Despite widespread enthusiasm for remedial education programming with refugee populations, there is little rigorous evidence on how to design and implement such programs. We employ a cluster-randomized design of non-equivalent treatment groups to test the impact of access to two types of program enhancement: longer program duration and the addition of skilltargeted social and emotional learning (SEL) activities for Syrian refugees enrolled in Lebanese public schools. We find that, compared to 10 weeks of programming, 26 weeks marginally increases students’ literacy skills (ES = 0.04) and significantly improves behavioral regulation (ES = 0.31), but students reported less positive perceptions of their public school environment (ES= −0.83 to −0.89) and remedial tutoring site (ES= −0.15 to −0.24). We also find that the addition of skill-targeted SEL activities to 26 weeks of programming results in higher student reports of school-related stress compared to programming without skill-targeted activities (ES = 0.21). Implications for program and policy are discussed.

Reach Up and Learn (RUL) is a home-visiting program that was introduced in Jamaica in 1975. In 2016, the International Rescue Committee (IRC), in collaboration with the Arab Resource Collective, adapted RUL for the context of Syrian and host community families in Lebanon, Jordan and Syria and integrated RUL into its education, child protection, and health programs in Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.

NYU’s Global TIES research finds that introducing an Arabic version of Sesame Street, along with support services, helped kids ‘not just survive, but thrive’

The purpose of this product is to summarize and showcase the achievements on communication of the evidence and lessons learned from the 3EA E-Cubed project. In sum, we generated 59 total communications products across 12 different formats targeting diverse audiences. These products are presented in 12 different formats, to cater to these diverse audiences and maximize the reach and impact, ranging from academic journals, policy briefs, and datasets to press releases, blogs, webinars, interactive online tools, and more.

In this brief, Global TIES researchers evaluate the effects of Ahlan Simsim, a television show co-produced by Sesame Workshop and Jordan Pioneers that has been viewed by more than 23 million children across the MENA region, including 57% of displaced Syrians across Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq.

In this brief, Global TIES researchers explore outcomes from the first evaluation of a remote early childhood education (ECE) program for families affected by conflict and crisis and the second of the effect of short-term (shorter than 3 months) ECE programming.

الوصف: في هذا الملخص، يعرض الباحثون في مركز جلوبال تايز (Global TIES) نتائج تقيّم أثر برنامج أهلًا سمسم، وهو برنامج تلفزيوني قامت بإنتاجه ورشة عمل سمسم ومؤسسة جوردن بيونيرز (Jordan Pioneers TV Production)، والذي جذبت حلقاته أنظار أكثر من 23 مليون طفل في منطقة الشرق الأوسط وشمال إفريقيا، بما في ذلك W من النازحين السوريين في الأردن ولبنان والعراق. تعد هذه الدراسة من أولى الدراسات التي من شأنها تقييم الأثر السببي لبرنامج إعلامي 1) تم تصميمه لبلدان الشرق الأوسط المتأثرة بالنزاع السوري وأزمة اللاجئين و 2) يركز على التطور العاطفي لدى الأطفال في المرحلة التمهيدية. وجدت الدراسة تأثيرات إيجابية على الأطفال فيما يتعلق ب: ١) معرفة برنامج أهلا سمسم وشخصياته ٢) التعرّف العاطفي المعبرّ (القدرة على تحديد العواطف المصورة بشكل صحيح) ٣) القدرة على تحديد عواطف الآخرين في سيناريوهات اجتماعية محددة ٤) ذكر استراتيجية التنفس كطريقة إدارة العواطف القوية وهي إحدى استراتيجيات تنظيم العواطف الست التي يركز عليها منهج "أهلًا سمسم".

الوصف: في هذا الملخص، يعرض الباحثون في مركز جلوبال تايز (Global TIES) نتائج أول تقييم لبرنامج تعلم مبكر مقدم عن بُعد في المناطق التي يصعب الوصول إليها في لبنان. هذه الدراسة هي الأولى من نوعها من حيث تقييم أثر برنامج للتعلم المبكر عن بُعد على الأسر المتضررة من النزاعات والأزمات وهي الثانية من نوعها في تقييم أثر مثل هذه البرامج قصيرة المدى (أقل من 3 أشهر). قامت الدراسة بتقييم أثر برنامج التعلم المبكر عن بُعد RELP وهو برنامج تمّ تقديمه لمدة 11 أسبوعًا بشكل منفرد و بالاقتران مع برنامج عائلات أهلًا سمسم ASF الذي يدعم أساليب تربية الأطفال. وفقًا لنتائج الدراسة، أدى التدخلان RELP و RELP+ASF الى تأثيرات إيجابية كبيرة على المهارات القرائية الناشئة، والمهارات الحسابية الناشئة، وتطور الطفل بشكل عام، وعلى لعب الأطفال أيضًا، في حين ظهرت تأثيرات إيجابية كبيرة على المهارات الاجتماعية/العاطفية والمهارات الحركية على المجموعة الّتي تلقّت RELP منفردًا. تبيّن أن حجم تأثيرات RELP على نمو وتطور الطفل هو ضمن نطاق التأثيرات التي ظهرت في التقييمات الحضورية في دور الحضانة في أنحاء العالم، مما يشير إلى أنه من الممكن استخدام البرنامج كبديل قابل للتطبيق لدعم الأطفال في المناطق التي يكون فيها التعليم الحضوري غير ممكن.

New Research Shows Substantial Impact on Children’s Learning from Groundbreaking Ahlan Simsim Initiative Combining Educational Media and Early Childhood Services

Conducted by NYU researchers, major studies show the efficacy of Sesame Workshop and International Rescue Committee’s initiative for children affected by conflict and crisis, through a local version of Sesame Street and a new approach to remote preschool

Science is the most useful when it catalyzes change. In this tool, we provide actionable recommendations and guidance on how to best support education in emergencies, to get the evidence into the capable hands of the education stakeholders.

This document outlines the work done by NYU Global TIES to strengthen social and emotional skills and well-being assessment in Lebanon and Peru during the COVID-19 pandemic. It explains the frameworks and concepts, and outlines next steps in those countries.

Refugee children face significant adversities that can threaten critical developmental processes and hamper learning outcomes. This study examines how post-migration risk factors at the community, household, and individual level experienced by primary school-aged Syrian refugee children in Lebanon (N = 448, Age M = 9.08, SD = 1.90) are associated with cognitive, emotional, and behavioral developmental processes as well as literacy and numeracy performance. We identified several risk factors, including attending a lower grade than their age-expected grade level, that uniquely predict Syrian refugee children's developmental processes and academic outcomes.

Working paper #1 from the Education Research in Conflict and Protracted Crisis (ERICC) Research Programme Consortium. This paper outlines the theoretical framework governing the studies to be deployed throughout the Consortium's lifetime.

Researchers at Global TIES for Children, an international research center based at NYU Abu Dhabi and NYU New York, examined a variety of post-migration risks faced by Syrian refugee children enrolled in Lebanese public schools and found that students being older than expected for the grade in which they were placed was most consistently and strongly associated with developmental and learning difficulties. As many schools around the world prepare to reopen in 2020 and beyond, the study provides critical insights that can help inform efforts to reintegrate children into schools after significant disruption and time away.

In 2019, Dr. Lindsay Brown at New York University’s Global TIES for Children (NYU-TIES) co-developed and implemented the Building Expert Teachers Through Evidence-based Research (BETTER) program with Laura Killips. BETTER is designed to support intentional and sustained teacher learning across contexts. It utilizes practice-based strategies to develop teachers’ foundational skills and knowledge and to sustain them with the support of teacher coaches and other resources within education systems. The program builds upon decades of scientific research that demonstrates that effective professional development: demands active and applied learning from its participants; provides sustained and repeated learning opportunities; showcases models of effective practice; provides expert support; and fits within a coherent framework of practice.

Teachers are expected to do it all: to attend to students’ academic, social, and emotional, skills while finding time to plan, grade, and develop professionally. In the wake of COVID-19 school closures, they are expected to remediate for loss of learning, target instruction to multiple skill levels, and ensure a safe learning environment. But they are currently provided with only a “patchwork of opportunities” to build such skills, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and humanitarian contexts, where teachers are especially crucial. This approach to professional development does not provide an opportunity to build expertise in the teaching practices that are required to fulfill such wide-ranging expectations.

NYU News recently sat down with Aber and Ha Yeon Kim, a senior researcher for ERICC and senior research scientist at Global TIES for Children, for a conversation on mitigating the disruptions to children’s education in crisis-affected countries and possible interventions for children unable to attend school.

image: A tent school established by the International Rescue Committee to provide Syrian refugee children in Lebanon with remedial programming / Courtesy of Global TIES

In response to the influx of some 488,000 Syrian refugee children since 2011, international and local NGOs working in Lebanon have provided formal and non-formal education services designed to promote both children’s academic skills and their social and emotional learning (SEL) skills. However, the majority of SEL-related frameworks and materials used are typically grounded in theory and research from western, educated, industrialized, rich, democracies (WEIRD), which are not always coherent or aligned with Lebanese societal cultures and norms. Towards the goal of generating contextually meaningful evidence to guide program and policy decision-making in Lebanon, our research-practice-policy partnership has engaged in a rigorous, multi-method, iterative process to develop and contextualize an SEL framework for children in Lebanese primary schools. In this paper, we will describe the process of engaging experts in education, psycho-social support, and SEL from the Government of Lebanon, World Learning, Harvard’s EASEL Lab, and NYU Global TIES to empirically code existing frameworks and identify priority SEL constructs. We will reflect on the development of systemic and transformative relationships across partners as a means toward contextualization, and conclude by sharing a first version of a National SEL Framework for Lebanon.