Effective Interventions Aimed at Reaching Out-of-School Children: A Literature Review
Author: Shanker, Ashim
Date: 2015-08-00
Type: Information Analyses
Subjects: Literature Reviews,Out of School Youth,Foreign Countries,Intervention,Best Practices,Early Childhood Education,Access to Education,School Readiness,Low Income Groups,Cognitive Development,Social Development,Enrollment,Refugees,Females,Disadvantaged Youth,Educational Vouchers,Incentives,Nontraditional Education,Acceleration (Education),Mixed Age Grouping,Vocational Education,Community Programs,Private Schools,Governance,Educational Administration,Inclusion,Partnerships in Education,Global Approach,Information Management,Case Studies,Child Development,Economic Factors,Nonformal Education

This paper aggregates the academic literature reviewing and reporting interventions for out-of-school children (OOSC) around the world to serve as a guide for potential interventions in South Asia and elsewhere. It complements the Global Initiative on Out-of-School Children (OOSCI) South Asia Regional Study (2014). Thus the interventions reviewed include those in South Asia that were not extensively discussed in the OOSCI South Asia Regional Study as well as emphasis on interventions outside the region to further expand the knowledge base and evidence on effective interventions to reach out-of-school children. The interventions reviewed cover both those targeted for children who have never enrolled and those who may have enrolled in the past but have dropped out. It offers strategies and best practices for Early Childhood Development (ECD) programs with attention to cognitive and social-emotional development, as well as methods for expanding pre-primary access and improving school readiness with special attention to on-time enrollment, all known deterrents keeping children from dropping out of school. It also echoes assessments and reports describing a geographically wide array of non-formal education (NFE) interventions, covering the Alternative Education System in South Sudan, an educational resource center in Ireland, Educational Centers for Development in Mali, Community Learning Centers in Myanmar, complementary education and multi-grade schooling in Ghana, community engagement in Gambia, non-formal education in Zambia, and an overview of the potential of private school outreach and vocational non-formal education. Based on findings from impact evaluations and quasi-experiments, this literature review explores the effectiveness of pro-poor economic incentives, including voucher and cash transfer programs that have shown promising results in mitigating the opportunity cost of children relinquishing wages to attend school. This literature review also analyzes the decentralization of education systems and inclusive education through the lens of governance, providing short case reviews from around the world as learning examples and points of comparison. The paper then discusses sector plans in education as well as the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) and key literature while offering country examples. Additionally, the researchers provide a review of Education Management Information Systems (EMIS) and related systems around the world and highlight the opportunity for NFE and OOSC data incorporation into larger data systems as a means for providing paths to schooling for OOSC. The final section of this paper offers recommendations for possible way forward for the South Asia region, including further areas for research. An annex includes supplemental tables and figures.