Low learning levels / literacy / numeracy Not Applicable
Conditions
Interventions
The intervention in this study will adapt the STRIPES para-teacher intervention (Lakshminarayana et al., PLoS ONE, 2013) to the Gambian context, providing remedial after-school education classes focu
Sponsors
Effective Intervention
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Inclusion criteria
Inclusion criteria: A village will potentially be eligible if the following conditions are met: 1. The number of households in the village is between 15 and 300 according to the 2013 Gambian census 2. There are at least 15 children eligible for inclusion in the trial at the time of our enumeration 3. It falls inside an eligible cluster, determined by an enumeration and mapping exercise described below, designed to minimize the risk of bias from contamination 4. The Alkalo (village chief) consents to allow the village to participate in the trial A child will be eligible if he or she is resident in a village within an eligible cluster, and fits the following criteria: 1. S/he did not attend first grade or higher in a lower basic school or madrasa in the 2014-2015 academic year 2. The child’s caretaker intends to enrol him/her in the first grade in the 2015-2016 academic year 3. S/he is born between September 1st 2007 and August 31st 2009 4. The caretaker consents to allow the child to participate in the trial
Exclusion criteria
Exclusion criteria: Participants will be excluded only if they fail to give consent or meet the inclusion criteria
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Composite of scores earned on English language and mathematics assessments from a test which will be conducted after three years of implementing the programme, i.e. in spring 2018. | — |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| 1. Performance on language and maths assessments, separately; 2. Performance on the National Assessment Test, administered annually to all students in the third grade in The Gambia 3. Subgroup-specific treatment effects to be investigated using interaction tests. Subgroups, defined at the individual level, to be considered are: 3.1.. Ethnic group (Mandinka, Fula, Wollof, and other) 3.2. Gender 3.3. . Geography (above or below the median distance from the main highway in each region); 3.4. Parents’ education level (in tertile groups) 4. School type (three types: public/government, private-religious, and private-non-religious); 5. Spillover effects of the intervention on the reading ability, as measured by a simple ASER-style literacy test of the child’s siblings immediately before and after the child in birth order and the child’s primary caretaker 6. Whether or not the school’s mothers’ club is active 7. Effects of the intervention on educational spending by families, attendance of teachers and children in regular school, and parent and child’s time spent on education-related activities (doing homework, helping child with homework, study) outside of school hours. 8. Children’s enrolment in school | — |
Countries
Gambia
Outcome results
None listed