Watch Luis Crouch Explain How Economic Development Impacts Learning

In the 4th episode of our EdBits series, Luis Crouch, Lead Education Expert at the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), explains the gaps in learning levels of children in poor countries compared with children in rich countries. He uses the example of grade 4 literacy rates to demonstrate that average-learning children in poor countries score in reading tests similar to the 5% least-learning children in rich countries.

Comparing reading test scores in poor countries and rich countries, it turns out that there is a much larger gap for the least-learning children than the most-learning children. This implies that the most-learning children in poor countries are doing almost as well as the ones in rich countries whereas the least-learning children in developing countries face an enormous gap to their least-learning peers in rich countries. It suggests that high-achieving countries got there partly by improving the learning levels of the kids at greatest risk.

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