Long term impacts of a successful foundational literacy program in South Africa

Last registered on October 20, 2025
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Long term impacts of a successful foundational literacy program in South Africa
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0016934
Initial registration date
October 02, 2025

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
October 06, 2025, 11:43 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated
October 20, 2025, 12:18 PM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country
South Africa
Region
North-West Province

Primary Investigator

Name
Jacobus CILLIERS
Affiliation
GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2015-02-02
End date
2028-04-28
Keywords
Education
Additional Keywords
literacy, long term impacts, structured pedagogy
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial is based on or builds upon one or more prior RCTs.
Abstract
We estimate the long-term impacts of a foundational literacy program, the Early Grade Reading Study I (EGRS I), implemented in South Africa between 2015 and 2017. The project seeks to understand whether initial improvements in literacy skills from early-grade interventions translate into sustained academic progress and completion of high school. We will track students approximately 10 years after the program began, measuring outcomes in 2025 when non-repeating students would be in Grade 11, augmenting this data with administrative data on grade attainment and high school completion.

Research questions.
1. What is the long-term impact of the early grade literacy intervention on the probability of completing high school with university eligibility?
2. What is the cost-effectiveness of the intervention? Specifically, does the intervention generate positive net present value when accounting for program costs and estimated lifetime earnings impacts based on improved educational attainment?
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
CILLIERS, Jacobus. 2025. "Long term impacts of a successful foundational literacy program in South Africa." AEA RCT Registry. October 20. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.16934-1.1
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The Early Grade Reading Study (EGRS) I, implemented between 2015 and 2017, was a randomized evaluation of a structured pedagogy program aimed at improving the teaching of home-language literacy. The intervention provided teachers with curriculum-aligned lesson plans and learning materials, such as graded booklets, flash cards, and posters. Teachers also received support through an external reading coach who would visit the school at roughly a monthly basis to observe teaching, provide constructive feedback, and sometimes demonstrate effective teaching practices.
Intervention Start Date
2015-03-30
Intervention End Date
2017-12-15

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Participat obtained a "bachelor's pass" or higher in the end of high school exam by 2027.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
This outcome captures whether a student achieved the minimum qualification required to apply to any university degree program in South Africa. This is the most policy-relevant outcome as it determines access to tertiary education, which has substantial labor market returns. This outcome implicitly captures both reaching Grade 12 and passing the exam at the requisite level.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Family A. Learning:
1. Setswana Literacy
2. English Literacy
3. Math literacy
4. Science literacy
Family B.
1. Student engagement
2. Aspirations
3. Self-esteem
4. Love of reading
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
Family A outcomes measured from student assessments. In each case the outcome will be the proportion of questions asked correctly.
All the Family B outcomes are indeces constructed from a series Lickert scale questions administered during the written questionnaire. Indices will be constructed by taking the mean across the constituent indicators.

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The intervention was implemented in 130 Quintile 1–3 schools, serving primarily poor communities in North-West province. Schools were assigned to treatment using stratified randomization across 10 strata of 13 schools each, based on school size, socio-economic status, and prior performance in the Annual National Assessments. Within each stratum, five schools were randomly assigned to treatment and eight to the control group. Overall, 50 schools were assigned to treatment and 80 were assigned as control. Randomization achieved balance across treatment and control groups on baseline characteristics, validating the experimental design (Cilliers et al. 2020).
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
By the computer
Randomization Unit
School
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
130
Sample size: planned number of observations
2,600
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Roughly 20
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Georgetown University IRB
IRB Approval Date
2024-03-26
IRB Approval Number
STUDY00009014
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

EGRS long term impacts pre-analysis plan

MD5:

SHA1:

Uploaded At: October 20, 2025