WHAT WE DO

Education.org enables stronger evidence-informed decision making and implementation by bridging the worlds of research, policy, and practice. We achieve impact through innovative thought leadership, purposeful matchmaking to bring the right content and people together, and by catalysing strategic partnerships.

Applying principles of design thinking, we seek end-user input from the beginning and throughout the process, and move beyond traditional academic literature to also bring into focus community experiences and unpublished research that offer actionable insights and solutions to policy and practice leaders.

Education.org envisions staged growth between 2019 – 2023 and is prototyping its approach through two phases: a first global thematic focus on the developmental and learning sciences and their influence on how children learn. This focus has been chosen with input from national education and agency leaders, as more of the same will not drive sufficient progress towards global and national learning objectives. A second phase is envisioned to focus on out of school children.

EDUCATION.ORG IN ACTION: KENYA

To establish an approach for linking global and country-level evidence and use, a collaboration in Kenya is in development. The effort ensures implementers are engaged from the start, that work addresses relevant real-world problems, and that outputs can be effectively embedded into current processes.

This collaborative effort was launched with a rigorous diagnosis of the current situation and aims to:

· Map and mobilise stakeholders and networks essential for impact

· Initiate the global and local inclusive education evidence framework to elevate frontline voices

· Directly link to routine policy cycles and processes

· Concretely link improved policies to practice in pioneer schools/counties through change facilitation and leadership support

HOW WE ADD VALUE

Define Decision-Maker Needs

We flip typical approaches by identifying needs of leaders influencing policies, practices, and investments in education. We zoom in on gaps that pose barriers to better learning.

2. Design Problem Solving Approach

Collaboratively, we design hypothesis-driven scope of work and plan, specifying end-user objectives, target groups, stakeholders to involve, methodological approaches to identify and critically appraise data.

3. Analyse All Relevant Data from Wide Range of Sources

Using a novel framework being adapted from a gold standard in health, identify, analyse and distil relevant evidence from wide range of sources, including critical unpublished evidence and going beyond what works to how, for whom, and why or why not.

4. Synthesise into Actionable Recommendations

From pools of research data and evidence, we create clean, actionable and user-friendly syntheses to form recommendations at the education system level.

5. Transfer and Integrate into Policy and Practice

We put content and people together to form new alliances and cultivate matchmaking to spark greater synergies across education networks. We also support integration of recommendations into policies and plans. This results in actions that better connect evidence to existing system cycles.

6. Survey New Data and Continually Update

We are developing dedicated, independent infrastructure for education evidence - continually monitoring themes and progress, establishing the basis for a WHO-like approach to education.