Data Must Speak: Lao PDR
Positive deviance reports and project briefs
Highlights
While the Lao People’s Democratic Republic has made steady progress in expanding access to quality education, many children still leave primary school with difficulties in reading and writing for their age.
In Lao PDR, some schools demonstrate exceptional performance. These "positive deviant" schools perform better than their peers despite operating under similar conditions and resources. This research utilizes administrative data to identify these schools, explore their success stories, and understand their locally led solutions. The aim is to empower educators and policymakers with practical insights for broader implementation.
Data Must Speak (DMS) is a global initiative launched in 2014 to address evidence gaps and mitigate the learning crisis using existing data. The DMS Positive Deviance research is co-created and co-implemented with Ministries of Education and key partners. It employs mixed methods and innovative approaches, including positive deviance, behavioral sciences, implementation research, and scaling science, to generate knowledge and practical lessons. The research focuses on understanding 'what works,' 'why,' and 'how' to scale grassroots solutions for national policymakers and the international education community.
On this webpage, you will find all the DMS Positive Deviance research outputs related to Lao PDR:
DMS Stage 1: Understanding what resources and contextual factors are associated with good school performance
- Policy Brief 1: Investing in teacher capacity – the key to effective learning (English and Laotian)
- Policy Brief 2: School principals in highly effective schools – who are they and which good practices do they adopt? (English and Laotian)
- Policy Brief 3: Exploring school climate in Lao schools (English and Laotian)
Policy Brief 4: Moving towards a culture of assessments for learning in Lao schools (English and Laotian)
DMS Stage 3: Discovering locally led behaviours and practices to improve quality education
- Stage 3 Report: What can we learn about the practices and behaviors of highly effective schools? (English and Laotian)
