What Works Hub for Global Education

🎉 We are proud to announce the successful completion of the inaugural year for our Policy Fellows Programme.   We would like to congratulate our 7 Policy Fellows of 2025: 🔹 prameetha adoni (India) 🔹 Fiaz Alam (Pakistan) 🔹 Joel Mhoja (Tanzania) 🔹 Nompumelelo Mohohlwane (South Africa) 🔹 Muhammad Farooq Rasheed (Pakistan) 🔹 Doreen Samuel (Tanzania), and 🔹 Akash Shankar (India).   It has been a rewarding year that has demonstrated great value in collective reflection, learning, and collaboration between government teams, Hub partners, and our central team.    The 2025 cohort has set the bar high – reflecting upon and capturing implementation insights, developing new policy plans, carrying out surveys and workshops, establishing new Ed Labs, and starting other initiatives that are continuing beyond this year. In this process, we have all gained a deeper understanding of what it means to apply data and use evidence to strengthen government education programmes and systems on the ground. We greatly value the perspectives and experiences our 2025 Fellows have brought to the programme and look forward to continuing to collaborate with each of them!    Stay tuned for an announcement about our 2026 cohort of Policy Fellows.   #PolicyFellows | #EdLabs | #Education | #FoundationalLearning | #FLN |Tanzania Institute of Education (TIE) | J-PAL South Asia | Youth Impact | CERP | Evidence Matters | Department of Basic Education South Africa | British Council

📣 The Call for Submissions to the 2026 What Works Hub for Global Education Conference is now open! ➡️ Visit our website to learn more about the conference and how to submit your findings on implementation of foundational learning policies and programmes at scale in the Global South: https://lnkd.in/eU6xGezM Our 2026 conference will bring together rigorous research with practical policy and implementation experience to drive improved knowledge and practice. We invite submissions from researchers, implementers and policymakers showcasing evidence and findings from their work. Submissions aligned with the following themes are encouraged:  🔹 Evaluation of foundational learning programmes at scale  🔹 Compelling policy and/or government-led scaling examples  🔹 Strong implementation science-oriented measurement techniques (eg implementation, learning, and cost measurement)  🔹 Adaptative and iterative approaches, including A/B testing  🔹 Evidence on core components of evidence-based approaches such as teaching at the right level or structured pedagogy  🔹 Evidence use for policy or programme decision-making  🔹 Service delivery (eg bureaucratic delivery mechanisms)  🔹 The intersection of GEDSI (Gender Equality, Disability and Social Inclusion) and implementation at scale. Submissions close 8 April! #CallforSubmissions | #WWHGEConf26 | #Conference | #ImplementationScience | #WhatWorksHubforGlobalEducation | Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford

📣 Join us and Youth Impact on 11 March for a webinar introducing a practical toolkit for iterative A/B testing – featuring perspectives from funders, researchers, implementing partners and government. Designed to strengthen routine learning and improve programme cost-effectiveness, iterative A/B testing helps organisations: 🔍 test small changes 💡 learn quickly, and 📈 continuously optimise programmes already operating at scale. At the webinar, speakers from the Gates Foundation, Youth Impact, the Innovations for Poverty Action Right-Fit Evidence Unit, The Agency Fund, and South Africa’s Department of Basic Education will share reflections on why iterative testing matters, what it looks like in practice, and how it can support better decision-making across diverse institutional contexts. 📅 Date: 11 March 2026 🕑 Time: 2pm GMT ➡️ Register now: https://lnkd.in/ehCa_cFd #ImplementationScience | #Webinar | #IterativeTesting | #WhatWorksHubforGlobalEducation

💡 How can large government and World Bank programmes be improved in real-time? A partnership between the The World Bank and What Works Hub for Global Education used implementation science and A/B testing to keep implementation on track in the context of a large-scale government differentiated learning programme in Ghana. https://lnkd.in/gQYKCMTT Real-time scaling assessments diagnosed gaps in implementation -- such as frequent student grouping --> a coaching checklist was introduced and tested rapidly and rigorously through A/B testing --> results showed improved implementation fidelity, measured by frequency of grouping, by 15 percentage points. Check out more in our new insight note, joint with Ama Blankson-Anaman, Shwetlena Sabarwal, Surayya Masood Marla Spivack: https://lnkd.in/gQYKCMTT cc Luis Benveniste Stefano De Cupis 💬 Judith Herbertson Nathanael Bevan Jo Cooke Davelyn Thompson Rachel Hinton Simon Blower Sabina Morley Amy Ballard Emily Woolf Sarah Lane Smith Michelle Kaffenberger Guillermo Romero Rodriguez Sam Ho Sharnic Djaker Kate Wilkerson Sturla Becky Hatch Emily Ford

🛠️ Sustaining high implementation fidelity at scale isn't easy. But implementation science can help. 💡 A new insight note from Ama Blankson-Anaman, Shwetlena Sabarwal, Surayya Masood, Noam Angrist and Marla Spivack shares early implementation science insights from scaling differentiated learning to 16,000+ schools in Ghana – and offers a clear example of the power of rapid measurement and iterative adaptation within government systems. The note describes how A/B testing identified a low-cost implementation tweak that improved fidelity and effectiveness when deployed. This tweak, a coaching checklist, increased the frequency of student grouping within differentiated learning lessons by 15 percentage points. 📈 When scaled across 10,000 schools, this 15-percentage-point change could mean large returns for teachers and students. To learn more, head to the comments for a link to the full insight note publication. #ImplementationScience | #DifferentiatedLearning | #WhatWorksHubforGlobalEducation

⚖️ Implementation science principles and embedded Gender Equality, Disability and Social Inclusion (#GEDSI) are a powerful combination for producing lasting, inclusive change. That‘s clear in a new blog post from Vanessa Umutoni, who explores how the Learning and Inclusion For Transformation (LIFT) programme in Rwanda is supporting the government and communities in creating system change for out-of-school children and youth. LIFT focuses on foundational learning outcomes in English and Mathematics, working to reduce school dropout and improve transition to lower secondary or other learning pathways, particularly for girls and children with disabilities. 📊 Evidence into action: LIFT uses robust data to inform targeted, evidence-based interventions across ministries and districts. 🔁 Iterative learning: LIFT strategies are continuously refined based on real-time feedback from communities and partners. 🧩 Systemic change: By embedding this approach, LIFT ensures that GEDSI commitments are not isolated projects but are integrated into national education systems. Head to the comments for a link to the blog to read more! Research for Equitable Access and Learning (REAL) Centre | #ImplementationScience | #GirlsEducation | #FoundationalLearning | #WhatWorksHubforGlobalEducation Photo credit: Christella Kamanzi, LIFT Communications and Advocacy Coordinator

⏰ Registration for the 2026 CSAE Conference closes this coming Sunday, 22 February – sign up now to join as we discuss what's new and what's ahead when it comes to research into the science of scale and implementation!

📈 How do we use data and evidence to drive nationwide gains in foundational literacy and numeracy? Last week in Freetown, the What Works Hub for Global Education met with government, partners and researchers to explore this urgent question. Alongside sharing endline findings from the What Works Hub Outcomes Fund Study with SLEIC stakeholders, the discussion turned to the broader system challenge of translating evidence into action. 🇸🇱 Sierra Leone is data rich. Across ministries, partners, schools and researchers, significant evidence is being generated. So, the challenge is not production. It is use. If evidence is to drive nationwide impact, it must reach decision-makers in usable, timely ways. Deputy Minister, Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education (MBSSE), Mrs. Emily Kadiatu Gogra, opened the session highlighting the importance of focusing on effective implementation of structured pedagogy, teacher development, and improved assessment systems. The discussions demonstrated high levels of commitment and motivation across government and the wider education ecosystem to strengthen the use of data in decision-making, and to ensure that policy and practice are informed by evidence of what works. The workshop identified areas where information flows can be made stronger. Now, the What Works Hub for Global Education will work closely with the Ministry for Basic and Secondary School Education and partners to map priority evidence gaps and explore an embedded evidence lab model within the Ministry. The momentum is real. The opportunity is clear. #FoundationalLearning | #EvidenceInEducation | #ImplementationScience | #SierraLeone | #GlobalEducation | #EdLab | The Education Outcomes Fund | Benjamin Piper | Innovations for Poverty Action | Education.org | Conrad Sackey