The Long-Term Returns to Early Gains in Foundational Skills: Worth the Money?

This convening will examine emerging evidence linking foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN) in primary school to long-term outcomes in adulthood. The case for investing in FLN has traditionally relied on correlations between adult learning and later-life outcomes. Now, new research is emerging that has measured children’s learning in primary school and then followed them into young adulthood and beyond.

Does this emerging evidence on FLN justify spending more? Does it still leave the skeptics’ questions unanswered? This convening brings together researchers, international financial institutions, and funders who don’t always agree to discuss the long-term returns to early literacy and numeracy, scrutinize what’s still missing, and identify the barriers to shifting resources at a time of shrinking budgets and growing concerns about cost-effectiveness.

Natalie Bau, Professor of Economics and Public Policy, University of California Los Angeles

Christian Bodewig, Director for Education and Skills, World Bank

Jacobus Cilliers, Development Economist, Georgetown University

Lee Crawfurd, Senior Research Fellow, CGD

Jishnu Das, Distinguished Professor of Public Policy, Georgetown University

Clio Dintilhac, Senior Program Officer, the Gates Foundation

David Evans, Senior Fellow and Program Director of Global Education, CGD

Corina Gardner, Chief Executive Officer, IDP Foundation

Amory Gethin, Economist, World Bank

Rachel Glennerster, President, CGD

Rafael Eduardo De Hoyos Navarro, Principal Economic Advisor, Inter-American Development Bank 

Fara Ndiaye, Co-Founder and Deputy Executive Director, Speak-Up Africa

Ferdinando Regalia, Social Sector Department Manager, Inter-American Development Bank

Jaime Saavedra, Human Development Director, World Bank

Abhijeet Singh, Assistant Professor of Economics, Stockholm School of Economics