New USAID Strategy Addresses Quality Along With Access

Washington

The federal agency that helps underwrite schooling in developing countries has released a new education strategy that broadens the agency’s traditional focus on increasing access to pay more attention to the quality of schooling.

The strategy provides a framework for the U.S. Agency for International Development to become more involved with informal education, secondary education, workforce development, and higher education.

“We want to discipline ourselves to say, ‘It’s not just the number of classes and kids,’ but rather, ‘Are they really learning?’ ” John Grayzel, the director of the office of education in the USAID’s bureau for economic growth, agriculture, and trade, said in an interview. “They have to be learning what’s truly...