Gobee, a prototype assessment tool for emergency settings, set out to make it easier for teachers and facilitators to measure children’s learning progress. Following the initial stages of development, War Child and NYU Global TIES share their learnings and publish the codes on an open-source platform.

Since the unprecedented shift to distance learning that came with Covid lockdowns and mass school closures, increasing numbers of Education in Emergencies (EiE) actors have been turning to EdTech to find solutions to the complex challenges facing the sector. This has led to a number of emerging EdTech products and prototypes, many of which have shown great potential.

The last few decades have seen immense gains in global recognition of the critical importance of early childhood education (ECE). Despite this, the goal of universal ECE – as we have traditionally defined it – has remained aspirational: with little progress since 2015 toward the universal quality ECE called for in SDG 4.2. Partly, this is due to financial constraints and continued limited investment in ECE. But partly, it is because there are contexts in which setting up in-person pre-school and kindergarten classrooms is not viable.

The recent earthquakes in Turkey and Syria hit an already war-torn region and populations in the Middle East. They have left lasting psychological and physical trauma for 8.8 million affected people in Northern Syria alone–a region where 4.1 million people already depend on humanitarian assistance. While immediate emergency responses are essential, once the initial crises pass, children impacted by conflict and crises still need to grow up and learn, coping with painful memories and unpredictable and often hostile environments. They deserve and need support that can help them to navigate the adversities on their own. Unfortunately, the disruptions in the aftermath of crises can exacerbate the emotional and psychological toll on children, affecting their physical and emotional well-being, learning and development over the long term.

Key messages for researchers and practitioners:Key messages for researchers and practitioners:

When studying brief and skill-targeted social-emotional learning activities, consider calculating measures of dosage: how much (quantity), how often (repetition pattern), and for how long (duration) the activities are implemented. Examine these measures as potential predictors of program outcomes or moderators of the program impact; and use the information to determine the “optimal dosage” when scaling up.

Link these measures with teachers’ and enumerators’ reports on implementation to provide better guidance on overall implementation quality. Examine these measures as potential predictors of program outcomes or moderators of the program impact; and use the information to determine the “optimal dosage” when scaling up.

Link these measures with teachers’ and enumerators’ reports on implementation to provide better guidance on overall implementation quality."

This blog is written by Dr Lindsay Brown, Senior Research Scientist at NYU-Global TIES in Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. Lindsay primarily investigates how to support teachers in areas of conflict and crisis with a focus on flexible and scalable teacher professional development strategies. She works mainly in the Middle East and Africa.

Image credit:

Pawel Czerwinski
@pawel_czerwinski via Unsplash.

Why is it that some countries fluoridate their water? In the mid-20th century, fluoride became linked with reduced tooth decay, sparking a scientific revolution in the dentistry world, and causing cities to begin infusing their water supplies with fluoride. Today, countries add fluoride as a protective factor, as a way to promote healthy early childhood development (ECD). But there is still significant debate around the practice.

While many Governments have turned to connected education and tech-driven programmes to support continued learning during school closures, there is little available evidence on the impact of distance learning on learning outcomes, especially for children affected by crisis and conflict and regarding holistic learning outcomes. Understanding the impact of the growing number of digital interventions on learning outcomes for these children (both in and outside of the classroom) is crucial to ensuring that no child is left behind in the wake of COVID-19 disruptions. In order to be able to understand how to better support children’s learning, we first need to be able to understand what children know and are able to do. Armed with this information, teachers and educational programmes can then provide more tailored support. The assessment of learning outcomes is therefore key. In response to a clear gap in this area, a new partnership, brokered by Porticus, brought together War Child Holland, NYU Global TIES for Children, and the HEA to interrogate the need for an effective tool to assess learning outcomes across digital learning interventions.

Global TIES for Children is excited to share some initial results from preliminary research concerning fathers’ involvement in children’s development in Rohingya refugee communities in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. The research was conducted as part of the LEGO foundation-funded Play to Learn project, a partnership between Sesame Workshop, BRAC, the International Rescue Committee (IRC), and TIES to provide and understand a range of early child development services for these communities. NYU’s research unearths.


Image credit: Ante Hamersmit (@ante_kante on Unsplash)

The COVID-19 outbreak ignited a monumental education emergency, disrupting in-person learning and relying on technological schooling solutions that exacerbated many pre-existing education inequities. Lack of child care options, inconsistent access to technology, and variable quality of remote learning experiences all contributed to some students’ infrequent or complete lack of attendance to virtual schooling. As kids go back to in-person learning, schools and educators face a critical question: How do we handle students who have missed most or all of remote learning?

Image credit: IRC

IHDSC met with NYU Global TIES for Children (TIES) researchers Lindsay Brown and Ha Yeon Kim to discuss their research with students in Niger and the insights and challenges that come with doing research in conflict-affected areas. This conversation was edited for clarity and length.

What can be done to improve learning outcomes for the millions of children growing up in conflict-affected societies and enrolled in under-resourced school systems? How can the global community safeguard the right of every child, including those in crisis settings, to a quality education and position them to heal, learn and thrive? What are the best interventions that achieve the greatest outcomes for the most children in humanitarian contexts?

While nearly 1 billion children were out of school worldwide in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the lack of access to education was most pronounced among children in low- and middle-income countries. A new research-practice partnership is working to develop a tool to measure holistic learning outcomes across distance education and digital learning interventions in humanitarian settings.

These data were collected as part of an ongoing practice, policy, and research partnership, Ahlan Simsim. Ahlan Simsim, which means “Welcome Sesame” in Arabic, is the groundbreaking program from Sesame Workshop and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) that delivers early learning and nurturing care to children and caregivers affected by conflict and displacement across the Middle East. Through a brand-new, localized version of Sesame Street and in-person direct services across Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, Ahlan Simsim reaches families wherever they are—from classrooms and health clinics to TV and mobile devices—with the vital educational resources that they need to thrive. This program, generously funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the LEGO Foundation, not only addresses immediate needs and builds a strong foundation for future wellbeing, but also has the potential to transform how the humanitarian system responds to crises around the world.

The EQUAL (Education Quality and Learning for All) Network for Sustainable Development Goal 4 aims to identify and develop research networks, provide seed grants and increase research-practice partnerships in two regions of the world affected by the learning crisis – the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) region and sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). EQUAL is capacity building of networks of scholars so that the evidence bases in measurement and evaluation relevant to the lifelong learning goal of the SDGs is advanced at the country level and across countries within the two regions.