilities in key education policy variables but also to learn from the best performers in the region. (Although the report covers 47 Sub- Saharan African countries whenever possible, some parts of the analysis center on the region's low-income countries, in particular, a sample of 33 low-income countries). Although countries ultimately must make their own policy choices and decide what works best in their particular circumstances, Sub-Saharan African countries can benefit from learning about the experiences of other countries that are faced with, or have gone through, similar development paths. Given the large number of countries included in the analysis, the book finds that Sub-Saharan African countries have more choices and more room for maneuver than will appear if attention were focused on only one or a few country experiences. Countries can make better choices when understanding the breadth of policy choices available to them. They are well advised, however, to evaluate the applicability of policy options to their contexts and to pilot and evaluate the results for performance and subsequent improvement.

Large-scale efforts have been made since the 1990s to ensure that all children of the world go to school. But mere enrollment is not sufficient, students must become fluent in reading and calculation by the end of grade 2. Fluency is needed to process large amounts of text quickly and use the information for decisions that may ultimately reduce poverty. State-of-the-art brain imaging and cognitive psychology research can help formulate effective policies for improving the basic skills of low-income students. This book integrates research into applications that extend from preschool brain development to the memory of adult educators. In layman??s terms, it provides explanations and answers to questions such as: Why do children have to read fast before they can understand what they read?How do health, nutrition, and stimulation influence brain development?Why should students learn basic skills in their maternal language?Is there such a thing as an untrained teacher?What signs in a classroom show whether students are getting a quality education?How must information be presented in class so that students can retain it and use it?What training techniques are most likely to help staff put their learning into use? This book would be useful to policymakers, donor agency staff, teacher trainers, supervisors, and inspectors, as well as university professors and students.

As a qualitative study, the aim of this study was to evaluate the applicability of the 2005 Social Studies Course Curriculum in multigrade teaching according to teacher opinions. The data of the research were obtained by interview method applied to 58 teachers teaching in multigrade classes in 2008-2009 academic year. The data obtained in the research were analyzed and evaluated in accordance with qualitative research methods. In the analysis of the data, Nvivo 7 software has been used. As a result of the research, it has been seen that the teachers of multigrade classes found Social Studies curriculum qualitatively positive. However, it was found out that some kind of defects and difficulties have been encountered concerning skill/acquisitions, content, teaching-learning process, measurement and evaluation aspects, in terms of the implementation of the Social Studies curriculum in multigrade teaching having more different conditions, which was indeed prepared to be used in independent classrooms. In addition, taking into account the views of multigrade classroom teachers, practical suggestions have been made about the changes that can be made in the curriculum.

We report a novel proposal for reducing the digital divide in rural multigrade schools, incorporating knowledge of robotics with a STEM approach to simultaneously promote curricular learning in mathematics and science in several school grades. We used an exploratory qualitative methodology to implement the proposal with 12 multigrade rural students. We explored the contribution of the approaches to the promotion of curricular learning in mathematics and science and the perceptions of using robotics to learn mathematics and science. As data collection techniques, we conducted focus groups and semi-structured interviews with the participants and analyzed their responses thematically. We concluded that the proposal could contribute to meeting the challenges of multigrade teaching. Our findings suggest that the proposal would simultaneously promote the development of curricular learning in mathematics and science in several school grades, offering an alternative for addressing various topics with different degrees of depth.