Registration Opens for OLE General Assembly;
This Year’s Theme: ‘What Works?’
The second annual OLE General Assembly, to be held on October 11-15 in Kigali, Rwanda, will explore what is known, what needs to be known and how we can know about scalable approaches to achieving Quality Universal Basic Education for marginalized children around the world.
Organizations and participants working to advance quality education worldwide are encouraged to attend.
The theme of this year’s assembly, “What Works? Exploring Scalable Approaches to Quality Universal Basic Education,” reflects OLE Founder Richard Rowe’s strongly held views that “while there are literally thousands of basic education initiatives underway in all parts of the world, very few have demonstrated that they are effective or that they can be scaled beyond a few limited silos of presumed excellence. Because of the urgency of achieving quality basic education systems that scale to all children, not just the priviledged few in a region or country, it is essential that we move quickly to evidence-based practices that scale.”
The 2010 OLE General Assembly will address three critical issues:
1) What do we already know about scaling quality education with marginalized children?
2) What are we learning from studies and research already underway that promise to increase our understanding of what works well for learning.
3) What more do we need to know about cost effective ways to scale quality education for all marginalized children and how will we learn these things?
“Since no one approach will fit the learning needs of all children, we need to begin developing a more differentiated matrix of evidence-based solutions that are cost effective for different groups of children,” says Rowe. “And, because the costs of most approaches to quality education are substantial, it is essential for us to examine the return on these investments compared with other approaches for achieving the same goals.”
Finally, he continues, “we must address the challenging question of how to measure quality. Things that are important are not easy to measure and things that are easy to measure often are not especially important. Models and examples of valid and reliable assessments of educational quality, particularly among marginalized children in poverty settings, present major challenges for practitioners and policy-makers.”
The “What Works?” Assembly will be a purposeful, action-oriented experience. Participants will have an opportunity not only to listen but to actively engage with practitioners and policy makers concerning specific topics directly relevant to their missions. Participants will also work in teams to design pilot projects and evaluations that are aligned with the needs of specific groups of children in different regions and with the requirements of their governments.
Participating will be OLE Center representatives from various developing countries, senior members of the Rwandan government, and key representatives of international organizations.
Field trips to some of the educational initiatives underway in Rwanda will complement the workshop framework of the conference. A preliminary agenda can be found below.
A preliminary schedule of sessions and early registration at a discounted price of $400 (not including travel and accomodations) are available at: http://ole-assembly.eventbrite.com/. (Individuals and groups with limited incomes who are interested in attending the conference can send a request to waive the registration fee to www.theapplywizard.com/1/assembly.)
For more information and suggestions concerning the General Assembly, send an email to: assembly@ole.org.
