In 2010, UNICEF and the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) launched the Global Outof-School Children Initiative (OOSCI). Jordan was selected to participate in a Middle East and North Africa (MENA) regional effort to study the situation of out-of-school children, which has generally been unexplored. This study provides important data and data analysis that uncovers the reality of the lives of these children and can serve as a foundation for effective programming in the future. In order to formulate effective and innovative strategies for the most disadvantaged and marginalized groups, it is essential to identify more precisely who and where out-ofschool children are, and why they may be excluded or at risk of dropping out. At the foundation of this study is the following data: The total number of children (not including Syrian refugee children) at the pre-primary level is about 291,700 and the total number of children in both the primary and lower secondary levels is approximately 1,411,800 (EMIS, 2012). More than 59 per cent of pre-primary age children (age 5) and more than 96 per cent of primary children (ages 6-11) and lower secondary children (ages 12-15) are currently enrolled in school. About 45,862 five-year-old children and 30,895 children of primary and lower secondary ages are out of school.