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Laurence Wolff

Curriculum Vitae

Home and Office Address


4108 Leland Street
Chevy Chase, Maryland 20815
Home phone: (301) 654-1259
Cell phone (301) 792-8358
E-mail: larrywolff@live.com

Employment
1998--present. Consultant, education in developing countries. I have undertaken ad-hoc
assignments for the Global Partnership in Education, the UNESCO Institute for
Statistics, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the World Bank, the Institute for
International Economics, the United States Agency for International Development
(USAID), the Inter-American Dialogue, the German Government (KFW), the Academy
for Educational Development, and Creative Associates. Recent areas of interest include
private education, education financing, cost-effectiveness in education, technology and
education, educational assessment, science and technology, community colleges, and
primary, secondary, and higher education reform. Reports and papers on these and
other subjects are listed below.

1998-2007. Consultant, Education Unit, Sustainable Development and Integration


Department, Inter-American Development Bank, Washington, D.C. Working part-time, I
helped to define IDB education policy in the region, assist and advise operational
officers, strengthen the dialogue among countries in Latin America and the Caribbean on
critical education issues, and identify, analyze, and report on emerging issues and
related research topics.

1996-1997. Visiting Scholar, Education Development Center (EDC), Washington, D.C.,


20037. Provided advice and assistance to EDC, a non-profit education and development
institution.

1974-1997. Projects Officer, World Bank, Washington, D.C. Worked for 22 years almost
exclusively in the field of education and in three regions of the world: North Africa and
the Middle East (1993-97), Latin America and the Caribbean (1974-77 and 1987-93), and
sub-Saharan Africa (1978-1987). Appraised and supervised projects and undertook
analytical work at all levels of education, from pre-schooling to graduate education and
research, and in areas which included assessment, textbook development, financing,
instructional technology, and implementation of education reform. While mainly working
on operations, I was also able to publish a number of analytical and policy reports (see
below).

1973-1974. Freelance education consultant working on educational policy and


instructional technology in the developing world, with an emphasis on Latin America

1971-1973. Program Associate, Academy for Educational Development, Washington,


D.C. Worked on higher education in Massachusetts, teacher education in the USA, and
non-formal radio education in Guatemala

1969-1971. Ford Foundation fellowship, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, to study primary
education in Brazil, and also consultant for USAID, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

1966-67. English Teacher, Pascack Hills High School, Montvale, New Jersey

1962-64. Peace Corps Volunteer, Ghana, secondary school teacher of English and
French
Countries Worked In
Sub-Saharan Africa: Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Angola, Swaziland, Lesotho,
Malawi, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Mauritius, Comoros Islands, Djibouti, Mozambique,
Ghana, South Africa
North Africa and Middle East: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Iran, Egypt, Israel,
Latin America and Caribbean: Brazil, Mexico, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, El Salvador,
Dominican Republic, Chile, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Colombia, Panama,
Paraguay, Peru, Bolivia, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana.
USA

Nationality, Date of Birth, Education, and Languages


Nationality: USA
Date of birth: April 14, 1941
Education: Ed.D. Harvard Graduate School of Education, 1971 (administration and
planning); M.A.T. Harvard Graduate School of Education 1966 (teaching of English in
secondary schools); B.A. Princeton University 1962 (English and Humanities)
Languages: English (native), Portuguese, Spanish, and French (fluent)

Publications and Reports

The Costs of Monitoring SDG IV, UNESCO Institute for Statistics, May 2016,
unpublished.

Sub Saharan Africa

Appraisal of Kenyas National Education Sector Plan, A Report Submitted to the Global
Partnership for Education, March, 2014, Nairobi, Kenya, World Bank and Global
Partnership for Education, unpublished.
.
Review of requests for funding from the Global Partnership for Education, Lesotho,
Nepal, Rwanda, Togo, Mongolia, Gambia, Mozambique, Washington DC, unpublished,
2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014.

The Financing of Educational Quality, in the Financing of Education in sub-Saharan


Africa, UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Montreal, 2011.

Cost-Effectiveness of Primary School Interventions in English Speaking East and West


Africa: A Survey of Opinion by Education Planners and Economists with Ernesto
Schiefelbein, 2009, on the Global Partnership for Education web site.
http://www.globalpartnership.org/media/library/afrSchWolffCostEffeaug262007.pdf,

Improving the Collection and Use of Education Financing Statistics in Sub-Saharan


Africa, reports to the UNESCO Institute of Statistics, 2006 and 2007 on Lesotho,
Mozambique, Angola, and Ethiopia (unpublished)

Issues in Secondary and Vocational Technical Education in Equatorial Guinea and


Options for Hess/AED Support for Educational Development in Equatorial Guinea,
Academy for Educational Development, Washington DC 2005 (unpublished)
Student Loans and Higher Education Policy in Latin America, IDB, Washington DC ,
and Universia, Lima, Peru, 2007

Information Technology, Distance Learning, and Higher Education in Sub-Saharan


Africa: Options for World Bank Support, a report written for the World Bank, 2001.

The Costs of Education in Eastern Africa, A Review of Data, Issues, and Policies,
World Bank Staff Working Paper No. 702, 1984

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The Lesotho Distance Teaching Center, in Basic Education and Agricultural Extension:
Costs Effects and Alternatives, World Bank Staff Working Paper No. 564, 1983.

The Malawi Correspondence College, (with Shigenari Futagami), in Alternative Routes


to Formal Education: Distance Teaching for School Equivalency, Johns Hopkins
University Press, Baltimore, 1982

Middle East and North Africa


The Reform Movement in Israel: Past, Present, and Future, Israel Studies Center,
University of Maryland, January 2015, http://www.israelstudies.umd.edu/

Learning Assessments in Israels Schools: Beyond Controversy and Towards Best


Practice, Israel Studies Center, University of Maryland, January 2014.
http://www.israelstudies.umd.edu

Education in Israel: the Challenges Ahead, Israel Studies Center, University of


Maryland, March 2012, http://www.israelstudies.umd.edu.

A Human Capital Strategy for Competing in World Markets (with Frederick Golladay,
Sue Berryman, and Jon Avins), in Prospects for the Middle East and North Africa,
Macmillan and Company, London, 1998.

Iran: Education, Training, and Labor Markets, World Bank sector report, June, 1996
(available to the public through the Public Information Center (PIC) of the World Bank)

Algeria: Social Safety Net Support Project, World Bank appraisal report, March, 1996
(available to the public through the PIC)

Royaume de Maroc: Education et formation au vingt-et-unieme siecle, a report to the


King of Morocco (with Roslyn Hees and others), published in Le Matin du Sahara et du
Maghreb, October 15, 1995, Casablanca.

Latin American and the Caribbean


Education in Haiti: The Way Forward, PREAL, Inter-American Dialogue, Wasington
DC, 2008

The Costs of Educational Evaluations in Latin America PREAL, Inter-American


Dialogue, 2007. Washington DC.

Improving the Use of Information for Education Decision Making in El Salvador (with
Lucrecia Santibanez), USAID, El Salvador, 2005 (unpublished).

Challenges and Opportunities for Post Secondary Education and Training in Barbados,
Bahamas, Guyana, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago, IDB, Washington, DC, 2005

Progress and New Challenges for Secondary Education in Guyana: an Evaluation of


the Secondary School Reform Project, Ministry of Education of Guyana, November
2005 (unpublished).

Education Development in Guatemala: Promoting a Strategy for National Change,


Creative Associates, Washington, DC 2003 (unpublished).

Private Education and Public Policy in Latin America, ed., with Juan Carlos Navarro and
Pablo Gonzalez and, IDB and PREAL (Program for the Reform of Latin American
Education, a joint program of the Inter-American Dialogue and the Corporation for

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Research in Development), published in Spanish in Santiago, Chile 2002, and in
English, Inter-American Dialogue, Washington, DC, 2005 .

Money Counts: Projecting Educational Expenditures in Latin America to the Year 2015,
(with Martin Gurra), IDB, Washington, DC, 2004, and UNESCO/UIS working paper, April
2005.

Education and Training in Latin America: the Path Ahead, (with Claudio de Moura
Castro), in After the Washington Consensus, ed. John Williamson and Pedro Pablo
Kucynksi, International Institute of Economics, Washington DC, 2003

Educational Assessments in Latin America: the State of the Art, in Applied Psychology:
An International Review 2004.

Primary Education in Latin America: the Unfinished Agenda, (with Ernesto and Paulina
Schiefelbein), IDB Technical paper, 2002. Also published in Spanish by PREAL.

Television for Secondary Education: the Experience of Mexico and Brazil (with
others), in Technologies for Education: Potentials Parameters, and Prospects. Ed. Wadi
Haddad and Alexandra Draxler, UNESCO and Academy for Educational Development,
Paris and Washington dc 2002.

Public or Private Education for Latin America: That is the (false) Question, with Claudio
de Moura Castro, IDB technical paper, 2001

Secondary Schools and the Transition to Work in Latin America and the Caribbean,
(with Claudio de Moura Castro and Martin Carnoy), IDB technical paper, 2000

Secondary Education in Latin America: the Challenge of Growth and Reform, (with
Claudio de Moura Castro), IDB technical paper, 2000

Reforming Primary and Secondary Education: an IDB Strategy Paper (with Claudio de
Moura Castro and Juan Carlos Navarro), 1999

Expert Opinion as a Means of Measuring Investments in Primary Education, (with


Ernesto and Paulina Schiefelbein), Journal of the Economic Commission of Latin
America (ECLAC/CEPAL), December 2000, Santiago, Chile Also published as Cost-
Effectiveness of Education Innovations in Latin America IDB Technical paper, 1999,
and in the UNESCO Bulletin of the Major Project in Education, Santiago, Chile, 1999.

National Educational Assessments in Latin America, Current Progress and Future


Challenges, working paper for PREAL, Washington, DC., 1998

Improving the Quality of Primary Education in Latin America and the Caribbean: Towards
the 21st Century, (with Ernesto Schiefelbein and Jorge Valenzuela), World Bank
Discussion Paper No 257, 1994.

Higher Education Reform in Chile, Brazil and Venezuela: Towards a Redefinition of the
Role of the State, (edited with Douglas Albrecht), A View from LATHR No. 34, World
Bank, 1992, and also UNESCO/CRESALC (Caracas, 1997.

The Economics of Higher Education in Brazil, (with Jean Jacques Paul), in Opportunity
Foregone: Education in Brazil, edited by Nancy Birdsall, Barbara Bruns and Richard
Sabot, Johns Hopkins Press, 1996. Also in the Revista Brasileira de Educacao,
October, 1995 and as A View from LATHR No. 30, World Bank 1992)

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Repetition and Inadequate Achievement in Latin America and the Caribbean: A Review
of Magnitudes, Causes, Relationships, and Strategies (with Ernesto Schiefelbein), in
The Major Project in Education, UNESCO/OREALC Publication No. 30, April 1993.
Also in Estudos em Avaliacao Educacional, Carlos Chagas Foundation, Sao Paulo,
Brazil, January 1993, and as A View from LATHR No. 31, World Bank, August, 1992.

Developing Educational Assessment Systems in Latin America: A Review of Issues and


Recent Experience, (with Robin Horn and Eduardo Velez), Regional Study Report No.
9, Technical Department, LAC Regional Office, World Bank, 1991. Also as a shorter
version in The Major Project in Education, UNESCO/OREALC Publication no. 27, April
1992.

Brazil (Sao Paulo): Innovations in Basic Education Project, World Bank appraisal
report, June 1991

Technology and Education

Articles in Techknowlogia (an on-line journal on technology and education, which can be
found at www.techknowlogia.org), on the following subjects (with co-authors): The
Brain, Learning, and Technology, What is the Digital Divide? The African Virtual
University, The Lowly Language Lab: Going Digital, Learning Software for Pre-
Schools: Is it Worth Purchasing? The Case of the Virtual Campus of Perus Higher
Technological Institute (TECSUP), Sources of Objective Assessment of Web and Multi
Media Learning Materials in Science and Mathematics, Technology and the
Management of Learning: the New Accountability, Images of Teaching: the TIMSS
Video taping Project, Life-Long Learning for the Third Age, Vocational and Technical
Training: Seven Policies for the Effective Use of Technology, Multi-grade Schools and
Technology, High Speed Internet Access: the Future for the World and the Implications
for Developing Countries, Mexico: the Virtual University of the Technological Institute
of Monterrey, Costa Rica: Are Computers in School Cost-effective? Instructional
Technology: Then and Now, Mexicos Telesecundaria: Bringing Education by
Television to Rural Areas, 1999-2002

Debt Relief for Science and Technology, (with Wadi Haddad) a report written for
UNESCO, 2000.

Science and Technology: An IDB Strategy paper, (with Claudio de Moura Castro and
John Alic) 2000

Investment in Science Research and Training: the Case of Brazil and Implications for
Other Countries, (with others), A View from LATHR No. 19, World Bank, September
1991

Brazil: Science Research and Training Project, World Bank appraisal report, October,
1991

Television and its Lower Cost Alternatives: A Summary of Research, USAID


Technology Report, March 1974 (mimeo)

Educational Reform and Instructional Television in El Salvador: A Summary of


Research Findings, USAID Educational Technology Report, December, 1973

September 2016

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