Fidelity to implementation: The extent, ways, and reasons design deviates in large-scale implementations that aim to improve early literacy outcomes

Session Submission Type: Group Panel

Description of Session

Efforts to influence children’s literacy acquisition and early learning have a solid research base to guide program design (August & Shanahan, 2006; NELP, 2008; NRP, 2000). For low-resourced contexts, we have sufficient evidence that a mixture of structured pedagogy, initial training, ongoing support, and appropriate instructional materials can influence children’s literacy skills, Yet, well-informed interventions and projects are a complex mixture of technical requirements, behaviour change, and logistics. As a result, a complex initial design is sometimes purposely or unintendedly modified during implementation. Examining fidelity to implementation is used to understand the commitment to the original design, why and how changes have been made and if they changes can be used to improve the design in an iterative manner. These four papers in this panel combining quantitative and qualitative methods to understand how designs diverge from original design. Three of the papers provide a focused analysis of one country each. The fourth paper examines emerging themes from across six countries.

Sub Unit

• SIG: Global Literacy

Chair

• Margaret M Dubeck, RTI International / UVA

Individual Presentations

• Malawi Scripting Study - Monika Lauren Mattos, RTI International

• Five years of Implementation in Zambia: Original design, iterative changes and ultimate findings - Stefan McLetchie, Education Development Center (EDC)

• Minding the Gap: A Qualitative Study of the Implementation of Read to Succeed-supported Interventions in Zambia - Lynn Evans, Creative Associates International

• A mixed methods approach across six projects to examine systems and processes to improve education outcomes - Jill Meeks, Chemonics International