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Learning Recovery Programs: Assessing the Evidence and Potential for Latin America

This post is also available in: Español 

Yan Krukov / Pexels / CC0

The Covid-19 pandemic reached Latin America and the Caribbean in early 2020 and led to the closure of educational institutions for prolonged periods and the implementation of various strategies in response to the suspension of in-person classes. In this context of emergency, remote teaching emerged as a new concept, defined as transitional education in response to a crisis through the support of digital technologies and a variety of resources.

While the repercussions of the Covid-19 crisis have not been comprehensively measured, they cover multiple aspects of education, from on-time schooling, dropout rates, and progress to the learning achieved by students. Today more than ever, it is important to consider strategies for learning recovery to be implemented in the post-pandemic period. The study presented in this report is based on a systematic review of literature on learning recovery programs in primary and secondary education.

The report is organized into four sections. It first presents a review and analysis of international and regional learning recovery programs. Two representative cases of programs were selected for six categories identified in the literature review: leveling; acceleration; tutoring; teaching at the right level; extension of teaching time; and computer-assisted learning. Next, a cross-sectional analysis of the experiences was carried out in terms of the institutional framework and actors, the pedagogical model, and human resource training. The critical points were then examined. Finally, a number of suggestions were formulated for the post-pandemic scenario.

KEY RECOMMENDATIONS

  1. The learning assessment systems of all countries need to be strengthened.
  2. Incipient mechanisms for program and policy evaluation need to be strengthened. As noted in this report, the quantity and quality of assessment studies are clearly insufficient and hinder the accumulation of evidence on the effectiveness and equity of interventions.
  3. Attention should be paid to the scalability of interventions in an effort to go beyond pilot interventions and reach a broad population. Additionally, the sustainability of effective programs should also be ensured because such permanence is essential to consolidating good practices and positive results.
  4. Cost studies should be promoted in order to move forward in quantifying the critical dimensions of the costs involved in learning recovery programs.

The Education Program thanks to World Bank Group for their generous support in the making of this report. 

DOWNLOAD THE REPORT HERE:

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