Assessing the medium-term gain of early year literacy and numeracy interventions in The Gambia and Guinea Bissau

• In Event: Primary education, digital tools in schools and the impact on literacy and numeracy

Proposal

Over the last two decades, with increasing emphasis on strengthening foundational literacy and numeracy, many early year literacy and numeracy programmes have been introduced in the Global South. The demands are often backed by national-level assessment outcomes and/or the countries’ commitment to enhancing foundational literacy and numeracy for all. For many of these programmes, the desired long-term impact of improved literacy and numeracy skills is individuals better equipped to further their knowledge and skills, which contributes to improved quality of life and enhanced contribution to national development.
Nevertheless, very few studies have been able to empirically examine the longer-term impact of these interventions. The research team, working closely with the field teams and national stakeholders, has been tasked to develop a suite of assessments that would provide the outcome measures of a tracer study for groups of adolescents in rural areas of The Gambia and Guinea Bissau. These targeted groups had received bundled, teacher-focused interventions targeting learning in the early primary grades implemented in rural villages in the two countries between 2014-2018. The interventions deliver programmes of village-based instruction, delivered either before/after (The Gambia) or in lieu of (Guinea Bissau) school. These lessons focused on raising children’s literacy and numeracy in line with the curricular goals of the two countries.
The original studies were two clustered-randomised controlled trials, and the primary learning outcomes of the intervention were literacy and numeracy attainments measured by the Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) and the Early Grade Numeracy Assessment (EGMA) at the endline assessment in 2018. The outcome of the intervention shows the intervention arms in both countries had a large learning gain compared with the control arms (Eble et al., 2021 and Fazzio et al., 2021).
The tracer study aims to explore whether these learning gains have sustained over the years and have had impacts to the groups’ attainment on higher-level knowledge and skill. It will include assessments that measure literacy, numeracy, and a broader set of “life skills” among the original study participants last assessed in 2018 (who will be 16-17 years old at the time the assessments take place). The assessment items are largely aligned with the Global Proficiency Framework and the UNICEF Life Skills and Citizenship Education framework. Substantial time was dedicated to the development of a new assessment instrument, rather than adapting available assessment tools, due to the lack of existing instruments suitable for the targeted age group in similar context, comparable through guided adaptation, and fit for the purpose of the tracer study. National stakeholders are involved at all stages of the instrument development.
Many early year interventions are supported by evidence provided through the outcomes from assessments targeted at early-grade literacy and numeracy. These assessments are also often used beyond students in early grades, for example for identified groups that are expected to have low literacy and numeracy performances. While cost and capacity to develop new instruments are often major factors in the decision, the reliability and validity of using assessments tailored for early year children on older children/adolescents with generally more advanced cognitive skills can be questionable.
The presentation will focus on the development and use of the suite of assessments. We will share the Assessment Framework and the results of the qualitative trials and quantitative pilots of the assessments. More importantly, we hope to address the lessons learned and choices made during the development process on contextualising the assessments and accounting for the field constraints. It is also anticipated that the assessment instruments developed through this work will provide scholars, policymakers, and practitioners with an alternative and adaptable measurement of the targeted skills and age in the Global South.

Authors

• Pei-tseng Jenny Hsieh, National Foundation for Educational Research

• Lisa Kuhn, National Foundation for Educational Research

• Alex Eble, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Ila Fazzio, Effective Intervention