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Understanding the Link Between Home and School in Rural Mali

Wed, March 11, 9:45 to 11:15am, Washington Hilton, Floor: Lobby Level, Morgan

Abstract

This presentation will include data collected by Save the Children from an ongoing cluster-randomized trial conducted in Mali in 2014 using the School Readiness Assessments and Parenting Surveys from this study. The study includes children and families with several linguistic backgrounds in rural communities across southern Mali. This paper aims to address the questions: What do the associations between school readiness, socio-economic status, and linguistic background look like among five year old children in rural Mali? How might these observations compare with the US, a country that also struggles with diversity of linguistic and ethnic backgrounds, and what lessons can we learn from policies aimed at providing equitable learning in schools?
What is the relationship between language spoken in the home and socioeconomic status with school readiness for five year olds in rural Mali?
Given this rich new data source, we plan to present the dataset with a specific focus on family socio-economic status and linguistic background compared to child school readiness. A primary reason to describe the observed association between family socio-economic status and child school readiness comes from evidence in the United States that suggests low family socio-economic status is often observed in tandem with low child school readiness, and high family socio-economic status with high child school readiness (Halle et al., 2009; West, Denton, & Germino-Hausken, 2000; Zill, Collins, West, & Hausken, 1995). If observations are similar, what cautions can we make from the US experience? If not, why might we make these observations and in what important ways might the Malian context be different?
With the linguistic diversity in Mali, it is also important to describe the associations observed between linguistic background and child school readiness, especially given the history of linguistic power and privilege in many African contexts (Nkosana, 2011). We can investigate the data to observe if certain linguistic communities are consistently advantaged or disadvantaged in child school readiness, and will use the lead authors contextual understandings Mali to make inferences from these observations.
First, we will use the data to examine correlations between the three variables mentioned above, as well as additional explanatory and control variables needed for regression analysis based on school readiness literature. The regression analysis will be conducted with particular focus on the effect sizes of significant explanatory variables. In addition, we will use ANOVA to compare the child school readiness between socio-economic and linguistic groups. Finally, our primary data analysis will be compared to similar studies of US full and subpopulations, with attention to how recommendations from those studies may or may not be applicable to the Malian context.
After presenting and describing the observations and associations present in this new and rich dataset, the authors will use extensive background knowledge of the Malian context as well as the data collection process to make policy recommendations for future work on child school readiness in Mali, and future directions for research questions that may be answered with this dataset.
This presentation will address Ubuntu, the theme of CIES 2015, with its recognition of the connection between readiness for formal schooling and the home environment of rural children. If social stratification is found among the rural sample of Malian children and their families, there is need for sound policies backed by rigorous research to achieve a more equitable balance of education.

Authors