CEPR Cohosts Conference with World Bank

Last week, the Center for Education Policy Research (CEPR) at Harvard University and the World Bank cohosted the Conference on Teacher Policy in Latin America and the Caribbean. The event attracted 70 participants, including Latin American ministers and secretaries of education, researchers from Harvard and Stanford Universities, and key partners from multilateral development banks and nongovernment organizations.

The two-day conference explored the technical and political challenges of major reforms aimed at raising the quality of teachers. “Like the United States, many countries in Latin America lag behind their peers on international assessments,” said Professor Thomas Kane, director of CEPR. “A new generation of leaders in Latin America are now working to reform their education systems. We’re hoping to learn with them as they search for policies and programs to improve the quality of teaching.”

To date, major reforms of teacher policy include changes in performance evaluation, professional development, incentives, and pre-service teacher training.

Conference sessions reflected on World Bank research about teacher quality in Latin America and the Caribbean. Among the featured speakers were Professor Andres Alonso, Chancellor of D.C. Public Schools Kaya Henderson, and Managing Director of Uncommon Schools Doug Lemov. The conference also included moderated discussions examining the measurement of effective teaching, the importance of teacher quality, and the recruitment of high-talent teachers.