Effectiveness of interactive distance instruction Experimental evidence from Ghanaian primary schools

Context Effectiveness of interactive distance instruction Addressing critical education barriers which have a disproportionate effect on Ghanaian girls by: enhancing the quality of instruction within schools to promote and embed student-centred learning in the classroom; combatting, at the community level, certain deep-seated cultural values about girls and their educational potential; empowering girls through enhanced self-esteem, including self-conceptualisation and self-belief, and improving peer-to-peer relationships; facilitating safe, supportive gender-equitable learning environments. Effectiveness of interactive distance instruction Making Ghanaian Girls Great!

Design Effectiveness of interactive distance instruction Teaching studios in a central location VSAT satellite link for broadcasting Separate school sites Each school is equipped with solar panels and a satellite dish to receive the broadcast Each classroom is equipped with a projector and low-cost, durable computer and accessories Effectiveness of interactive distance instruction Making Ghanaian Girls Great!

Evaluation Effectiveness of interactive distance instruction External evaluation conducted by Innovations for Poverty Action See working paper (Johnston and Ksoll, 2017) for more details: https://cepa.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/wp17-08-v201708.pdf Evaluation Approach: Cluster randomized controlled trial 70 treatment and 77 control schools, assigned at baseline Followed three cohorts of students (grades 2-4 at baseline) for two full years Primary outcomes Numeracy as measured by the Early Grade Mathematics Assessment (EGMA) Literacy in English as measured by the Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) We are an international non-profit research and policy organization, founded in 2002 by Dean Karlan, a Professor of Economics at Yale. Our mission is to discover and promote effective solutions to global poverty problems. As an external evaluation partner, we help use existing evidence to inform program design, and then measure the impact of the program, or programs, targeted at out of school girls. An impact evaluation, with clearly defined research questions and a theory of change, will help us to answer some of these questions. In partnership, we can help to design an evaluation for this project and create evidence to understand how some of the AGILE program components have an impact (or not) on girls outcomes like literacy and numeracy, return to employment or school enrollment, etc. We do this by partnering with more than 575 top academic researchers at Universities around the world, such as Harvard, MIT, Yale and others. Our academic researchers ensure that our impact evaluations are rigorous and accurately identify program impacts. MGCubed was a program that aimed to overcome gaps in instructional quality by using distance technology to increase access to high-quality teaching by well-trained instructors.  Effectiveness of interactive distance instruction Making Ghanaian Girls Great!

Numeracy results Effectiveness of interactive distance instruction After one year of classes, we saw a significant improvement in all numeracy subtasks After two years of classes, greater gains in number identity and missing number tasks Gains in maths scores lasted one year after the program ended (for cohort aging out of program) Effectiveness of interactive distance instruction Making Ghanaian Girls Great!

Literacy results Effectiveness of interactive distance instruction After 1 year of classes, we saw no significant improvement in overall fluency (words-per-minute) After 2 years of classes, we saw a marginally significant improvement in overall fluency (words-per-minute) After 2 years of classes, we saw a large and significant improvement in foundational skills Effectiveness of interactive distance instruction Making Ghanaian Girls Great!

Learnings Effectiveness of interactive distance instruction Responding to Year 1 (Midline) results: Adaptation of maths and English teaching content Multi-grade teaching Listening to demand from boys Changing community attitudes and perceptions Raising the quality of teaching instruction School leadership to support girls Effectiveness of interactive distance instruction Making Ghanaian Girls Great!

Conclusions and recommendations Interactive distance model effective at increasing literacy and numeracy skills, as well as girls’ aspirations No impact in overall attendance but improvements in MGCubed classes Qualitative evidence suggests pedagogical improvements in both MGCubed and non-MGCubed classes Classroom observations reveal that combination of facilitator and studio instructor essentially increase teacher-studio ratio for improved teaching and learning Increased instructor presence in form of distance and in-person instructor an important lever to explore – are there ways to make roles more complementary? Relevance of interactive model increasing as costs of internet and distance instruction decreasing and institutions increase use of online / blended instruction Effectiveness of interactive distance instruction Making Ghanaian Girls Great!

Thank you Effectiveness of interactive distance instruction Leonora Dowley, Country Director, Varkey Foundation Ghana Leonora.Dowley@varkeyfoundation.org Jamie Johnston, Principal Investigator, Stanford University jamiejs@stanford.edu Christopher Ksoll, Principal Investigator, Mathematica christopher.ksoll@gmail.com Nampaka Nkumbula, Policy Associate, Innovations for Poverty Action Zambia nnkumbula@poverty-action.org Effectiveness of interactive distance instruction Making Ghanaian Girls Great!