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BEC & GRN hold Webinar: Reading Instruction in the Age of COVID-19 — Planning for the Present and the Future

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The Basic Education Coalition and Global Reading Network were pleased to welcome nearly 200 members of our global development community (from Costa Rica to Malawi to Uzbekistan) to discuss ways to best support reading instruction during this pandemic and beyond. 

Please find the reference information below: 

Finally, if you are not yet on the GRN email list, you can sign up here. Please also feel free to reach out to the Global Reading Network at GRN@usaid.gov. To join the BEC newsletter listserv, click here.

New Resource: Ensuring All Students are Learning White Paper

The global education community works to increase access to quality education for all children around the world. Education is one of the greatest equalizers—children of all backgrounds, skill levels, and religious beliefs can learn the fundamentals of reading and writing—the core skills of communication. Education empowers all learners to become productive members of society and to thrive in their individual lives. Unfortunately, education systems across both the developed and developing worlds do not currently adequately support children of all learning abilities, or those from certain ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Instruction is primarily aimed at ‘able’ learners, leaving children of different cognitive or physical abilities at a severe disadvantage.

Even as the idea of inclusion garners support, the global community struggles to move beyond buzzwords to concrete recommendations for action. To further this discussion, DAI hosted a panel on inclusive education in 2019 to ask two fundamental questions: What are the key policy recommendations we need to be making to support inclusive education? And, what are the key aspects we need to think about during project design and implementation to achieve inclusive education?

This paper by Sakil Malik, Farah Mahesri, Craig Geddes, and Angie Quintela, captures key points from that discussion and develops them further through additional research, consolidated here into concrete recommendations for policy makers and implementers. DAI acknowledges with special thanks the contributions and insights of these experts and supporters:

  • Candace Debnam of School to School International

  • Deborah Backus of All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development

  • Jerry Mindes of Leonard Cheshire

  • Josh Josa of the U.S. Agency for International Development

  • Lisa Wadors Verne of Benetech

  • Sue Swenson of Inclusion International

  • Amy Pallangyo, an independent education consultant.

Additional thanks and acknowledgment to the DAI Inclusive Education team: Antonio Iskandar, Gustavo Payan, and Zehra Zaidi

BEC Welcomes the Luminos Fund as a New Member!

The Luminos Fund works to ensure no child is ever denied an education, whether by poverty, crisis, or discrimination. Luminos is one of the few international, non-government organizations with a proven model, laser focus, and compelling track record for helping out-of-school children learn and catch up to grade level. The organization works to empower communities and reverse the global learning crisis that has left millions of children out of school and lacking opportunity.

The Luminos Fund’s core offering is Second Chance: an intensive learning program that empowers children to catch up to grade level and covers the first three years of school in ten months. In Second Chance, boys and girls learn to read and do math – to learn how to learn – through a joyful, activity-based curriculum. To date, Luminos has helped over 132,000 children get a second chance at education across Ethiopia, Liberia, and Lebanon where the organization works with Syrian refugees.

Luminos programs achieve inspiring, long-term results. Upon completion of Second Chance programs, over ninety percent of Luminos students advance into their local mainstream school, continuing on the path to opportunity. Even six years after completing Second Chance and transitioning into mainstream schools, Luminos children continue to fare better than their counterparts. External research shows that graduates of the program complete primary school at twice the rate of their peers.

Welcome to BEC!

BEC Statement on Systemic Racism, Violence, and Injustice

The Basic Education Coalition promotes global peace and prosperity through education for all people, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or nationality. We condemn acts of violence fueled by systemic racism and hate in the United States that undermine our mission of promoting a better life for children around the world.

As such, in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and allies who are taking action against racial violence and injustice, we have compiled the following list of resources to support children’s learning around these important topics.

How else can we support you? Please let us know by leaving a comment below.

BEC and mEducation Alliance hold fourth & final iteration of webinar series: Education Technology for Continuity of Education in Response to COVID-19

The fourth iteration of this webinar series was the most successful one yet! Click here to tune in to the recording and keep the conversation going by contributing to our interactive Q&A googledoc.

The Basic Education Coalition and the mEducation Alliance welcomed nearly 200 members of our global development community (from Honduras to Malaysia to Spain) to discuss EdTech interventions from:

Check out each organization’s presentation by clicking the above links. Also be sure to check out BEC’s “Pivot Stories” document, which is chock-full of resources, the solutions presented in this webinar, and more. Lastly, don't miss BEC's latest newsletter and the mEducation Alliance newsletter.

We look forward to seeing you at the the BEC-GRN webinar "Reading Instruction in the Age of COVID-19: Planning for the Present and the Future"! Click here for the invitation.

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BEC Publishes Recommendations for Integrating Gender and Social Inclusion into Distance Education Programming Guidance

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BEC’s Gender and Girls Education Working Group is excited to have compiled these recommendations for integrating gender and social inclusion into distance learning programming, for your reference during COVID-19 and beyond. Click on the image below to access this helpful document.

BEC Holds Congressional Briefing: Global Perspective on Impacts of COVID-19 on Education

On May 21, 2020, along with UNICEF, Global Partnership for Education (GPE), and Education Cannot Wait (ECW), BEC held a Congressional briefing on the impact of COVID-19 on education. The event featured inspiring remarks from Rob Jenkins (UNICEF), Yasmin Sherif (ECW), Alice Albright (GPE), and Nancy Devine (BEC/Education Development Center).

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"We cannot let what we’re hoping to be a short-term health crisis turn into a generational education crisis."
-Alice Albright, GPE

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NEW Pivot Stories: BEC Members Continue to Meet New Learner Needs during COVID-19

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The Basic Education Coalition (BEC) developed this document to highlight how international education programs are adapting to meet new learner needs that have emerged due to the COVID-19 crisis. This new, updated version of the document includes even more examples of adaptations from implementers.

Specifically, the purpose of this document is to:

  • Share the innovative ways implementing organizations are continuing to provide learning opportunities during COVID-19.

  • Using this evidence,advocate for the importance of continued education during times of crisis.

  • Provide resources,strategic approaches,and information for organizations adapting to the new operating environment.

Check out the amazing work BEC members are doing to keep children learning here or by clicking the image below!*

*Please download the document to enjoy it in the side-by-side view for which it is formatted.

BEC and mEducation Alliance hold third iteration of webinar series: Education Technology for Continuity of Education in Response to COVID-19

The third iteration of this webinar series was a productive exchange! Click here to tune in to the recording and keep the conversation going by contributing to our interactive Q&A googledoc.

The Basic Education Coalition and mEducation Alliance welcomed nearly 100 members of our global development community (from Brazil to Liberia to Pakistan) to discuss EdTech interventions from:

Check out each organization’s presentation by clicking the above links. Also be sure to check out BEC’s “Pivot Stories” document, which is chock-full of resources, the solutions presented in this webinar, and more.

Lastly, don't miss BEC's latest newsletter and the mEducation Alliance newsletter, which includes a call for presentation proposals for 2020 mEducation Alliance Symposia events and a call for Ed Tech Ideas for COVID-19 Response.

We look forward to seeing you at the next webinar of this series in a couple of weeks! (invitation coming soon)

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Banner photo: Room to Read