Beirut, November 8, 2016 - A new Research for Results in Education program (R4R) in Lebanon will generate evidence on student and teacher performance across school types as the basis for policy recommendations to strengthen the efficiency and quality of education services by public, private and non-state providers.
The two-year program, launched today at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education is the product of a partnership between the Ministry, the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DfID), the United States Agency for International Aid (USAID), and the World Bank.
“Through the R4R program, we are looking forward to identify the obstacles that are delaying educational development, and to obtain fast and accurate data derived from facts, and provide it to decision makers, in order to change existing policies and develop new policies more suitable to our current era”, said Fadi Yarak, Director General of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education.
In addition to supporting policy change, R4R will focus on education practices and the decision-makers at different levels of the system to improve quality overall. The program will focus on the system as a whole to identify evidence-based results that are most likely to gain traction in Lebanon’s complex policy environment. The method proposed for the R4R is a nontraditional approach to research that is both highly relevant to the Lebanese context and designed to produce results that can be acted upon.
“The World Bank has been a long-standing partner of the Government of Lebanon in its efforts to secure access and quality of education services to Lebanese children. R4R is a key component of the World Bank’s overall education portfolio, which includes a combination of concessional loans and grants to support learning for all students in Lebanon. We are very excited to join efforts with DfID and USAID under this important initiative”, said Ferid Belhaj, Director of the Middle East Department at the World Bank.
The R4R Program combines research on the education services delivered at the school level with a system-wide analysis and a communication and stakeholder engagement plan.
“Education is the basis of peace and prosperity. It is a passport to new horizons, and that is why we are very proud of our work on education in Lebanon in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and the many donors striving to ensure that no child misses out on their education. Today’s milestone of launching Research for Results is a critical part of our education support. It will help us collectively to identify what works and continuously improve the quality of education in Lebanon”, said Hugo Shorter British Ambassador to Lebanon.
Under the program, data will be gathered across public, private, and free-private schools and classrooms, including first and second shifts, to better understand what teachers do in the classroom, what students are learning, and overall how schools are functioning. The research will examine local examples of best practices for school-based management, including increased community engagement. Studies will compare the cognitive skills of students enrolled in schools with the skills of out-of-school vulnerable children. Furthermore, they will determine factors contributing to persistence in enrollment for vulnerable children and identify reasons leading to dropout across communities and school types.
