The majority of the world's children live in low- and middle-income countries, yet the majority of early childhood cognitive research is done with a small proportion of high-income countries. These findings cannot be assumed to apply across all contexts. It is therefore necessary to confront entrenched systems of power and privilege in early…

Tests of measurement invariance are essential to determining whether individual scores or group averages are comparable across populations. While international comparisons of mean IQ scores are common, tests of measurement invariance for intelligence test batteries (necessary for comparisons to be empirically supported) are rare. In this study,…

Inclusive education remains a significant challenge in today's educational landscape, as K-12 classrooms and higher education institutions struggle to meet the diverse needs of all students. To address this pressing issue, "Developing Inclusive Environments in Education: Global Practices and Curricula," led by Kiyoji Koreeda, offers…

The Sustainable Development Goals mandate that by 2030, all children should have access to quality early child development opportunities, healthcare and pre-primary education. Yet validated measures of ECD in low and middle income countries (LMICs) are rare. To address this gap, a Systematic Review (SR) of measures available to profile the…

Disability is a common phenomenon globally, an experience that comes with many challenges and stress. This study focused on culture's role in the well-being and education of children with disabilities within a Nigerian cultural context. The specific problem this study addressed is that the well-being and education of children with disabilities…

It is argued that corporal punishment produces bad outcomes in both the short run and the long run. Instead of making students more attentive or motivated, corporal punishment leads to more delinquent behavior. In most developed countries, corporal punishment is banned in schools. However, in many developing countries, even if corporal punishment…

A growing evidence base highlights the value of high-quality early childhood education (ECE) to children's cognitive and social development. However, far less is known about how families and children, especially in developing countries, participate in ECE or how these participation patterns reflect families' thinking and decision-making. This…

Despite the strong argument for investing in young children and the many types of interventions and delivery mechanisms that have been developed, knowledge on Early Childhood Development (ECD) programs' effectiveness in low-income settings remains thin. Yet a growing number of programs in developing countries contain interventions seeking to…

Using nationally representative samples of 45,964 two- to nine-year-old children and their primary caregivers in 17 developing countries, this study examined the relations between children's cognitive, language, sensory, and motor disabilities and caregivers' use of discipline and violence. Primary caregivers reported on their…

Background: Early child nutritional deficiencies are prevalent in low- and middle-countries with consequences linked not only to poor survival and growth, but also to poor development outcomes. Children in disadvantaged communities face multiple risks for nutritional deficiencies, yet some children may be less susceptible or may recover more…

Enriching caregiving practices foster the course and outcome of child development. This study examined 2 developmentally significant domains of positive caregiving--cognitive and socioemotional--in more than 127,000 families with under-5 year children from 28 developing countries. Mothers varied widely in cognitive and socioemotional caregiving…

Educational access in developing countries has improved significantly in recent years, but less evidence is available on learning and learning progress in comparative perspective. This paper employs data from Young Lives to examine levels and trends in cognitive skill development and the links to enrolment in school across the four study countries…

This paper proposes an innovative idea for providing affordable, sustainable, and meaningful education for students in Least Developed Countries (LDCs). The authors show how a Digital Learning Environment (DLE) can play a central role in community development. The authors develop and validate an approach for introduction of an ICT education…

We consider the effects of daytime fasting by pregnant women during the lunar month of Ramadan on their children's test scores at age seven. Using English register data, we find that scores are 0.05 to 0.08 standard deviations lower for Pakistani and Bangladeshi students exposed to Ramadan in early pregnancy. These estimates are downward biased to…

Early childhood development (ECD) has gained substantial recognition in South Africa (SA) as a key issue to be addressed, but inequities and deficits remain evident, despite progressive policy and widespread effort by a range of role players in the non-governmental sector. ECD in SA requires far more attention if these are to be rectified, and…