Our very own Hirokazu Yoshikawa presented alongside the The LEGO Foundation Engage research team from South Africa, Colombia, Bangladesh, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Denmark to a packed room.

The symposium showcased findings from a global research partnership using the Engage observation tool, now in its 6th year of development. This innovative toolkit measures how adults support children’s engagement in learning – at home and in classrooms – across four dimensions: Exploration, Agency, Social & personal connection, Emotional climate.

The results are powerful: engagement not only boosts academic skills, but also supports social and emotional learning. Insights like these are shaping how we measure adult–child interactions and design programs that better support children’s learning across the early years and primary school.

NYU-TIES and RTI began launching the new Engage Tool to measure support for engagement of children in their learning, starting with the tools that focus on settings for primary school age children. Early childhood tools, whose development was led by NYU-TIES, are forthcoming. The Engage tools will be launched during a webinar on January 21st, 2025, that focuses on findings from a recent study by the World Bank showing how Engage is highly predictive of learning outcomes. Other panelists include practitioners who have been using the tool in Bangladesh, Sierra Leone and Uganda.