Parental Labor Migration and Educational Attainment in Kyrgyzstan

The Central Asia Program invites you to an online discussion with international education specialist Dr. Todd Drummond about the association between migrant parents and student learning outcomes in Kyrgyzstan. The event will focus on the methods employed and an interpretation of results. The discussion will pose important questions for policy makers in the Kyrgyz Republic as they grapple with parental migration issues and educational achievement.

About Todd Drummond

Dr. Todd Drummond is currently the Director of Assessment and Education Services at The American Councils for International Education in Washington, D.C. He holds a Ph.D. in Education Policy from Michigan State University. Dr. Drummond has been studying education in Eurasia since 1994, when he served as a Peace Corps Volunteer educator in Kyrgyzstan. From 1998 to 2000 Dr. Drummond served as the Country Director for The American Councils for International Education in Bishkek. From 2002 to 2005 he was the director of the National Testing Initiative in the Kyrgyz Republic, a USAID-funded project that resulted in the creation of a new university admissions system.

In August 2002, he received an award from the President of the Kyrgyz Republic, Askar Akaev, for “Outstanding Contribution to the Educational Development of the Kyrgyz Republic” for his leadership of the National Testing Initiative. His recent publications have focused on university admissions reform in the Eurasian region (in Silova & Niyozov, 2020). Before returning to American Councils in 2020, Dr. Drummond served as the Acting Director of Office of International Studies in Education in the College of Education, Michigan State University in 2014. From 2015 to 2019 Dr. Drummond worked as a Principal Researcher in the International Standards and Assessment Division, American Institutes for Research (AIR). At AIR Dr. Drummond worked on the design, administration, and analysis of Early Grade Reading Assessments in the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan. Dr. Drummond has also worked in the education sector in Zambia, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Bangladesh, Honduras, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Tajikistan, Georgia, Russia, Moldova and all the Central Eurasian nations.

Sebastien Peyrouse, Moderator

Sebastien Peyrouse, PhD, is a research professor at the Central Asia Program in the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (George Washington University). His main areas of expertise are political systems in Central Asia, economic and social issues, Islam and religious minorities, and Central Asia’s geopolitical positioning toward China, India and South Asia.