RGXXI: Workshops on Universal Basic and Secondary Education (UBASE)

Historical Note

The Workshops on Universal Basic and Secondary Education (UBASE) were officially active from 1999-2010, though exploratory activity began in 1997. The purpose of the effort was to investigate the rationale, the means, and the consequences of providing high-quality primary and secondary education to all the world's children. Co-directors of the project for its duration were Leslie Berlowitz, David Bloom, and Joel Cohen.

While exploratory meetings were held in 1999, in 2001 UBASE received significant funding from the Hewlett Foundation, allowing for workshops to be held from 2002-2005. Two books and eight occasional papers were published as a result. The first book was titled, Educating All Children: A Global Agenda, edited by David Bloom, Joel Cohen, and Martin Malin, published by MIT Press in 2006. The second later book was titled, International Perspectives on the Goals of Universal Basic and Secondary Education, edited by Joel Cohen and Martin Malin, and published by Routledge in 2010. 

Occasional papers are: The Consequences of Global Educational Expansion: Social Science Perspectives (2003); Achieving Universal Basic Secondary Education: How Much Will it Cost (2006); Educating All Children: A Global Agenda (2006); Universal Basic and Secondary Education (2006); Measuring Global Educational Progress (2006); Improving Education Through Assessment, Innovation, and Evaluation (2006); Global Educational Expansion: Historical Legacies and Political Obstacles.

Funding was provided by the Hewlett Foundation and multiple private sources.

Scope and Content

The series is contained within the Academy Archives’ Record Group XXI: Academy Projects and Programs. This series contains the administrative, meeting, and publication records related to the Workshops on Universal Basic and Secondary Education, more commonly known as UBASE, from 1997-2010, the majority created between 2001-2007 by Project Directors David Bloom and Joel Cohen, and the executive office of Leslie Berlowitz. Included among administrative records are general correspondence, financial records, records related to grant activity, including finance. Included among project records are planning files, agendas, draft papers, and participant correspondence. Included among publication records are draft papers prepared for publication as a result of the workshops, author correspondence, and publisher contracts and correspondence.
Executive office files of Leslie Berlowitz related to UBASE are not included in this inventory as LCB Executive Office files related to programs were not held as central files.

Arrangement

Processing for the series utilized MPLP principles, thus minimum preservation steps were taken, and folder titles listed in the finding aid are as they appear on the actual folders. Records of the Workshops on UBASE were created and maintained by the program staff of the Academy, including Martin Malin, Alice Noble, and Katie Donnelly. Original order of the records was generally maintained in groups of records, with individual records sorted chronologically and interfiled where appropriate. 

This group of records is organized into three subseries: Subseries 1: Administrative Records, Subseries 2: Meetings, and Subseries 3: Publication. 

Subseries 1 and 3 are arranged chronologically.

Subseries 2 is further divided into twelve sub-subseries chronologically by meeting, each themselves arranged chronologically: Sub-subseries 2.1: Planning Workshop - 2001 May 21-22; Sub-subseries 2.2: The Consequences of UBASE - 2002 March 1; Sub-subseries 2.3: Economic Costs and Returns to Investments in Education - 2002 July 26; Sub-subseries 2.4: Educational Assessment 2002 October 28-29; Sub-subseries 2.5: Educational History 2003 September 6-7; Sub-subseries 2.6: "What Works?" Means and Technologies to Achieve UBASE - 2004 February 1-2; Sub-subseries 2.7: Politics and Obstacles - 2004 February 27; Sub-subseries 2.8: Basic Facts and Data on Education - 2004 March 9-10; Sub-subseries 2.9: [Health] [ca. 2004]; Sub-subseries 2.10: Goals of Education 2004 - May 13; and Sub-subseries 2.11: Costs and Finance of Education - 2004 May 13.

Volume

3 records center cartons (3 linear feet)

Preferred Citation

[Item title, date]. Record Group XXI: Academy Projects – Workshops on Universal Basic and Secondary Education (UBASE), 1998-2010. Archives, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Subjects

Berlowitz, Leslie
Bloom, David E. (David Elliot), 1955-
Cohen, Joel E.
Malin, Martin B.
Hewlett Foundation
Education
Education, Primary
Education, Secondary
Educational equalization
Education--Developing countries
Education--Finance