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Over the next 18 months, EDC will investigate how universities work with school districts to train principals, and which features of that partnership work best. The Wallace Foundation has awarded EDC $1.2 million to explore university-district preparation programs, using surveys, interviews, and observations to document the kinds of curricula, field experiences, and recruitment practices used in the programs.

Because cystic fibrosis (CF) heightens risk of infection, teens are isolated from those who could give them much-needed support: other teens with CF. But now, with help from EDC, they will be able to connect via the Internet.

For years, EDC trained African teachers on the basics of HIV prevention—consistently using a condom, for example, or asserting oneself in relationships. Yet teachers would return to environments where traditional gender roles did not support these behaviors.

Like many school districts across the nation, Rochester, Minnesota, struggles to address the disparities in academic achievement among its students. Helping this city of 100,000 identify and address these gaps is the focus of new research conducted by EDC.

“We needed the school and community to see that addressing the gaps in education was important for all children, not just those of color and with disabilities,” says EDC’s David Riley.

With 50 percent of students in Malawi dropping out of school by fifth grade, the Malawian government decided to try a new approach: it introduced an innovative national curriculum, which today is rapidly gaining in popularity among teachers and students alike.

Before war ground business to a halt in the mid-1990s, Bosnia had been a vibrant center of engineering in Eastern Europe. Today, as the region rebuilds after years of conflict, unemployment rates top 50 percent, and the industrial sector is struggling to be competitive again on the world market.

“Bosnia has an emerging economy with huge opportunities,” says EDC’s Janice Brodman. “But most companies are working with outdated skills and tools.”

The director of EDC’s Sudan Radio Service, which broadcasts to that country from Nairobi, Groce had been on the scene during the election as part of a Sudanese voting observation team that included other journalists and government officials. With Sudan’s first national election scheduled for 2009, the team hoped to learn from Kenya’s experience. In February, Groce reflected on the election and its troubled aftermath.

Oceans may separate two communities in Jamaica and India that exist in the shadows of popular tourist destinations, but these communities are joined by the challenges they face in providing educational and economic opportunities for their youth.

In the Umkhanyakude district of South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province, learning conditions are bare bones. As many as 100 students cram into a classroom in schools that have little water or electricity. Noises distract, from the wooden chairs against cement floors to rain hammering on the corrugated roof.

EDC researchers are analyzing what works in online professional development programs by studying Teachers’ Domain, a program for high school science teachers. Offered by PBS TeacherLine, the program uses science materials and multimedia resources to deepen teachers’ knowledge of science content and enhance their teaching skills.

Students who live in low-income, urban communities face a heightened risk of dropping out of school. Without a diploma, job opportunities are scarce. Lower literacy, poorer health, and reduced income all create more problems.

In communities around the world, school fees can be so prohibitive for families that many students enroll late, drop out, or fail to attend at all. And when, as in the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the government is not able to support the schools, communities and families must resort to creative ways of generating income so that children can attend school.

Changes in a student’s routine, such as the journey from primary to secondary school, can be rocky. For students with disabilities and for English language learners, these transitions can mean the difference between success and failure. This was just one topic discussed during a recent study tour at EDC involving education policymakers and practitioners from both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

From a very early age, children learn about language by listening to adults, and seeing and hearing them read books and newspapers. These first experiences with literacy help prepare youngsters to become readers. But how can parents who themselves have low-literacy skills support their children’s early reading efforts?