Research and Evidence

We have curated research and evidence on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy

Pedagogy

Effectiveness of Teachers’ Guides in the Global South: Scripting, Learning Outcomes, and Classroom Utilization

This report presents the results of RTI International Education’s study on teachers’ guides across 13 countries and 19 projects. Using quantitative and qualitative methods, the report examines how teachers’ guides across the projects differ and find substantial variation in the design and structure of the documents.

USAID landscape Report on Early Grades’ Literacy

The goal of this landscape report is to review and summarize available empirical evidence on early grade literacy acquisition and instruction in developing countries. The review also clearly indicated that the vast majority of topical areas within the field of literacy in developing country contexts still lack rigorous evidence, and there is much work to be done.

The Negative Consequences of Overambitious Curricula in Developing Countries

Using data from three recent studies in South Asia and Africa, this study shows that a majority of students spend years of instruction with no progress on basics. The authors argue shallow learning profiles are in part the result of curricular paces moving much faster than the pace of learning.

Systems and Stakeholders

Why We Need to Prioritise Universal, Early, Conceptual and Procedural Mastery of Foundational Skills

The paper highlights the need for a sharper focus on foundational skills in light of school closures due to COVID-19 as many primary-school-aged children would have missed critical foundational learning while out of school. This could ensure that short term learning losses do not compound into larger, long term cumulative losses.

Education Reform Support Today

This paper takes an updated look at the Education Reform Support series and attempts to consolidate many of its theories, frameworks,and operational guidelines. Ten years of experience have reconfirmed the ideas on which ERS was founded and have added a multitude of examples to show how strategically targeted and opportunistic support can move a reform agenda forward—instigating demand for change, promoting dialogue around and new insight into issues, leveraging implementation, or removing political and institutional barriers to success.

Designing for Scale: Reflections on Rolling Out Reading Improvement in Kenya and Liberia

In this article, the authors dissect the Liberian and Kenyan experiences with implementing large‐scale reading programs, documenting the critical components and conditions of the program designs that affected the likelihood of successfully transitioning from pilot to scale.

Data and Use of Evidence

Does the Government’s Monitoring of Schools Work? A Study of the Frontline Education Bureaucracy in India

This study attempts to understand the effectiveness of education governance, specifically the monitoring function, through the perspectives of frontline officials in India. It locates institutions within social and political structures marked by deep inequalities and analyses the manner in which these institutional arrangements influence the behaviour of frontline officials.

How to Improve Education Outcomes Most Efficiently?

Learn and compare about the the effectiveness (and cost-effectiveness, where cost is available) of interventions from 150 impact evaluations across 46 countries.

It‘s All About MeE: Using Structured Experiential Learning (“e”) to Crawl the Design Space

Deep-dive into structured experiential learning which allows implementing agencies to actively and rigorously search across alternative project designs using the monitoring data that provides real-time performance information with direct feedback into the decision loops of project design and implementation

EdTech for FLN

Does EdTech Substitute for Traditional Learning?

Because of the rapid expansion of EdTech as a substitute for traditional learning around the world and against the backdrop of full-scale temporary substitution due to the coronavirus pandemic, this study explores the educational production function by using a large randomized controlled trial that varies dosage of computer-assisted learning (CAL) as a substitute for traditional learning.

Can Schools Enable Parents to Prevent Summer Learning Loss? A Text Messaging Field Experiment to Promote Literacy Skills

This study explores the potential of enabling parents to provide literacy development opportunities at home as a low-cost alternative. A randomized field trial of a summer text-messaging pilot program was conducted for parents focused on promoting literacy skills among first through fourth graders.

Evaluating the Impact of a Tech-Based Early Childhood Vocabulary Program

Vocabulary is critical to literacy development in early childhood, yet large disparities in vocabulary knowledge persist between children from high-income and low-income backgrounds. In a randomized evaluation, researchers evaluated the Big Word Club, a classroom-based digital learning program designed to increase the vocabulary of young children, to assess the program’s impact on children’s receptive vocabulary.

Research and Evidence

Pedagogy

Effectiveness of Teachers’ Guides in the Global South: Scripting, Learning Outcomes, and Classroom Utilization

USAID landscape Report on Early Grades’ Literacy

The Negative Consequences of Overambitious Curricula in Developing Countries

Systems and Stakeholders

Why We Need to Prioritise Universal, Early, Conceptual and Procedural Mastery of Foundational Skills

Education Reform Support Today

Designing for Scale: Reflections on Rolling Out Reading Improvement in Kenya and Liberia

Data and Use of Evidence

Does the Government’s Monitoring of Schools Work? A Study of the Frontline Education Bureaucracy in India

How to Improve Education Outcomes Most Efficiently?

It‘s All About MeE: Using Structured Experiential Learning (“e”) to Crawl the Design Space

EdTech for FLN

Does EdTech Substitute for Traditional Learning?

Can Schools Enable Parents to Prevent Summer Learning Loss? A Text Messaging Field Experiment to Promote Literacy Skills

Evaluating the Impact of a Tech-Based Early Childhood Vocabulary Program

How States Could Use Evidence and Data in Planning for Children’s Education

A Session Exploring the Importance of Early Years Continuum

Session on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy as Part of Pratham Education Foundation’s 25th Year Celebration