| Acknowledgements | p. vii |
| Overview | p. viii |
| Acronyms | p. xiv |
| Cognitive Reesearch on Basic Skills | |
| The Pedagogy of Poverty | p. 3 |
| Neurocognitive Research: The Key to the Black Box | p. 8 |
| Health, Nutrition, and Cognitive Processing | p. 11 |
| Health and Nutritional Obstacles to Learning | p. 12 |
| Developmental Delays and the Importance of Preschool | p. 15 |
| Policy Implications | p. 18 |
| Nervous System Linkages with School Performance | p. 21 |
| Policy Implications | p. 23 |
| Memory and Basic Skills Acquisition | p. 24 |
| Knowledge Intake: Attention Span and Prospects for Improving It | p. 25 |
| The Peculiarities of Memory: Eternal as Well as Fleeting | p. 25 |
| Working Memory: A Concept Critical for Effective Education | p. 27 |
| Why Is Working Memory So Important for School Work? | p. 28 |
| How Information Learned in School Is Consolidated | p. 30 |
| Policy Implications | p. 35 |
| Research Needs | p. 35 |
| Literacy Acquisition and the Biology of Reading | p. 36 |
| Reading Benchmarks and Norms | p. 41 |
| Reading Issues Affecting the Poor | p. 42 |
| Phonics Versus "Whole Word" Methods | p. 44 |
| Policy Implications | p. 47 |
| Research Needs | p. 49 |
| Why Mother-Tongue Instruction Improves Achievement | p. 50 |
| The Benefits of Bilingual Education | p. 53 |
| Policy Implications | p. 57 |
| Research Needs | p. 57 |
| The Development and Teaching of Numeracy | p. 58 |
| The Effects of Language Switching in Math | p. 60 |
| Policy Implications | p. 61 |
| Research Needs | p. 61 |
| The Cognitive Effects of Classroom Events | p. 62 |
| "Chalk and Talk" Lecturing (Very Effective for Brief Periods) | p. 64 |
| Practice, Questions, Feedback, Discussion (Very Effective) | p. 65 |
| Individual Seatwork (Limited Effectiveness) | p. 66 |
| Projects (Limited Effectiveness for Basic Skills) | p. 67 |
| Noninstructional Activities (Ineffective) | p. 67 |
| Policy Implications | p. 70 |
| Research Needs | p. 70 |
| Resources for Effective Instruction | |
| Which Instructional Methods Are Most Efficient? | p. 73 |
| The Pros and Cons of Constructivism and Discovery Learning | p. 75 |
| The Pros and Cons of "Direct Instruction" | p. 77 |
| Policy Implications | p. 79 |
| Use and Wastage of Instructional Time | p. 80 |
| Schools Open fewer than the Official Number of Days | p. 80 |
| Teacher Absenteeism | p. 82 |
| Student Absenteeism | p. 84 |
| Wastage of Class Time | p. 84 |
| Policy Implications | p. 87 |
| Research Needs | p. 88 |
| A Textbook for Every Student to Take Home | p. 89 |
| Policy Implications | p. 92 |
| Improving Instructional Support | p. 93 |
| Classroom "Climate" and Student Achievement | p. 93 |
| The Case of the Missing Homework | p. 94 |
| Curricular Effects on Student Achievement | p. 95 |
| Effects and Interpretation Difficulties of Achievement Tests | p. 97 |
| Effects of School Facilities on Achievement and Attendance | p. 99 |
| Policy Implications | p. 101 |
| Student Grouping and Class Size Effects | p. 102 |
| Formation of Student Groups: Learning Potential and Issues | p. 104 |
| Student Performance in Multigrade Classes | p. 108 |
| Policy Implications | p. 111 |
| Performance of Teachers and Educational Systems | |
| Teacher Incentives and Motivation | p. 115 |
| Motivation and Incentives-Extrinsic and Intrinsic | p. 115 |
| Self-Efficacy and the Challenge of Never-Ending Tasks | p. 119 |
| Increasing Accountability | p. 120 |
| Policy Implications | p. 122 |
| Performance and Training of Educators | p. 123 |
| Social Status and Attitudes toward Students | p. 123 |
| Attitudes toward Teaching | p. 124 |
| Teacher Training Institutions May Not Teach Effectively | p. 126 |
| Improving the Effectiveness of Teaching Behaviors | p. 127 |
| Improving the Effectiveness of Training Events | p. 128 |
| Policy Implications | p. 130 |
| The Seven Pillars of Basic Skills for All | p. 132 |
| Benchmarks and Monitoring Indicators | p. 134 |
| Invest More in the Lower Grades | p. 136 |
| Efficient Access Goal | p. 137 |
| Disseminating Lessons from Research | p. 137 |
| Cognitive Neuroscience Basics for Education | p. 141 |
| Neuropsychology Essentials | p. 141 |
| Neural Development in Young Organisms | p. 141 |
| Nerve Wiring and Survival of the Fittest Memories | p. 143 |
| Brain Architecture and Learning Functions | p. 145 |
| Memory Systems | p. 150 |
| Nature, Culture, and Circumstances | p. 152 |
| Cultural Differences in Students' Cognition | p. 155 |
| Gender-Related Issues in Cognition | p. 157 |
| The Lens of Cognitive Science | p. 159 |
| Attention | p. 159 |
| Storage of Information in Cognitive Networks | p. 161 |
| The Uses and Abuses of Memorization | p. 182 |
| Copying From the Blackboard and Note-Taking | p. 185 |
| Transfer of Learning to Other Skills | p. 186 |
| How, What, and Why Learners Forget | p. 187 |
| Higher Cognitive Functions | p. 189 |
| Learning Styles: Do They Exist? | p. 190 |
| Expertise and Its Implications | p. 190 |
| Ability to Act on "Lessons Learned" by Donors and Governments | p. 192 |
| Age-Related Memory Changes and Their Implications for Learners | p. 193 |
| Training Implications for Middle-Aged Educators | p. 194 |
| Notes | p. 203 |
| References | p. 237 |
| Index | p. 282 |
| Boxes | |
| The "Education for All" Goals | p. 4 |
| Health and School Attendance | p. 12 |
| Full-Time Schools: Special Attention for Low-Income Students | p. 19 |
| How Much Attention Do Students Pay in Class? | p. 26 |
| Chewing Gum Increases Recall of Words | p. 32 |
| Poor Students Forget More During End-of-Year Vacations | p. 34 |
| Sixty Words per Minute for All | p. 47 |
| With Efficient Instruction, Children Can Learn Multiple Scripts | p. 48 |
| How Many Years Are Needed to Teach Sufficient Language? | p. 56 |
| Activities and Achievement in Jamaican Schools | p. 68 |
| Constructivist Curricula, Illiterate Artists? | p. 76 |
| Youth Orchestras for the Poor in Venezuela | p. 97 |
| "Hole-in-the-Wall Experiment" | p. 109 |
| Extrinsic Teacher Incentives and "Cramming" for Exams | p. 116 |
| How Do Teachers Use School Grants? | p. 118 |
| An "Indicative Framework" for Educational Quality | p. 135 |
| How Well Do Schools in Niger Improve Human Capital? | p. 140 |
| The Sociology of Competition | p. 166 |
| Levels of Processing | p. 176 |
| The Brief Window of Opportunity for Learning | p. 179 |
| Useful Knowledge Tends to Be Remembered | p. 183 |
| Visualizing Tasks Could Improve Training Outcomes | p. 195 |
| Figures | |
| Burkina Faso, a Poor Country with Large Enrollment Increases | p. 5 |
| Fulani-Speaking Girls in Rural Niger | p. 8 |
| Cumulative Number of Words Addressed to Children | p. 16 |
| Biological Needs for Learning | p. 20 |
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