Understanding How Education Systems Build Capability, Innovate, and Improve Their Practices

Despite decades of outstanding progress in increasing school enrollment and attainment for children in developing countries, too many spend years in school without acquiring basic skills in reading and math.

Project Team

Matt Andrews, Marla Spivack, Salimah Samji, Daniel Barjum, Mansi Kapoor, Tim McNaught 

March 2019 – August 2022

BSC’s engagement with the Research on Improving Systems of Education (RISE) Progamme focused on how the PDIA approach could help build the capability to implement education policies.

Lant Pritchett and others presenting with RISE logo behind them

RISE is a multi-year, multi-country, multi-partner project that seeks to understand how school systems in the developing world can overcome the learning crisis and deliver learning for all. Even when systems create conditions coherent for learning, ultimately learning outcomes depend on what happens in the daily interactions between pupils and teachers.   

This requires creating schools that have the capability to consistently implement effective learning practices.  This capability must also be supported by effective organizations around schools—that create and deliver learning materials, do assessments, and provide training.  

Through this engagement, the BSC team published 3 RISE working papers, 4 insight notes, 1 essay, 4 podcasts, and 8 blogs. 

Project-Related Papers

A Public Value Approach to Analyzing and Intervening in National Educational Systems, Moore, Mark and Spivack, Marla. 2023. RISE Essay

The Way Forward in Analyzing National Educational Systems: A Re-Considered View, Moore, Mark and Spivack, Marla. 2022. RISE Working Paper Series. 22/110. 

Applying Systems Thinking to Education: Using the RISE Systems Framework to Diagnose Education Systems, Silberstein, Jason and Spivack, Marla. 2023. RISE Insight 2023/051

More Working Papers

Managing for Motivation as Public Performance Improvement Strategy in Education & Far Beyond, Honig, Dan. 2022. CID Working Paper 409.

Getting Real about Unknowns in Complex Policy Work, Andrews, Matt. 2022. CID Working Paper 406 and RISE Working Paper Series. 21/083.

PDIA for Systems Change: Tackling the Learning Crisis in Indonesia. Barjum, Daniel. 2022. RISE Insight 2022/046.

A Problem-Driven Approach to Education Reform: The Story of Sobral in Brazil. McNaught, Tim. 2022. RISE Insight 2022/039. Also available in Portuguese.

Funda Wande through the lens of PDIA: Showcasing a flexible and iterative learning approach to improving educational outcomes. Samji, Salimah and Kapoor, Mansi. 2022. RISE Insight 2022/036.

Project Photos