Students compete for university scholarships with their talent at a Panamanian inter-school festival while transforming their communities and developing life skills Dayana Batista can't help but smile when asked about her time at TalenPro. "I feel like from that moment on, I became a totally different person," says this young Panamanian singer, winner of the 2018 … [Read more...] about Panamanian Model Combines Art, Social Impact, and Access to Higher Education
Education
What Are We Talking About When We Say Smart Spending in Education?
Smart spending in education is an approach that seeks to generate greater impact on learning. For decades, the debate on education in Latin America and the Caribbean has revolved around a seemingly simple question: How much do we spend on education? Yet this perspective, while important, is insufficient. Public spending on education in the region fell to 3.8% … [Read more...] about What Are We Talking About When We Say Smart Spending in Education?
More Than a Meal: Why School Meals Matter for Nutrition
School feeding programs not only nourish millions of children across Latin America and the Caribbean; they also ease household budgets and strengthen the resilience of food systems. Every day, millions of children across Latin America and the Caribbean walk into school hungry. For these children school may be the only place where they receive a nutritious meal. There … [Read more...] about More Than a Meal: Why School Meals Matter for Nutrition
From human counselors to AI agents: What We Learned From Scaling Career Guidance in Chile
Scaling effective educational interventions remains a major policy challenge. Programs that succeed at a small scale often lose impact when expanded—a phenomenon researchers call the "voltage effect." This is especially true for interventions that depend on intensive human interactions such as counseling, coaching or mentoring, where cost and availability of skilled personnel … [Read more...] about From human counselors to AI agents: What We Learned From Scaling Career Guidance in Chile
How to Keep Teachers in Challenging Schools? Evidence from São Paulo Shows Money Works
Teacher turnover hits hardest in schools that can least afford it. In São Paulo, Brazil's largest city, schools serving disadvantaged communities have historically struggled to retain experienced teachers, creating a revolving door that disrupts student learning. But new research shows that targeted financial incentives can dramatically change this pattern. The Challenge: … [Read more...] about How to Keep Teachers in Challenging Schools? Evidence from São Paulo Shows Money Works