The Effect of Teacher Training and Community Literacy Programming on Teacher and Student Outcomes

Last registered on May 03, 2023
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
The Effect of Teacher Training and Community Literacy Programming on Teacher and Student Outcomes
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0007978
Initial registration date
July 19, 2021

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
July 21, 2021, 5:36 PM EDT

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

Last updated
May 03, 2023, 9:58 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Mozambique
Region
Nampula

Primary Investigator

Name
Naureen Karachiwalla
Affiliation
International Food Policy Research Institute
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Feliciano Chimbutane
PI Affiliation
Universidade Eduardo Mondlane
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PI Name
Catalina Herrera
PI Affiliation
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
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PI Name
Carlos Lauchande
PI Affiliation
Universidade Pedagogica
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PI Name
Jessica Leight
PI Affiliation
International Food Policy Research Institute
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Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2021-06-28
End date
2023-08-31
Keywords
Education, Health
Additional Keywords
School meals, early grade reading, literacy, Mozambique
JEL code(s)
I25, I15
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
We will evaluate an intervention providing teacher training and community literacy programming to 160 schools in Nampula province in Mozambique, partnering with World Vision (WV) Mozambique and funded by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). WV is rolling out an early grade literacy program, Unlock Literacy (UL), that comprises two components. First, WV trains teachers in sound pedagogical practices that facilitate early grade reading and will provide coaches to follow up with teachers. Second, community interventions are conducted to encourage parents to help their children read. As part of the community interventions, “reading camps” are established. The reading camps are designed to be interactive and fun learning experiences for children to learn and practice reading outside of school and are run by older children in the community. Schools will be randomly assigned to three groups: a control arm, an arm receiving teacher training only, and an arm receiving teacher training and community literacy programming; all schools in the evaluation also receive school meals. The outcomes of interest in the evaluation include grade three literacy, student attendance and grade attainment, teacher attendance, and teaching practices. We hypothesize that teacher training will improve reading outcomes and may improve attendance, attainment, and teacher practices. We further hypothesize that the addition of the enhanced reading camps will further improve reading, attendance, and attainment.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Chimbutane, Feliciano et al. 2023. "The Effect of Teacher Training and Community Literacy Programming on Teacher and Student Outcomes." AEA RCT Registry. May 03. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.7978-2.0
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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
World Vision’s (WV) Unlock Literacy program will be implemented in Nampula province in Mozambique and is also implemented in several other African countries. UL has two components: teacher training and community action. The teacher training comprises training of all teachers in the school on pedagogical techniques for early-grade reading. Teachers are taught the five phases of reading: letter knowledge, sounding out words, reading fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Teachers learn to create a print-rich environment in their classrooms and ensure that children remain motivated while learning to read. They are also provided with materials including books and classroom aids. These materials are in the local language, using locally relevant exercises, and are targeted at the appropriate grade level.

The community component of the UL program has two main elements. First, parents are brought together in groups to learn about and discuss the importance of schooling, and especially of reading. They are taught ways to help their children with reading at home, for example, incorporating reading exercises in daily life. Second, reading camps are established, whereby a literate teenager in the community meets with children weekly outside of school (usually on the weekends) to create fun reading exercises and motivate children to read.

(All schools in the sample also receive school meals provided by World Vision.)
Intervention Start Date
2021-08-09
Intervention End Date
2023-08-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
• Pupil score on the EGRA (Early Grade Reading Assessment) exam
o Number correct: letter name identification and reading
o Number correct: familiar words reading
o Number correct: listening comprehension
o Number correct: oral reading fluency
o Number correct: reading comprehension
We will also report an average standard treatment effect across all five EGRA variables.
• Teacher pedagogical practice: scored based on a tool for classroom observation
• Teacher knowledge of the training curriculum: scored based on a survey-based test of training curriculum items
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
• School dropout (binary variable): reported for baseline student sample (reported by headteacher)
• Teacher absenteeism: number of days reported absent in the last five school days (reported by teachers and by head teachers)
• Child absenteeism: number of children reported absent on the day of the survey, the day prior, and in the past five school days (reported by students)
• Index of school management practices, constructed using the following variables: variable for school director present at the start of the day of the endline school visit (reported by enumerators); variable for school director conducting an observation of teachers at least once over the past month (reported by teachers); variable for any supervision visit from district or provincial staff at least once over the past month (reported by school director); variable for reported meeting of the school council at least once over the past month (reported by school director); variable for whether parents contact the school to ask about schoolwork (reported by teachers).
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
1. Control
2. Unlock Literacy teacher training
3. Unlock Literacy teacher training + community intervention

(Note all schools in the sample receive school meals.)
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Implemented in the office by a computer, stratifying schools with respect to enrollment (above/below median enrollment) and the number of teachers (above/below median number of teachers within the enrollment strata).
Randomization Unit
School
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
160 schools
Sample size: planned number of observations
1,600 students, 160 teachers, 160 school principals, 160 school cooks
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
1. Control = 54 schools
2. Unlock Literacy teacher training = 56 schools
3. Unlock Literacy teacher training + community intervention = 50 schools
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
International Food Policy Research Institute IRB
IRB Approval Date
2021-04-27
IRB Approval Number
PHND-21-0412
IRB Name
Comitê Nacional de Bioética para Saúde (CNBS)
IRB Approval Date
2021-02-18
IRB Approval Number
2657
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

Pre-analysis plan final May 2 2023.docx

MD5: fb27baa2580de5e5ec0643fdb0a6792e

SHA1: afb91d889b5430af1bc04c607bec786096513561

Uploaded At: May 03, 2023

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials