Insights from 15-year partnership to develop, test, and scale Teaching at the Right Level in India and Africa

• In Event: Roundtable Session (Wednesday II)
  In Refereed Round-Table Session: Cumulative experimental research programs and the advancement of knowledge about sustainable system-wide gains in literacy learning

Proposal

The Indian NGO Pratham has been developing the “Teaching at the Right Level” (TaRL) approach to help primary school students who have fallen behind in basic literacy and numeracy to “catch up.” Several J-PAL affiliated researchers have been evaluation and thought partners on Pratham’s journey to develop TaRL models which can be effectively scaled in government schools across the country. This presentation will first summarize insights from six randomized evaluations conducted over the past 15 years in India – moving from proof of concept to two scaleable models. It will highlight the importance of evaluating different models across multiple contexts, designing RCTs to unpack mechanisms, and incorporating mixed methods for a richer understanding of the results. Second, it will highlight Pratham, J-PAL, and partners experience working with governments in India and Africa to adapt and scale TaRL to over 8 million students in 2018. Finally, it will introduce exciting new avenues of TaRL research conducted by J-PAL and Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) affiliates.

Banerjee, Abhijit, Rukmini Banerji, James Berry, Esther Duflo, Harini Kannan, Shobhini Mukerji, Marc Shotland, and Michael Walton. "From Proof of Concept to Scalable Policies: Challenges and Solutions, with an Application." The Journal of Economic Perspectives 31, no. 4 (2017): 73-102.

Bates, Mary Ann and Rachel Glennerster. 2017. “The Generalizability Puzzle”. Stanford Social Innovation Review

Author

• John Floretta, Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL)