•Describe the history of structured pedagogy and summarize research on its use to improve foundational learning.•Define structured pedagogy as a coherent package of instructional materials, intial training, and ongoing support.•Present a solution to address low learning levels in formal education settings.

The first SDG4 target is to both expand access to universal secondary school and to ensure that all children achieve minimum learning outcomes in primary school. To the extent that action must be prioritized, this article argues that achieving universal secondary education is both more feasible at scale and has clearer benefits than improving learning outcomes in primary schools in developing countries. Removing barriers to access such as fees and exam requirements has been demonstrated to have consistent impacts at scale, even in contexts of weak state capacity. By contrast, efforts to improve school quality have been much less consistent. Wage gains from secondary schooling have been demonstrated repeatedly, even in contexts of low quality education. Wage gains from improving primary school quality have not. Governments should thus focus on reforms that reliably expand access, rather than complex interventions to improve learning that often fail at scale.

E-learning is fast becoming an integral part of the teaching- learning process, particularly after the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic. Educational institutions across the globe are striving to enhance their e-learning instructional mechanism in accordance with the aspirations of present-day students who are widely using numerous technological tools - computers, tablets, mobiles, and Internet for educational purposes. In the wake of the evident incorporation of e-learning into the educational process, research related to the application of Educational Data Mining (EDM) techniques for enhancing e-learning systems has gained significance in recent times. The various data mining techniques applied by researchers to study hidden trends or patterns in educational data can provide valuable insights for educational institutions in terms of making the learning process adaptive to student needs. The insights can help the institutions achieve their ultimate goal of improving student academic performance in technology-assisted learning systems of the modern world. This review paper aims to comprehend EDM's role in enhancing e-learning environments with reference to commonly-used techniques, along with student performance prediction, the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on e-learning and priority e-learning focus areas in the future.

COVID-19 school closure has disrupted education systems globally raising concerns over learning time loss. At the same time, social isolation at home has seen a decline in happiness level among young learners. Understanding the link between cognitive effort and emotional wellbeing is important for post-pandemic learning recovery interventions particularly if there is a feedback loop from happiness to learning. In this context, we use primary survey data collected during the first school closure in urban Malaysia to study the complex association between learning loss and student happiness. Machine learning methods are used to accommodate the multi-dimensional and interaction effects between the covariates that influence this association. Empirically, we find that the most important covariates are student gender, social economic status (SES) proxied by the number of books ownership, time spent on play and religious activity. Based on the results, we develop a conceptual framework of learning continuity by formalizing the importance of investment in emotional wellbeing.

This systematic review describes the effects of COVID-19 lockdowns on children's learning and school performance. A systematic search was conducted using three databases. A total of 1787 articles were found, and 24 articles were included. Overall, academic performance was negatively affected by COVID-19 lockdowns, with lower scores in standardized tests in the main domains compared to previous years. Academic, motivational, and socio-emotional factors contributed to lower performance. Educators, parents, and students reported disorganization, increased academic demands, and motivational and behavioral changes. Teachers and policymakers should consider these results in developing future education strategies.

The COVID-19 pandemic produced the most significant disruption in education in history. More than 190 countries suspended in-person instruction, affecting an estimated 1.6 billion students. The reopening of schools has been unequal. Schools in more affluent areas reopened sooner than poorer ones, exacerbating preexisting inequalities. There is limited research about the reopening processes in Latin America, where schools were closed for extended periods. Using a rich administrative dataset, we investigate the gaps in the resumption of in-person instruction in Chilean schools across socioeconomic groups in the fall of 2021. Schools with lower socioeconomic status were significantly less likely to offer in-person instruction. Disparities in reopening decisions were associated with administrative factors rather than economic or local epidemiological conditions.

Service-learning collaborations have the potential to effectively respond to community needs, students' needs, and institutional priorities. However, natural and man-made crises oftentimes throw these arrangements into disarray. The coronavirus (COVID-19) is one such significant crisis that continues to challenge service-learning collaborations worldwide. Based on a systematic scoping review of scholarship on service-learning programs conducted during COVID-19, this study aimed to explore thematic similarities and differences between them, elucidating key observations and insights for future action. Overall, findings from 13 peer-reviewed articles indicated that, although not immune to the wide-ranging adverse effects of COVID-19, service-learning has proven itself to be an effective responsive pedagogy in times of crisis.

This study examines the effect of parental engagement on children's continued learning amid COVID-19-induced school closures in Uganda, where the government's distance learning program had limited coverage. The results show that children from households with more parental engagement are more likely to engage in learning activities at home when primary schools are closed. A significant effect of parental engagement is found in rural areas as well. Furthermore, we found that, in rural areas, the level of parental engagement is significantly more correlated with home-based learning among children from government schools than those from private schools.

This article contributes to knowledge and understanding about leading schools during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis by reviewing 21 articles published during the immediate period of the pandemic (during 2020-2021). Key findings include the value of leaders supporting and connecting the school community with a view to establishing a more resilient and responsive style of leadership during a period of major crisis. Furthermore, supporting and connecting all members of the school community to address equity through alternate strategies and digital technologies provides opportunities for leaders to build capacity in staff and students to respond to further changes. Implications and recommendations are discussed in the light of these findings.

During 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic unleashed a socioeconomic crisis in most countries, as well as strict restrictions on mobility and social distancing were implemented. The pandemic brought a severe socioeconomic shock -decreasing economic activity- and forced policy responses that affected the education sector -notably school closures-. There is scarce evidence on the implications of the pandemic and its socioeconomic consequences on learning inequality, particularly in the Latin-American context. The aim of this paper is to measure the change in learning inequality during the years of the pandemic (2020-2021) in Colombia. To measure learning inequality, we use the results of a standardize exam taken by all upper secondary education graduates in the country. To capture inequality, we use secondary-level students' characteristics, their households, and schools' characteristics. Our econometric results suggest an increase in learning inequality between 48% and 372% depending on the dimension studied, except for gender where learning inequality decreased. Moreover, through dynamic specifications, we determine that for all the analyzed dimensions the 2020-2021 period represents a change in the trend of learning inequality as in the periods prior to the pandemic inequality gaps decreased or, at least, remained constant. We conclude with concrete and immediate policy recommendations to target the learning processes of vulnerable students and bridge learning gaps.

The Covid-19 pandemic is an unprecedented shock that has tested the responsiveness of education systems around the world. The international literature that has studied the Covid-19 pandemic and school performance is still limited. Colombia presents an interesting scenario for the analysis due to the prolonged school closures and long lockdowns it experienced in 2020, and the availability of a rich dataset on the results of a high school exit examination (Saber11) that was administered even during the pandemic. Using this data, we estimate whether the COVID-19 pandemic is associated to lower levels of performance amongst graduating high school students using a school and time fixed effects model, finding a negative relation. Due to the significant reduction in the number of students taking the national standardized high school exit exam in 2020, we use inverse probability weighting (IPW) regressions to control for possible selection bias. The results of these regressions show that the Covid-19 pandemic has a negative and statistically significant relation with the scores obtained by students on the Saber11 exam. These results are relevant because they provide evidence to motivate the design of public policies that mitigate the side effects of the pandemic on educational outcomes.

During school closures prompted by the Covid-19 pandemic, educational technology (EdTech) was often used to continue educational provision. In this article, we consider EdTech effectiveness using a holistic framework, and synthesise findings from 10 primary research studies of EdTech interventions conducted in low- and middle-income countries during the pandemic. The framework includes five main lenses: learning outcomes, enhancing equity, implementation context, cost and affordability, and alignment and scale. While in-person schooling has largely resumed, there continues to be further integration of EdTech into education systems globally. This analysis provides evidence-based insights and highlights knowledge gaps to shape holistic analysis of both EdTech mainstreaming and future research into the effective use of EdTech to strengthen learning.

In Brazil, schools remained closed to prevent the spread of COVID-19 for approximately two years. In this study, we investigated how COVID-19 school closures were associated with gaps and losses in Brazilian students' reading skills. We contrasted the reading comprehension and fluency of 2nd- to 4th-graders in 2022 with a 2019 cohort. Furthermore, we investigated how 2022 5th graders' reading comprehension and fluency skills have improved since 2019. Overall, results showed that COVID-19 school closures were associated with gaps but not losses in reading comprehension and fluency. Therefore, these skills should be targets of educational interventions.

This study aims to show how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the online learning process at Jordanian universities from a gender-based perspective. In Jordan, the government has taken various measures to contain the spread of the pandemic in the country by locking down schools and higher education institutions and replacing face-to-face lectures with online learning. To this end, a questionnaire was developed and distributed to students from Jordanian universities to evaluate whether family support, technology use, and stress and depression during online learning are influenced by gender differences. The findings reveal that gender disparities were present and significant. Utilizing the gender structure theory and the intersectional theory as incorporated with branches of feminist theories, the study underscores reasons that are conducive to the persistence of gender disparities mostly in favor of men at Jordanian universities. In the process, we recommend culturally specific remedial approaches that have the potential to reduce this gender gap.

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in school closures worldwide, including in Japan, where remote education at schools is underdeveloped. Using a unique panel dataset collected in May and December 2020, we examine the determinants of access to online education at and outside schools and parents' preference towards at-school online education. We observe that children from more privileged family backgrounds received more at-school as well as outside-school online education. We also find that household income and parent's educational level are associated with higher demand for at-school online education, while mothers working full-time and fathers in non-regular contracts decreased this demand temporarily.

During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, almost all countries implemented school closures to prevent disease transmission. However, prolonged closures can put children at risk of leaving school permanently, a decision that can reduce their long-term potential and income. This study investigated the extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic and associated school closures reduced school attendance in Malawi, a low-income African country. We used longitudinal data from a cohort of adolescents interviewed before (2017/18; at age 10-16) and after (2021; at age 13-20) the pandemic school closures. Of those students who had been attending school prior to school closures, we find that 86% returned when schools re-opened. Dropouts were more pronounced among older girls: over 30% of those aged 17-19 did not return to school. This resulted in further lowering the gender parity index to the greater disadvantage of girls. We also found that students already lagging behind in school were more likely to dropout. Thus, our data suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic has magnified gender inequalities in schooling, at least partially erasing recent progress towards inclusive education. Urgent investments are needed to find and re-enroll lost students now, and to create more resilient and adaptable educational systems before the next pandemic or other negative shock arrives.

In this paper, we use a new database for Mexico to model the possible long-run effects of the pandemic on learning. First, based on the framework of Neidhöffer et al. (2021), we estimate the loss of schooling due to the transition from in-person to remote learning using data from the National Survey on Social Mobility (ESRU-EMOVI-2017), census data, and national statistics of COVID-19 incidence. In this estimation, we account for the attenuation capacity of households by econsidering the parental educational attainment and the economic resources available to the household in the calculation of the short-run cost. Secondly, we estimate the potential long-run consequences of this shock through a calibrated learning profile for five Mexican regions following Kaffenberger and Pritchett (2020a, 2020b). Assuming the distance learning policy adopted by the Mexican government is entirely effective, our results indicate that a learning loss equivalent to the learning during a third of a school year in the short run translates into a learning loss equivalent to an entire school year further up the educational career of students. On the other hand, if the policy was ineffective, the short-run loss increases to an entire school year and becomes a loss of two years of learning in the long run. Our results suggest substantial variation at the regional level, with the most affected region, the South experiencing a loss thrice as large as that of the least affected region, the Centre region.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had devastating effects on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, and MENA states have taken dramatic steps in response. This study focuses on school closures, an intervention that all MENA states adopted, some much earlier than others. It seeks to identify policy factors related to MENA governments' decisions to close schools during the first wave of the pandemic. Results suggest external issues regarding temporal and geographic diffusion played the largest role. They also indicate that factors related to disease risk, the economy, political institutions, and women's position in society mattered as well, all of which suggest the decisions were complex.

There is evidence of learning loss due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but there is no related information for Mexico. The objective of the study is to estimate learning loss in reading and numeracy in Mexico. We compared the results of two household surveys conducted in 2019 and 2021. We interviewed 3161 children between 10 and 15 years. We estimated a learning loss according with SES in a range from 0.34-0.45 SD in reading and 0.62-0.82 SD in mathematics by COVID-19 pandemic, and an increase in learning poverty in a range of 25.7%-15.4% in reading and 29.8%-28.8% in numeracy. Gaps in fundamental learning by gender and SES increased. There is an urgent need develop a clear strategy to perform personalized diagnoses and implement remedial courses to address learning loss.

The topic of this article is the research that was carried out at the Opole University of Management and Administration during the pandemic. The aim of the research was to answer the question whether and to what extent the COVID-19 pandemic affected the completion of studies by students of the Opole University of Management and Administration. The analysis included the assessment of students from the last semester in the academic year 2018/2019 (before the COVID-19 pandemic) and 2019/2020 (during the COVID-19 pandemic), as well as the results from the diploma examination, the coefficient of similarity of the works to others in the uniform anti-plagiarism system and the planned date of taking the final examination. The research was conducted using the data analysis method. The results showed that the students who were supposed to graduate in the time when the pandemic started, much more often than their predecessors did not take the final examination and were not able to finish writing their diploma papers. Additionally, they had lower grades in their practical subjects.