Catch-Up Clubs: What works to mitigate learning loss in rural communities in Colombia?

• In Event: Unleashing the Potential of the Community to Address Education Disruptions and Inequity: Global Evidence from Learning Catch-up Programmes

Proposal

COVID-19 made us rethink how to leverage what works best to keep learning alive during disruptions. The community-led Catch-up Club model is one result. Catch-up Clubs (CuCs) are a targeted and data-driven intervention that can be implemented quickly and scaled up rapidly. CuCs provide the learning boost and social support that millions of academically vulnerable students need to catch up on learning and stay in school. CUCs are geared to children in middle and upper primary grades (grades 3-6), and have unique features built into this model such as child protection case management and cash assistance to support children’s participation and promote inclusion.
A core element of the CuCs model is harnessing the under-utilized potential of community and home support for learning. Schools and teachers face a range of challenges in providing effective remedial support. Furthermore, children spend a small percentage of their time in the classroom, and even less time actually on task.
This study consists of an impact evaluation that includes an intervention group of children participating in each of the CUCs cycles and a control group. Children from three schools were selected from class enrollment lists, considering students in grades 3-5, as well as those in grade 2 who are in extra-curricular activities and who have been referred by teachers for learning difficulties. We randomly sampled 540 students from the selected children, half of them were assigned to the treatment group, and the rest to the control group.
We used the Literacy Boost Assessment to assess literacy outcomes at baseline end endline, and we captured information about children's home learning environment and their engagement with parents using a caregiver questionnaire. To better understand what works best for the children who have limited access to schooling or learning opportunities, we calculated the cost-effectiveness of this approach. This allows the global community to compare the cost-effectiveness of similar interventions by identifying the least costly models with the greatest impact on reading outcomes. Furthermore, a qualitative study supplemented the impact evaluation and provided holistic and timely information about the CUCs program and other strategies ( inclusion, differentiated learning support strategies, volunteer engagement).
In this presentation, we will present the evaluation results to help in understanding how to scale and how to adapt CUCs in other contexts, we will also include qualitative findings describing tutors’ and volunteers' experiences from participating in the Catch-up Clubs. We will conclude with a discussion of how these findings are not only being used to inform the global program design and inclusion but also the implications these findings have to inform the sustainability of catch-up models in insecure environments.

Authors

• Sara Cohen

• Tim Murray