The World Bank’s World Development Report, published annually since 1978, is an invaluable guide to the economic, social, and environmental state of the world today. Each report provides in-depth analysis and policy recommendations on a specific and important aspect of development—from agriculture, the role of the state, transition economies, and labor to infrastructure, health, the environment, and poverty. The World Development Report 2018 (WDR 2018)—Learning to Realize Education’s Promise—is the first ever devoted entirely to education. And the timing is excellent: education has long been critical to human welfare, but it is even more so in a time of rapid economic and social change. The best way to equip children and youth for the future is to place their learning at the center. The 2018 WDR explores four main themes: 1) education’s promise; 2) the need to shine a light on learning; 3) how to make schools work for learners; and 4) how to make systems work for learning.

Report’s Main Messages:

-Schooling is not the same as learning.

-Schooling without learning is not just a wasted opportunity, but a great injustice.

-There is nothing inevitable about low learning in low- and middle-income countries.

The crisis has three main dimensions:

1. The first dimension of the crisis is the poor learning outcomes themselves.

2. The second dimension of the learning crisis is its immediate causes:
-Children arrive unprepared to learn.
-Teachers often lack the skills or motivation to teach effectively.
-Inputs often fail to reach classrooms or to affect learning.
-Poor management and governance often undermine schooling quality.

3. The third dimension of the crisis is its deeper systemic causes.

The Three Policy Actions to Address the Crisis

-Assess learning, to make it a serious goal.
-Act on evidence, to make schools work for learners.
-Align actors, to make the system work for learning.