The World Bank was one of the five convening agencies for the 1990 Education for All (EFA) Conference held in Jomtien (Thailand) and the Dakar (Netherlands) World Education Conference of 2000. World Bank lending for basic education in the five years following Jomtien increased 500% compared to the previous five years. Yet for all the increased financing, and in spite of some real progress, the Jomtien goals were not met, and many countries are not currently on track for meeting the even more ambitious Dakar goals. This paper examines lessons learned over the past 10 years. It draws on 20 case studies to examine progress in achieving EFA goals. The case studies represent a selection of nine thematic studies, along with 11 countries that have made progress on one or more key dimensions of EFA. The thematic studies deal with areas important to achievement of EFA goals: school construction, user fees, language of instruction, textbooks, school grants, assessment of student learning, conflict and post-conflict countries, EFA planning, and girls' education. The 2000 Dakar framework for action outlines six EFA objectives: (1) expanding and improving early childhood education; (2) ensuring that by 2015 all children complete primary education of good quality; (3) ensuring access to appropriate learning and life skills programs; (4) achieving a 50% improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015; (5) eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, and achieving gender equality by 2015; and (6) focusing on learning outcomes. (BT)