News: Chemonics Presents at #CIES2017

From March 5 through 9, the 2017 Annual Conference of the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) takes place in Atlanta, Georgia, bringing together more than 3,000 researchers, students, practitioners, and policymakers from around the world. As a sponsor, Chemonics has two booths and is presenting in 12 sessions that highlight the development impact of our education work.

This year’s theme is “Problematizing (In)Equality: The Promise of Comparative and International Education.” What factors are taken for granted when developing and implementing education programs? What issues are ignored or exacerbated because of assumptions about how to achieve equity in education? Throughout the week, participants explore these questions by networking, sharing case studies, and investigating new approaches.

In addition to this overarching theme, the conference explores six sub-themes, including teaching and learning, development and innovation, and inclusion and exclusion. Throughout the week, our experts discuss a variety of topics, including best practices for monitoring and evaluation, improving gender-sensitive education, and innovations in teacher professional development, sharing our experience working in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Georgia, Morocco, Pakistan, Rwanda, and Zambia.

“We are excited to showcase the work we’re implementing in reading, girls’ and higher education, youth development, and teacher training across the globe,” said Jill Meeks, director of Chemonics’ Education and Youth Practice. “CIES is a key event for academics and practitioners in our field to learn about the most up-to-date research and findings, and to bring this information back to project teams for application in the field.”

Below is the full list of sessions:

• Workshop: Cognitive Science for the Sustainable Development Goals: In this session, from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. on March 5, Chemonics’ Aglaia Zafeirakou shares how scientific research can guide the education community closer to achieving its Sustainable Development Goals.
• Workshop: Using Human and Institutional Capacity Development (HICD) to Improve Performance in Education Contexts: This session, from 3 to 6 p.m. on March 5, features Chemonics’ Sonia Arias and Rebecca Brewington leading a workshop to discuss an assessment tool addressing capacity building challenges.
• Comparing Equity and Access: In this session, from 8 to 9:30 a.m. on March 6, Chemonics’ Chris Ashford and Zulfiqar Bachani share lessons learned from developing missing literature in Pakistani classrooms.
• Gender Equity and Inclusion: Ensuring Access to Quality Education for All: This panel, taking place from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on March 6, features Chemonics’ Jill Meeks and Laura Conrad sharing their experiences conducting gender assessments and implementing gender-sensitive education programs in Zambia with discussant Nathan Storey.
• Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning in Conflict and Post-Conflict Settings: In this panel, from 3:15 to 4:45 p.m. on March 6, Chemonics’ Chiefs of Party Nancy Parks and Fawad Shams present on common themes around conducting impact evaluations in conflict and post-conflict environments.
• Leveling the Playing Field in Higher Education in Indonesia: Opening the Doors to Those Being Excluded: This session, from 8 to 9:30 a.m. on March 7, features Chemonics’ Andrea Bosch discussing how recent policy developments in Indonesia have affected access to quality education.
• REACH/m360 — Results for Education & Child Health — Cross Sectoral Measurement of Inequality: In this panel, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. on March 7, Chemonics’ Sonia Arias shares lessons learned from REACH, a mobile, tablet-based, solar-powered system designed to provide more accurate information about cross-sectoral problems and inequalities in schools.
• The Role of Pre-Service Education in Producing and Perpetuating (In)Equalities: The Case of Early Grade Reading Part Two: This session, from 4:30 to 6 p.m. on March 7, features former Chief of Party Justin Lupele presenting on the opportunities and challenges of incorporating early grade reading into teacher education in Zambia.
• Improving Teaching and Learning: In this panel, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on March 8, Chemonics’ Indira Amiranashvili, Keti Chachkhiani, and Justin Lupele present on innovative approaches for teacher professional development that support reading and math instruction in Georgia. They also discuss local applied action research to improve local language instruction.
• Implementing a Pilot Early Grade Reading Program in Morocco: In this panel, which takes place from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on March 8, Chemonics’ Shamineh Byramji and Selma Talha Jebril discuss leveraging phonics-based teaching methodologies in Moroccan schools with Rida Baidas.
• Problematizing Instructional Coaching for Early Grade Reading: An Open Space Deep-Dive on Issues of Sustaining it at Scale in Low-Resource Contexts: This session, from 1:15 to 2:45 p.m. on March 8, features Chemonics’ Jennifer Swift-Morgan chairing a discussion about the challenges of scaling up instructional coaching in low-resource contexts.
• Teacher Motivation and Incentives: A Case Study and Open Space Discussion on the Importance, Constructs, and Strategies to Help Improve Teacher Performance and Student Learning in Low-Resource Contexts: This panel, from 3:15 to 4:45 p.m. on March 8, features Chemonics’ Jennifer Swift-Morgan discussing lessons learned for improving teacher motivation in the DRC.

To learn more about the 2017 Annual Conference of the Comparative and International Education Society, look through the full conference program here. And be sure to follow the social media conversation during CIES on March 5 to 9 using #CIES2017.