Establishing the ROSIE Global Learning Community

Scaling can be lonely work. Too often, groups working on scaling impact find themselves grappling all alone with the complex issues at the heart of scaling—from identifying scaling pathways to assessing cost efficiency to building support at different levels of the education ecosystem and collecting the right kinds of data. In fact, there is a great deal to learn from others grappling with these same issues in their own scaling journeys.

Eight years of research on scaling by the Millions Learning team finds that there is great value in peer knowledge-exchange and learning when it comes to scaling. Continually learning from others' successes and, more importantly, failures, is critical for ensuring that our collective scaling knowledge grows, is shared, and can be applied across different areas of the education ecosystem. Yet, this research has also shown that building spaces where honest, candid learning can take place is difficult: it requires resources, dedicated time, a stance of curiosity, and skilled facilitation.

Knowing all this, in July 2024 the Research on Scaling the Impact of Innovations in Education (ROSIE) launched its Global Learning Community with an initial set of online workshops.

Under the guidance of the learning community facilitators, Santiago Rincon-Gallardo and Usama Mahmud, the first session focused on building community norms and expectations and discussing some enduring scaling questions. Topics that arose from the discussion include how to plan for sustainability, how to engage government stakeholders as partners in scaling, how to document scaling progress, and the critical importance of “contextualization” in scaling. Participants also reflected on the importance of engaging diverse perspectives in scaling research and considering equity implications at every stage of the scaling journey.

The next session was an opportunity for participants to directly engage with decision-makers to learn more about how governments use data and research to make decisions. In small groups, participants brainstormed questions to ask the guest experts Mr. Imran Sikandar and Dr. Richard Gonzalez, and then engaged in an open discussion. Key themes from the discussion relate to aligning the scaling data with government priorities, knowing which specific individuals to work with, creating compelling data-rich narratives, and integrating research with local knowledge systems.

Upcoming sessions will focus on the importance of contextualization and adaptation when scaling. Alongside these real-time virtual sessions, participants in the community have been working through an online Scaling Foundations Course, developed for ROSIE by the Center for Universal Education, that introduces a shared understanding of key scaling principles and supports them to apply these principles to their own projects. In December of this year, participants will come together in Nairobi, Kenya, for three days of in-person peer exchange and learning on scaling impact in education systems.

Stay tuned to hear more updates, insights, and learnings from the ROSIE Scaling Learning Community as it continues to grow and evolve over the coming months.