This study investigates supply- and demand-side approaches to improving the quality of Kindergarten education in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. Specifically, we investigate how a teacher in-service training program with monitoring and feedback follow-up affects teacher practices, classroom quality, and child learning. In addition, we investigate if the impacts are enhanced when implemented alongside a parental awareness program about early childhood development and learning. This research project consists of a randomized controlled trial where 240 schools (from both private and public sector) will be assigned to the (1) in-service teacher-training program only; (2) in-service teacher-training program plus parental awareness program; or (3) control condition. The experiment will be carried out during the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 academic years, and students and teachers will be tracked for two years. The study will compare implementation challenges in public and private schools, and examine several important sources of potential heterogeneity of impact, including public vs. private sector schools and various child characteristics. The project will improve understanding of how to improve the teaching skills and capacities for Kindergarten teachers in Ghana and in other contexts that have a largely untrained teacher workforce, in a scalable and sustainable fashion.
External Link(s)
Citation
Aber, J., Jere Behrman and Sharon Wolf. 2015. "Testing and scaling-up supply- and demand-side interventions to improve Kindergarten educational quality in Ghana." AEA RCT Registry. June 10. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.704-1.0.
(1) In-service teacher training, followed by 2 refresher trainings, plus monitoring and feedback visits; (2) Parental awareness program involving a video, pamphlet and discussion about early childhood development and education, and administered through school PTA meetings.
Intervention Start Date
2015-09-15
Intervention End Date
2016-06-30
Primary Outcomes (end points)
(1) Child learning and development (both “cognitive” and “non-cognitive” outcomes), (2) classroom quality and teacher well-being (considered the mediating mechanisms through which impacts on children would occur), and (3) parental perceptions and knowledge of early childhood development and education.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
Experimental Design
Randomized control trial
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by a computer
Randomization Unit
Schools
Was the treatment clustered?
No
Sample size: planned number of clusters
240 schools.
Sample size: planned number of observations
480 teachers, 3600 children, 3600 parents
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
80 school control; 80 schools teacher training; 80 schools teacher training + parental awareness program
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)