Giving Compass' Take:

•  A recent report called Beyond the Mirage identifies how private sector involvement can help spur alternative strategies with effective implementation methods for changing education systems. 

• How are donors and private sector support helping spur career readiness in the U.S.? 

• Read about how the private sector is a force for public education. 

Securing high-quality education for each child is an obligation and challenge faced by every government. In developed markets, schools are readily available, and students are enrolled in classrooms. Yet resources alone are insufficient. The quality of learning unfortunately varies across countries and contexts, and it is often woefully inadequate to prepare students for success. Emerging markets have resource constraints that further complicate matters. Across much of Africa and South Asia, nearly half of primary students fail to demonstrate minimum competency in math and English; the majority do not demonstrate proficiency.

Results at the secondary level are even more discouraging. Meanwhile, quality education has never been more important to participate in the global economy. Those who fall behind on essential skills and cognitive development struggle to find prosperity; when this happens en masse, communities can become even more marginalized.

In our recently published report, Beyond the Mirage, my colleagues and I discuss alternate strategies, focusing on emerging solutions that can yield meaningful progress.

These solutions require pragmatic leaders who have a clear vision for what better looks like, who maintain a strong sense of what is working and what is not, and who prioritize implementation based on evidence. Importantly, these pragmatic leaders leave ideology at the door and often embrace solutions that allow for, and directly engage with, the private sector. They will manage the private sector entities that take public funding the same way as they do those in the public sector: measuring results and holding managers accountable.

Read the full article about how private sector involvement can boost learning by Katelyn Donnelly at Education Next.