Speed School – Moving an Accelerated Education Program towards sustainability and formal government adoption

• In Event: Building the evidence base for accelerated education

Proposal

The proposed presentation will be based on applied research focusing on the execution of Geneva Global’s flagship education project, Speed School. It will touch on themes relevant to this year’s topic of “Education for Sustainability”. Speed School is an accelerated education program that Geneva Global has implemented for seven years across sub-Saharan Africa on behalf of a group of philanthropic clients. GGI has successfully managed accelerated education programs in Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso and Liberia in the past and is currently operating in Ethiopia and Uganda. The presentation will address various themes such as how Speed School strives to integrate with the formal school system and establish a foundation for eventual government adoption of the model. In it, I will also examine research and analysis conducted by an independent firm to assess the program’s impacts as the basis of a broader discussion on global education and accelerated education in particular.

In the presentation, I will provide a brief overview of the Speed School program and method, explaining how Geneva Global has worked with local partners and government to achieve impressive learning outcomes and establish an effective model for government adoption through the innovative, student-centered, activity-based model. The presentation will be based on the first-hand experience I have as the Program Director, my colleagues’ contributions, evidence based on internal monitoring and reporting, and external evaluations of the program primarily in Ethiopia and Uganda.

As a review of the learning outcomes, I will examine the different models that Speed School uses for regular assessment such as continuous in-classroom assessment, formal tests at the end of each learning module and placement exams for the transition into formal schools. I will also discuss how these results are used to form a basis for community outreach and engagement and also to engage government officials in discussions around the impact of the program. I will also touch on external longitudinal research that was conducted over seven years in Ethiopia and is ongoing in Uganda.

I will further delve into our engagement with the Ministry of Education officials whom we work with to tailor the curriculum so even the accelerated model, which condenses three years of primary education into ten months, is aligned with the formal school curriculum. Locally, partners also work closely with Ministry representatives to identify the government schools that students will attend upon completion of the accelerated program. These critical partnerships represent an ongoing dialogue that is used to modify and adapt the program to ensure that is relevant to the local context and both scalable and sustainable.

Finally, I will discuss the external and internal evaluations of the program and the programs’ effectiveness in using accelerated learning as way to transition children into the formal school system. This will be based on research conducted by an external evaluation firms and internal staff. I will address how this research can be used to enhance the broader discussion on implementing accelerated education programs and aligning them with the formal school system.

Author

• Jessica Lowden, Geneva Global Inc