Long-term follow-up on an intervention to use student assessment to improve learning in Honduras

• In Event: Using long-term follow-up to learn more about projects’ impacts: Evidence from Honduras, Haiti, Burkina Faso, and globally

Proposal

In this presentation, we will present the results of a long-term follow-up to a randomized evaluation of an early grade reading intervention in Honduras. In 2015 and 2016, the EducAcción-PRI pilot provided support for primary schools to use two types of assessment: end of grade (EOG) summative assessments and monthly formative assessments. The EOG assessment intervention provided support to principals to develop and implement a school action plan based on their school’s EOG assessment results. The formative assessment intervention provided support to teachers to develop teaching strategies based on the formative assessment results. The impact evaluation found that support for both types of assessment led to significant learning gains for early elementary students, measured immediately after the end of the pilot in late 2016. In focus groups, teachers indicated that results of both the formative and EOG assessments helped them identify students that needed more attention. The formative assessments helped them identify curricular areas that students needed more support on. Teachers’ pedagogical advisors helped them identify practical and effective strategies to provide the support needed. In 2018, the evaluation team traveled to Honduras to disseminate the results of the impact evaluation with national and regional policymakers in Honduras. This year, the team has gathered qualitative data on long-term outcomes to allow us to tell a fuller story of how the EducAcción-PRI pilot affected education policy at the national and regional levels, and how it affected schools’ use of evaluation data. Because the follow-up study is currently underway, we do not yet have results to share, but will have results in time for CIES 2024 (data collection is already complete and analysis is nearly complete).

Author

• Sarah Liuzzi, Mathematica