 In Romania, only 3% of Roma women have completed secondary school, as opposed to 63% of women in the majority population; What works? Given the current state of affairs, the Roma Education Fund believes that closing the educational gap between Roma and non-Roma is both a matter of urgency and top priority for improving the situation of Roma in Central and Eastern Europe. When seeking to improve Roma inclusion in education, it is essential that the actions at the local level be aligned with appropriate national policies. It is also essential to ensure adequate institutional and financial means so that national policies can actually be implemented. Furthermore, local initiatives must receive sufficient support from local institutions, such as schools, the education inspectorate, municipalities, local branches of line Ministries, and teachers’ trade unions, to cite only the more obvious. In many cases, policies and programs fail to have an impact because of the absence of an adequate policy framework or because they underestimate the very strong negative incentives built in to the education systems and the level of institutional changes that are needed. In the case of Roma education, Roma participation is essential for a number of reasons. One reason is the need to empower Roma communities. Participation creates commitments and also motivation. Efforts to open space for participation, if well managed, can create the trust and confidence that is required for successful programs. A second reason why participation is important is that Roma parents tend to be less involved than other parents in school management and interaction with school staff. The experience with Roma education projects shows that low parental involvement can change very rapidly, and that it is not as much of a problem as some would maintain. The benefits of good policies are also confirmed by the first feedback from REF-financed projects. These include knowledge that: • Desegregated education is better than segregation when it comes to improving the performance of Roma children in school, and that some models are working. • Scholarships are very important for secondary and tertiary education. We know that these scholarships have a strong impact on school participation by Roma, but they are more effective if mentoring is also included and advisory services are available. • Enrollment in one year of pre-education is probably the most effective investment for helping children to succeed in primary school and even beyond, in secondary education. • Recognition of the values of culture and indigenous language create an environment that favors integration. • Placing Roma in special schools or classes for children with learning disabilities is a disaster and should be abolished without delay. • More needs to be found out about: how best to organize the work of Roma mediators in education; how to ensure that teachers use what they learn from special training in multicultural education; and, how to set up an incentive system for school desegregation in decentralized environments. • Most crucially more needs to be understood and done to scale up what we know to programs that have national and regional impact. Demonstrating the validity and cost effectiveness of some policies and programs requires studies and analysis, as well as in-country monitoring systems.  Cooperation among teachers, authorities and parents should be encouraged to promote girls continued education. 2