Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Overview -- Acronyms -- PART I. COGNITIVE REESEARCH ON BASIC SKILLS -- 1. The Pedagogy of Poverty -- Neurocognitive Research: The Key to the Black Box -- 2. Health, Nutrition, and Cognitive Processing -- Health and Nutritional Obstacles to Learning -- Developmental Delays and the Importance of Preschool -- Policy Implications -- 3. Nervous System Linkages with School Performance -- Policy Implications -- 4. Memory and Basic Skills Acquisition -- Knowledge Intake: Attention Span and Prospects for Improving It -- The Peculiarities of Memory: Eternal as Well as Fleeting -- Working Memory: A Concept Critical for Effective Education -- Why Is Working Memory So Important for School Work? -- How Information Learned in School Is Consolidated -- Policy Implications -- Research Needs -- 5. Literacy Acquisition and the Biology of Reading -- Reading Benchmarks and Norms -- Reading Issues Affecting the Poor -- Phonics Versus "Whole Word" Methods -- Policy Implications -- Research Needs -- 6. Why Mother-Tongue Instruction Improves Achievement -- The Benefits of Bilingual Education -- Policy Implications -- Research Needs -- 7. The Development and Teaching of Numeracy -- The Effects of Language Switching in Math -- Policy Implications -- Research Needs -- 8. The Cognitive Effects of Classroom Events -- "Chalk and Talk" Lecturing (Very Effective for Brief Periods) -- Practice, Questions, Feedback, Discussion (Very Effective) -- Individual Seatwork (Limited Effectiveness) -- Projects (Limited Effectiveness for Basic Skills) -- Noninstructional Activities (Ineffective) -- Policy Implications -- Research Needs -- PART II. RESOURCES FOR EFFECTIVE INSTRUCTION -- 9. Which Instructional Methods Are Most Efficient? -- The Pros and Cons of Constructivism and Discovery Learning -- The Pros and Cons of "Direct Instruction".

Policy Implications -- 10. Use and Wastage of Instructional Time -- Schools Open fewer than the Official Number of Days -- Teacher Absenteeism -- Student Absenteeism -- Wastage of Class Time -- Policy Implications -- Research Needs -- 11. A Textbook for Every Student to Take Home -- Policy Implications -- 12. Improving Instructional Support -- Classroom "Climate" and Student Achievement -- The Case of the Missing Homework -- Curricular Effects on Student Achievement -- Effects and Interpretation Difficulties of Achievement Tests -- Effects of School Facilities on Achievement and Attendance -- Policy Implications -- 13. Student Grouping and Class Size Effects -- Formation of Student Groups: Learning Potential and Issues -- Student Performance in Multigrade Classes -- Policy Implications -- PART III. PERFORMANCE OF TEACHERS AND EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS -- 14. Teacher Incentives and Motivation -- Motivation and Incentives-Extrinsic and Intrinsic -- Self-Efficacy and the Challenge of Never-Ending Tasks -- Increasing Accountability -- Policy Implications -- 15. Performance and Training of Educators -- Social Status and Attitudes toward Students -- Attitudes toward Teaching -- Teacher Training Institutions May Not Teach Effectively -- Improving the Effectiveness of Teaching Behaviors -- Improving the Effectiveness of Training Events -- Policy Implications -- 16. The Seven Pillars of Basic Skills for All -- Benchmarks and Monitoring Indicators -- Invest More in the Lower Grades -- Efficient Access Goal -- Disseminating Lessons from Research -- ANNEX: COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE BASICS FOR EDUCATION -- I. Neuropsychology Essentials -- A. Neural Development in Young Organisms -- B. Nerve Wiring and Survival of the Fittest Memories -- C. Brain Architecture and Learning Functions -- D. Memory Systems -- E. Nature, Culture, and Circumstances.

F. Cultural Differences in Students' Cognition -- G. Gender-Related Issues in Cognition -- II. The Lens of Cognitive Science -- A. Attention -- B. Storage of Information in Cognitive Networks -- C. The Uses and Abuses of Memorization -- D. Copying From the Blackboard and Note-Taking -- E. Transfer of Learning to Other Skills -- F. How, What, and Why Learners Forget -- G. Higher Cognitive Functions -- H. Learning Styles: Do They Exist? -- I. Expertise and Its Implications -- J. Ability to Act on "Lessons Learned" by Donors and Governments -- K. Age-Related Memory Changes and Their Implications for Learners -- L. Training Implications for Middle-Aged Educators -- Notes -- References -- Index -- Boxes -- 1.1. The "Education for All" Goals -- 2.1. Health and School Attendance -- 2.2. Full-Time Schools: Special Attention for Low-Income Students -- 4.1. How Much Attention Do Students Pay in Class? -- 4.2. Chewing Gum Increases Recall of Words -- 4.3. Poor Students Forget More During End-of-Year Vacations -- 5.1. Sixty Words per Minute for All -- 5.2. With Efficient Instruction, Children Can Learn Multiple Scripts . . . . . . -- 6.1. How Many Years Are Needed to Teach Sufficient Language? -- 8.1. Activities and Achievement in Jamaican Schools -- 9.1. Constructivist Curricula, Illiterate Artists? -- 12.1. Youth Orchestras for the Poor in Venezuela -- 13.1. "Hole-in-the-Wall Experiment" -- 14.1. Extrinsic Teacher Incentives and "Cramming" for Exams -- 14.2. How Do Teachers Use School Grants? -- 16.1. An "Indicative Framework" for Educational Quality -- 16.2. How Well Do Schools in Niger Improve the Country's Human Capital? -- A-1. The Sociology of Competition -- A-2. Levels of Processing -- A-3. The Brief Window of Opportunity for Learning -- A-4. Useful Knowledge Tends to Be Remembered -- A-5. Visualizing Tasks Could Improve Training Outcomes -- Figures.

1.1. Burkina Faso, a Poor Country with Large Enrollment Increases -- 1.2. Fulani-Speaking Girls in Rural Niger -- 2.1. Cumulative Number of Words Addressed to Children -- 2.2. Biological Needs for Learning -- 3.1. Learning Skills by Automizing Small Units -- 4.1. Structure and Types of Human Memory -- 4.2. Memory Capacity -- 4.3. Best-Fit Relationship Between Working Memory and Age -- 5.1. Slow and Skilled Reading Areas -- 5.2(a) and (b): Performance at the End of Grade 1 in Common Words -- 6.1. Grade 4 Students Still Learning the Names of Clothes in French -- 6.2. Poor Children Studying in Official Languages -- 6.3. Non-Native Speakers Need Several Years to Catch Up -- 9.1. Different Dimensions and Methods of Teaching -- 10.1. Instructional Time Indicators in Basic Education -- 10.2. A Teacher's Class Book in Honduras -- 10.3. Instructional Time Loss Model -- 12.1. Dark Classroom in Rural Niger -- 13.1. Cooperative Learning Techniques in Tanzania -- 15.1. Primary-School Teachers Meeting Qualification Standards -- 15.2. Notes Dictated in a Teacher Training Institute -- 16.1. Relatively Few Students Meet Mastery Criteria -- 16.2. The Seven Pillars of Basic Skills for All -- A-1. Brain Potential of Younger and Older People -- A-2. Neuron Assemblies -- A-3. fMRI Equipment -- A-4. Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging -- A-5. Brain Areas that Are Important for Learning -- A-6. Stimulation Facilitates Connections among Nerve Cells -- A-7. Illustrations of a Simple Cognitive Network -- A-8. Accumulation of Nodes to Create Complex Concepts -- A-9. Connected Knowledge and Probability of High Test Scores -- A-10(a). Items Linked in Series, Like a Poem -- A-10(b). Various Types of Links -- A-11. Information Retention and Prior Knowledge -- A-12. Some Concepts are Semantically Closer Than Others -- A-13. Information is Encoded along with Context.

A-14. Bizarre Interactive Images Are Best Retained -- A-15. Concepts With High and Low Degree of "Fan" -- A-16. Primacy and Recency Effects -- A-17. Forgetting Rates of Complex Procedures -- Tables -- 1.1. Quantitative versus Qualitative Indicators of School Participation -- 2.1. Amount of Parental Interaction with Children in U.S. -- 8.1. Most and Least Effective Means to Learn New Information -- 10.1. Instructional Hours in Countries Using "Split-Shift" Schooling -- 10.2. Provider Absenteeism Rates by Country and Sector -- 10.3. Studies Relating Time Use and School Effectiveness -- 16.1. Viability of Instructional Interventions for the Disadvantaged -- A-1. Improving the Effectiveness of Instructional Activities -- A-2. Policy Changes that May Improve Instructional Outcomes.