The Impact of Mother Literacy and Participation Programs on Child Learning: Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation in India

The interventions were conducted in two blocks (district subdivisions) of the Purnia district in Bihar and two blocks of the Ajmer district in Rajasthan. Bihar and Rajasthan were selected by Pratham based on the low literacy levels of the two states. According to the latest census, these states have the lowest female literacy rates in India at roughly 53% each (Census of India, 2011). Children's education outcomes are similar between the two states. For example, 48% of rural children in grades 3 to 5 can read at a grade 1 level in both states, just below the national average of 54% (ASER Centre, 2013). The intervention districts within each state were selected because of existing Pratham programs and infrastructure in those areas. Within the intervention districts, the blocks were selected because they did not have any pre-existing Pratham programs.

There were three interventions that were tested. Mothers of children aged 5-8 years-old were assigned to one of the following three treatment groups or a comparison group, which received no additional services.

The Mother Literacy (ML) intervention consisted of daily literacy classes held in the villages. In each location, a volunteer was recruited from the community to teach classes for two hours per day at the time and place that was most convenient to interested women. Volunteers utilized a version of Pratham's Read India methodology. This approach, shown effective in teaching children to read, was modified to suit the interests of adults. While ML classes were open to any who wished to attend, Pratham staff and volunteers were given a list of target mothers to recruit into the classes.

The Child and Mother Activities Packet (CHAMP) intervention was designed to engage the mothers at home with their children's learning. Once per week, a Pratham staff member visited each target mother and gave her a worksheet to help her child complete. Mothers were also given instruction on how to review her child's school notebooks, discuss child learning with her child's school teacher, and encourage the child to do school work at home.

The combined intervention (ML-CHAMP) included both the ML and CHAMP interventions.

2011-08-01

2012-07-01

Mother learning levels (test score), Child learning levels (test score), Participation, Time use, Home learning environment, Empowerment

See attached pre-analysis plan

In two states - Rajasthan and Bihar, 240 hamlets were selected for the randomization. Hamlets were selected based on a target number of households (the approximate size that could support one mother literacy class) and geographic distance from other target locations to limit spillovers. In Rajasthan, where villages are typically far apart, one appropriately-sized hamlet per village was selected, and the randomization was effectively conducted at the village level. In Bihar, where hamlets may be close to one another (whether in the same village or in different villages), hamlets
of the target size were included if they were sufficiently far from other included hamlets.

In each state, 60 hamlets were randomly assigned to each of the four treatment groups - Mother Literacy Classes, CHAMP, Mother Literacy Classes and CHAMP and Control. Randomization was stratified geographically to allow Pratham to organize its monitoring structure based on a known number of program villages in each area. The 240 villages in each state were first divided into geographically proximate groups of 20 villages. These groups of villages were further divided into 2 “phases”. These phases determined the order of the rollout of the programs. The Pratham team rolled out the interventions in Phase 1 villages and began in Phase 2 villages approximately 3 weeks later. The randomization was stratified by the resulting 24 groups of 10 villages in each state. Assignment within each cluster of 20 villages was balanced such that each intervention was implemented in exactly 5 villages.

Randomization done in an office by a computer, using stata

480 Village hamlets

Yes

480 Village hamlets

8857 Mothers, 15,502 Children

120 Village hamlets- Control
120 Village hamlets- Mother Literacy
120 Village hamlets- CHAMP
120 Village hamlets- Mother Literacy and CHAMP

See pre-analysis plan