The Self-Regulation Assessment-Assessor Report (SRA-AR) is a measurement tool used to capture assessors’ perceptions of children’s skills at regulating their behavior during an assessment. The SRA-AR was developed based on the Preschool Self-Regulation Assessment-Assessor Report (PSRA-AR) (Smith-Donald et al., 2007). The developers tested this measurement tool in Lebanon.

The Child-Friendly School Questionnaire for Syrian Children in Lebanon (CFSQ-SL) is a self-report survey that was used to capture primary-school aged Syrian refugee students’ perceptions of the climate of Lebanese public schools. CFSQ-SL was adapted and shortened from the original CFSQ developed by UNICEF.

By the start of 2018, 25 million refugees fled across international borders to seek protection. Over half of these refugees are under the age of 18. Little rigorous evidence exists on strategies to promote refugee children’s academic learning and socio-emotional development. What role can universities play in helping to close this critical gap in evidence? This panel describes the state of education for refugee children broadly, zeros in on the conditions of refugee children in Lebanon and Niger, and summarizes insights evaluating innovative strategies to promote the academic learning and social-emotional development of the children.

Various chapters in this volume describe efforts on behalf of governments, civil society, and researchers in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to ensure that children gain the social and emotional skills and competencies that enable them to thrive personally and professionally while promoting collective peace and prosperity. We cannot, however, most effectively design and target such efforts-or know the extent to which we are succeeding (or not) in such efforts-without tools that provide information about the nature and extent of children's social and emotional skills, how such skills change over time, and the aspects of children's school, family, and community environments that promote or impede the development of such skills. In this chapter, we introduce a “Measurement for What?” framework to guide emerging efforts to develop and adapt measurement tools to assess and promote children’s holistic learning and development in the MENA region. This includes assessments of social and emotional skills, as well as the quality of programmes intended to promote such outcomes. We illustrate the utility of the framework using examples from the Education in Emergencies: Evidence for Action (3EA) Middle East, North Africa, and Turkey (MENAT) Measurement Consortium.

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.

Now in its fourth year, the E-Cubed Research Fund has funded 12 studies and is beginning to see the outputs of this research. This panel will provide an opportunity for a selection of E-Cubed grantees to share their emerging research findings. In addition, this panel will open up discussion on key questions such as who drives the production of knowledge in EiE, how and for whom. In the push for evidence-based policy and programming, this panel will provide a space to ask whether we are tending more towards policy-based evidence. Finally, this panel will give panelists and the audience a space to reflect on what evidence is needed for EiE. Beyond, “what works” what types of evidence and along what lines of inquiry should be prioritized.

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. Children's executive function and behavioral regulation, but not internalizing symptoms, partially mediated the relations between risk factors and academic outcomes.

In just a matter of weeks, the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has led to huge societal public health and economic challenges worldwide. The clinical effects of COVID-19 on young children are uncertain when compared with older age groups, with lower morbidity and mortality rates and no conclusive evidence supporting transmission during pregnancy; however, there is emerging evidence of increasing rates of child hyperinflammatory shock.1-3 Research on the effects of prior pandemics and disasters clearly indicates that there will be both immediate and long-term adverse consequences for many children, with particular risks faced during early childhood, when brain architecture is still rapidly developing and highly sensitive to environmental adversity.

War, disasters, trafficking and immigration are tearing millions of children from their parents all around the world. A psychologist explores how to help them recover.