2 1 evidence-based 0 2 y a education m a n a h g Policy Making & a, r c RefoRM in afRica c a 2 evidence-based 1 0 2 y a education m a n a h g Policy Making & , a r c RefoRM in afRica c a Contents Welcome 1 conference background 2 about the Organisers 3 The Teacher community assistant initiative in Ghana 4 Why Randomise? 9 conference Programme 10 Panel 1: How to Get Kids to come to school 14 Panel 2: What Have We Learned about enabling Learning? 16 Panel 3: supportive Learning Through Technology 18 Panel 4: Teacher characteristics, Governance, and incentives 20 Panel 5: evidence Gaps-secondary education and Girls 22 J-PaL’s Post-Primary education initiative 25 Panel 6: evidence Gaps-early childhood education 26 Panel 7: From evidence to action—scale-Ups 28 J-PaL’s executive education course 31 stay in Touch with iPa and J-PaL 32 For Further Reading 33 IPA & J-PAL EducAtIon EvALuAtIons Welcome IPA & J-PAL EducAtIon EvALuAtIons Dear Conference Participants, On behalf of all of the organisers, speakers, and staff of this conference, it is our pleasure to welcome you to “Evidence-Based Education: Policy-Making and Reform in Africa” jointly organised by Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Lab (J-PAL), and the Ghana Education Service (GES). Through the evaluation of the Teacher Community Assistant Initiative and other efforts, the Government of Ghana has demonstrated its willingness to make further improvements in social programmes based on scientific evidence. This openness to new ideas and enthusiasm for change is what has brought all of us to Accra today for this conference. This conference brings together leading development researchers, senior policymakers from African governments, and representatives from international development organisations, foundations and NGOs to discuss the importance of using scientific evidence from field evaluations to guide policy; to share the results of randomised evaluations of innovative education programmes that have proven to be highly effective; and to give these organisations an opportunity to provide input on the future research agenda. We are hopeful that participants in this conference will take advantage of the opportunity to make use of the evidence we already have on education and to help fill evidence gaps. We also hope that the conference will result in successful collaborations between the various attending organisations, the scale-up of many highly effective social programmes, and wider use of rigorous evaluation methodologies that will continue to improve education throughout Africa. Sincerely, Benedicta Naana Biney, Director General, Ghana Education Service Jessica Kiessel, Country Director for IPA Ghana Kamilla Gumede, Executive Director for J-PAL Africa 1 Conference Background Much progress has been made towards achieving universal enrolment in primary schools. However, the education sector in Africa continues to face a number of challenges. Enrolment remains far below the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target in some regions, and teacher absenteeism is rampant. Learning levels in schools are highly unequal, and many children attend school but learn very little. Enrolment rates drop dramatically when students reach secondary school, and few countries equip their graduates with the necessary skills to transition smoothly from school to productive work. Tasked with improving the education sector with limited resources, practitioners, policymakers, and their development partners often find themselves divided and daunted by both the number of problems that they have to face and the large variety of potential remedies proposed. Without reliable information on which interventions work and which are more cost-effective, decision- makers are challenged when choosing whether to allocate funds to support school feeding, additional textbooks, improved teacher training, school monitoring, or technology. While many unanswered questions related to how best to improve education remain, a number of important lessons have been learned in the last decade through rigorous field research. This body of evidence can help to guide policymaker and donor investments but often remains unknown (or unused) by key stakeholders. There is a growing demand from African policymakers and practitioners for rigorous evidence to help ensure than programmes deliver what they promise. This conference is for people who believe in using evidence in policy-making, and who have come to Ghana to learn from country experiences and share lessons and challenges. 2 About the Organisers The ghana education Service (geS) is responsible for the implementation of pre-tertiary educational policies of the government, to ensure that all Ghanaian children of school-going age, irrespective of tribe, gender, disability, religion, or political affiliation, are provided with quality formal education and training through effective resource management. With the goal of creating an enabling environment in all educational institutions, the GES works to improve equitable access to education, bridge the gender gap, and improve the quality of teaching and learning. innovations for Poverty action (iPa) is a non-profit The abdul latif Jameel Poverty action lab (J-Pal) dedicated to discovering what works to help the world’s was established in 2003 as a research centre within the poor. Established in 2002, IPA partners with researchers Economics Department at the Massachusetts Institute in top universities and implementing organisations to of Technology (MIT). Since then, it has grown into a design rigorous evaluations of anti-poverty programmes. global network of researchers who are united by their When a programme has been tested and proven, IPA use of randomised evaluations to answer critical policy communicates the findings to development practitioners, questions in the fight against poverty. In 2010, J-PAL policymakers, and donors and works with implementing opened a regional office for Africa at the University of partners and governments to bring those programmes to Cape Town, South Africa; it also has regional offices scale around the world. based at universities in Paris, France; Santiago, Chile; and Chennai and Delhi, India. IPA has research operations in over 45 countries around the world, and IPA country programmes have been J-PAL’s mission is to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy established in 14 of these countries. These country is based on rigorous evidence. It works to achieve this programmes not only provide enhanced research support, mission by conducting randomised evaluations, building but also ensure IPA research is aligned with local policy the capacity of others to conduct rigorous evaluations, and priorities and that evidence is shared locally as well as informing policy by disseminating the lessons from J-PAL regionally and internationally. research to governments, international development organisations, NGOs, and foundations. 3 The Teacher Community Assistant Initiative (TCAI) ghana’s Teacher community assistant initiative is providing rigorous evidence on how remedial education programmes can improve learning outcomes. While school enrolment rates in developing countries have significantly improved in the last decade, learning levels have not matched this progress. Teachers must manage classes that are large and include pupils with very different levels of preparation, hindering teachers’ ability to target instruction appropriately. The 2009 National Education Assessment in Ghana showed that only 20 percent of grade 3 pupils reach expected proficiency levels in English, and 25.2 percent in maths, despite the fact that the government spends 23 percent of its budget on education. Cost-effective strategies to improve learning levels are urgently needed. Studies in India and Kenya have shown that significant improvements can be achieved at relatively low cost by targeting the level of instruction to pupils’ abilities, during or after school hours. Based on these insights, the Ghanaian Education Service (GES), in partnership with the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), and the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP), are piloting and evaluating the Teacher Community Assistant Initiative (TCAI). This programme trains teachers and community assistants to teach to the learning level of their pupils through several different mechanisms. While the project is ongoing, it has already yielded several important lessons. Governments can use rigorous evaluations to Preliminary results show that community assistants guide their education policies and improve pupil teaching a remedial pedagogy focused on literacy achievement. A two-year pilot of the TCAI programme and numeracy to the lowest-performing pupils will determine whether remedial education delivered are having a modest impact on pupils’ basic skills. through various mechanisms is effective, and what Because of delays in programme launch, these results were strategies deliver results for the lowest cost. measured only ten weeks after the programme began, suggesting that even larger effects may be achieved over The TCAI evaluation is testing different combinations time. of interventions, providing policymakers with information on which components are responsible The increases in test scores do not appear to be for programme impact. Randomly selected schools in the result of smaller class sizes. Simply providing four treatment arms are receiving various combinations community assistants to split classes with the normal of lessons targeted by pupil ability, a remedial pedagogy teacher had minimal impacts on pupil achievement. for the lowest performing pupils, teacher community assistants, and in-school or after-school activities. 4