Can Rigorous Research Inform the Implementation of the Scale-Up of Literacy Programs? Evidence from South Africa, Uganda, and Kenya

Group Submission Type: Panel Session

Proposal

Literacy programs are burgeoning across the world in two contrasting directions. On the one hand, more and more countries are deciding to invest in interventions at scale, to improve the outcomes of as many children as possible. On the other hand, researchers in a few developing countries have designed carefully structured research programs to expand the evidence base for how literacy programs can maximize effectiveness and minimize cost. Unfortunately, few of the large scale programs have been designed based on evidence from the carefully designed research studies, and few of the research studies have been able to take their evidence and expand implementation to a large scale or national level. The three countries presented in this panel are exceptional in that all three have used evidence from randomized control trial interventions to design literacy programs or iterate those programs to maximize impact. The presentations on this panel will provide findings from recent research relevant to the large scale interventions in South Africa, Uganda and Kenya.

South Africa has been undertaking rigorous research on the impact of literacy improvement programs using multiple treatment arms and comparison groups. In this presentation, results will be shared from a comparison between an e-coaching approach and a focused pedagogical improvement program. These results will be juxtaposed against the other recent rigorous evidence provided in South Africa on whether and how learning outcomes can be improved at scale and at low cost. Uganda has been implementing a literacy reform program since 2012. The results presented in this panel provide the first examination of the impact of the program across 12 languages. In addition to simple impact evaluation results in these 12 languages, the Ugandan team will share a detailed analysis of the factors that explain the relative impact of each of these languages. The analytic comparison in Uganda is between language specific characteristics, implementation and fidelity results, and socioeconomic status and poverty factors, and which of these areas are most heavily correlated with learning outcomes. The Kenya presentation will share the national level external evaluation results released in 2017 on the impact of the Tusome program at scale. The learning outcomes in Kiswahili and English will be compared against data on the differences in national level implementation, and the presentation will focus on what lessons can be drawn from the Kenyan experience of research experimentation and then national scale implementation.

The objective of the panel is to provide participants with results from very recent studies across these three Sub-Saharan African settings, and potentially encourage other research opportunities in additional countries that investigate whether and how educational outcomes in literacy can be improved at scale. Reflecting on the components of programs that can be most effective and least costly is something that previous generations of literacy interventions failed to do, and the South African, Ugandan and Kenyan experiences can be helpful for other countries looking to expand their literacy interventions.

Sub Unit

• SIG: Global Literacy

Chair

• Benjamin Piper, RTI International

Individual Presentations

• Is e-coaching a cost-effective alternative to one-on-one coaching to improve reading in South Africa? Findings from a randomised control trial - Brahm D. Fleisch, University of Witwatersrand; Stephen Taylor, Department of Basic Education, South Africa; Nompumelelo Mohohlwane, Department of Basic Education, South Africa; Janeli Kotze, Department of Basic Education, South Africa

• Large-scale reading reform in Uganda: The importance of linguistic differences, implementation, and socio-economic factors in explaining impacts in 12 languages - Rehemah Nabacwa, RTI International; Tracy Brunette, RTI International; Benjamin Piper, RTI International

• Understanding whether and how the Tusome program worked: Evidence from the national scale-up of a tested literacy program in Kenya - Benjamin Piper, RTI International; Joseph Destefano, RTI International; Salome Ong'ele, RTI International; Richard Belio Kipsang, Principal Secretary, Ministry of Education Kenya