Education Development Center (EDC)

International Development Division (IDD): The IDD team continued to pursue new challenges in 2023, wrapping up its first three year strategy and beginning a new three year strategy. IDD continued/began work on three "signature" flagship initiatives in 2023 that we will continue to build out in FY2024. These are: 1. A climate change awareness initiative with three prongs: Our World Our Work (OWOW) to promote the development of green and blue jobs for youth; Inspiring Climate Action Now (ICAN) which is focused on testing IDD's early grade science and climate work; and, the "greening" of IDD/EDC operations. Indeed, in September 4-6 2023: The inaugural Africa Climate Summit was held in Nairobi, Kenya and featured a panel hosted by Liesbet Steer, "The Big Opportunity: Education and Skills Development for a Climate-Adapted and Green Economy." The panel included the First Ladies of Kenya and Sierra Leone, as well as public and private sector representatives, discussing education and skills transformation in Africa. 2. Mental Health Now. IDD worked in 2023 on the process of digitizing the mental health curriculum developed in FY22 for youth. The digitization process involves creating audio, video and social media materials to engage youth and assist facilitators in delivering the curriculum in an entertaining and interactive manner. 3. Learning Generation Initiative: The LGI will integrate the work of the former Education Commission into IDD's portfolios of work, integrate the former Education Commission team members into the technical team work of IDD and expand funding to continue these initiatives. While #3 above is a new initiative, #s 1 and 2 are well along. OWOW is the most mature of these initiatives and has had considerable success over the course of 2023. ICAN and the greening of EDC are not as far along as OWOW but have taken shape in 2023 and have much momentum going into 2024. IDD has developed cross cutting and integrated workplans for FY24 focused on the above three areas, in addition to the usual technical team, portfolio and working group workplans. In addition to pursuing the above signature initiatives, relating to technical teams, portfolios and working groups, IDD will continue to build out core areas of strength in 2023, including in early childhood development, adolescent girls and young women, youth skilling curricula (Future Proof Skills) for TVET and post-secondary education, educator workforce preparation, accelerated education, learning and school safety, comprehensive adolescent sexuality and its work on social and institutional resiliency. IDD also continued to focus on core cross cutting areas of locally led development, gender and engaging the private sector in 2023. All of these areas are part of IDD's three-year strategic plan (2023-2025). IDD Communications: The IDD Communications team made a concerted effort to collect new digital resources from several of our projects on the ground in 2023, especially those that are closing. In March, Cornelia Janke was featured as an expert in education in crisis and conflict on the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO)-sponsored podcast "What Works for Education in Crisis and Conflict." The invitation to Ms. Janke speaks to her role as a thought leader in CCV and was an excellent opportunity to raise EDC's profile in FCDO circles. The International Basic Education team also developed an article for the Commonwealth Education Report 2023, which was accepted. Liesbet Steer also has a publication in this report on school feeding programs. The publication was released in May 2023 with EDC prominently featured. The Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) Annual Conference is the one time during the year that international education researchers, funders, and implementers come together to share their work. EDC had over 20 presentations at the conference in February. Amy Deal presented " Comprehensive Sexuality Education as a Critical Enabler of Educational Success and Learner Well-Being: Implementation Experiences from South Africa." Ms. Deal's presentation shared lessons learned from EDC's South Africa School-Based Sexuality Education and HIV Prevention Activity, a 10-year investment working to roll out and institutionalize South Africa's Department of Basic Education. The presentation is in line with IDD's strategy to increase the visibility of EDC's long-standing experience in school health and sexuality education programming and as an advocate for greater global investment in school-based approaches for improving young people's health and well-being. IDD continues to raise EDC's public profile by increasing and tracking external placements of EDC in international news. In 2023, IDD began a pilot collaboration with bird, a news agency with many networks, whose stories get picked up locally, regionally, and globally. Their mission is to identify and publicize positive narratives, with an emphasis on gender and inclusion, and thus shift narratives that appear in the press on Africa. We will pilot this collaboraton in two countries this year to assess if it really ramps up our impact storytelling. IDD also had strong performance in Q4 in terms of publications and social media for profile raising/publications. New Awards in 2023: USAID Doniya Taabolo Activity: EDC is proud to continue our work in Mali with a new 5-year USIAD Doniya Taabolo Activity focusing on expanding literacy instruction and improving math instruction in 1,000 schools in zones with the greatest need to develop strong support systems and improve some of the lowest student results in the region. Under USAID Doniya Taabolo, EDC will collaborate with the National Ministry of Education to communicate clear national expectations for primary reading and math. The activity shores up teacher pre-service by developing the capacity of pre-service faculty to train the next generation of teachers in the most effective math and reading instruction techniques. The activity will continue community support and engagement work to create robust and sustained parent engagement for improved student outcomes. Next, the Inclusive Development and Equitable Assistance (IDEA) Leader with Associate Award is a new five-year global activity, which will also include future Associate Awards. IDEA will enhance capacity among organizations of marginalized and underrepresented groups and/or people in vulnerable situations as they advance their own development goals and are more intentionally engaged in international development efforts. IDEA will also support these organizations to partner with the USAID Inclusive Development Hub to provide tools and share knowledge across USAID Missions and Offices to achieve more inclusive localization. EDC has assembled a consortium of partners. EDC will implement the USAID OASIS Advancing Learning Outcomes in Africa (ALOA) in partnership with the International Development Group. The ALOA activity provides analytical and implementation support services to USAID missions in Sub-Saharan Africa and teh Africa Regional Bureau Education team to assist with designing, implementing, and evaluating edcuation and youth programming. Leaders in Teaching program: In collaboration with the TRansforming Teaching, Education (T-TEL) and the Ghana Education Services (GES), IDD's Learning Generation Initiative (LGI) of IDD will serve as a partner on the Leaders in Teaching program focused on secondary education reform. IDD's Learning Generation Initiative has secured funding from the Rockefeller Foundation for the Sustainable Financing Initiative (SFI). IDD's Learning Generation Initiative has formed a strategic partnership with the UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office on the What Works Hub. The USAID Kenya Primary Literacy Program is a five-year initiative that supports the Kenyan Ministry of Education to deliver interventions at scale as well as pilot and expand innovations that address the language and literacy needs of primary grade learners while building more inclusive, accountable, and resilient education institutions and systems. Selected IDD Successes: IDD's new Foundations of Health curriculum was ready for use in 2023 in EDC's new Integrated Youth Empowerment Activity (IYEA) in South Sudan. EDC's Let's Read Zambia project continued to see success in 2023. The USAID Djibouti Youth Employment Activity will strengthen youth economic potential through improved skills, work experience, and relationships with employers. Finally, IDD team members maintained leadership roles in several organizations in 2023, including the Basic Education Coalition, the Youth Systems Collaborative, AIYD and the Coalition of Adolescent Girls and Young Women.

U.S. Division: In 2023, EDC's U.S. Division conducted research, delivered services, and scaled successful programs focused on equity in education, health, mental health, and workforce development. EDC's leadership of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention, Zero Suicide Institute at EDC, and Suicide Prevention Resource Center helped improve outcomes for millions of people at risk of suicide. To date, over 80,000 practitioners have completed EDC's Assessing and Managing Suicide Risk training. In addition, EDC continued to support the national roll-out of the new 9-8-8 hotline for behavioral health crises and online toolkit focused on Community-Led Suicide Prevention. EDC led and co-led several national and regional technical assistance centers that advance addiction prevention. These include the Strategic Prevention Technical Assistance Center, the Center for Strategic Prevention, and the Behavioral Health Excellence Technical Assistance Center. Through Prevention Solutions, EDC provided online and face-to-face training and consultation to substance misuse prevention professionals. EDC delivered mental health, school health, and behavioral health support through the Education Wellbeing suite of training and consultation services for preK-secondary school education systems. EDC helped teachers integrate Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) programs into practice, supported educator mental health, assisted education systems in assessing their mental health supports, and helped leaders create policies and practices that support SEL for all. In addition, we continue to lead a school-based mental health and suicide prevention initiative in Indiana that will reach an estimated 35,000 students in 12 school districts by 2024. EDC continued its innovative work to improve the quality and equity of STEM learning and workforce development for all. We led two national centers, STEM Learning and Research Center (STELAR) and Community for Advancing Discovery Research in Education (CADRE), that we have operated for decades. To date, STELAR has helped NSF researchers reach over 1.5 million students, 63,000 teachers, and 20,000 parents and caregivers. We grew our Rural & Ready STEM initiative, and we led a large and strategic stream of work on improving data science and computer science education. EDC advanced multiple U.S. initiatives focused on improving the quality and accessibility of out-of-school time programs, particularly for young people from marginalized communities. We continue to lead the National Center on Afterschool and Summer Enrichment for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In addition, we are leading the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention initiative, Collaborative for Advancing Health Equity in Out-of-School Time, to support young people's well-being. EDC led multiple initiatives focused on closing opportunity gaps in early mathematics learning including Math For All, Young Mathematicians, and Math+C. Young Mathematicians works with teachers, preschoolers, and families to date. We were recently awarded an Expansion Phase EIR grant to implement Math For All in five additional states. This program makes high-quality mathematics accessible to all elementary school students, including those with disabilities, and has reached over 19,000 students to date. EDC continued its role as the Amgen Biotech Experience (ABE) Program Office, supporting the Amgen Foundation in strengthening its innovative high school science education program and scaling it to more sites. ABE is now available in 25 program sites across the United States and around the world, and many more schools. To date, the program has reached over 900,000 students across North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia Pacific in 1,800 schools supported by 3,500 teachers. EDC expanded its innovative work to support children and families. We led three national initiatives focused on using continuous quality improvement and data to strengthen home visiting services. For the Office of Head Start, we led the National Center on Health, Behavioral Health, and Safety. In addition, with support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, EDC grew its First 10 initiative. Focused on closing opportunity gaps for children from marginalized communities, First 10 now has sites in seven states. EDC continued our 16 years of leading the Regional Educational Laboratory Northwest & Islands for the Institute of Education Sciences, and also partnered with two other Regional Education Laboratories, and also partnered with two other Regional Education Laboratories and two Comprehensive Centers. Nationwide, leaders turn to EDC for credible, up-to-date research on what works in education.