The Long-Term Impact of an Early Grade Reading Intervention: Evidence from South Africa’s Early Grade Reading Study (EGRS)

• In Event: From Early Reading to Language Policy to AI: Global Perspectives on Education

Proposal

In recent years, the evidence base on foundational learning programmes in low- and middle-income countries has grown substantially, demonstrating their potential to improve learning outcomes. However, relatively little is known about their long-term impacts. This study addresses this gap by examining the sustained effects of South Africa’s Early Grade Reading Study (EGRS), a structured pedagogy intervention implemented between 2015 and 2017 through a randomised controlled trial. Previous research found persistent gains in home language literacy and English comprehension four years after the programme ended, as measured in 2021.

This paper extends that evidence by linking the EGRS sample to administrative records of school-based assessment scores across subjects in the early years of high school in 2023. Results show encouragingly durable impacts: learners exposed to the programme were more likely to reach Grade 9 without grade repetition and achieved scores averaging 0.12 standard deviations higher across their high school subjects. While recognising the limitations of non-standardised school-based assessments, these findings suggest that early literacy gains spill over into broader subject areas, including mathematics, economics, social sciences, natural sciences, and additional languages.

The study demonstrates the strategic value of leveraging population-level administrative data and collaborating with government departments to construct longitudinal datasets. It also outlines plans for future collection of externally standardised assessments on the same cohort. Ultimately, the results provide evidence that investment in foundational skills is a sustainable pathway to improving long-term learning outcomes.

Author

• Zamangwe Zanele Zwane, Department of Basic Education