The Inter-American Conference on Social Security (CISS) and Universidad Iberoamericana (UIA) co-hosted an international conference on "The Quality of Education in Latin America and the Caribbean" in February 2007. The main obj ective of the conference was to examine quality of education in the region, the determinants of learning, policy and program evaluation, and the impact of quality of education on the labor market. The quality of education is increasingly being recognized as a major determinant of the well-being of nations, as they attempt to improve productivity and their place in the world economy. Learning outcomes, as much as or more than years of schooling attained, are a significant determinant of earnings ability. The key challenge for researchers is to ascertain the specific policies that improve student learning outcomes. A better understanding of the mechanisms by which learning can be improved will help countries in the region enact effective and efficient policies. This issue contains six papers originally presented at the conference.