| Field | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Field Trial Title | Before Evaluation of a school meals and literacy program in Mozambique | After The Effect of Teacher Training and Community Literacy Programming on Teacher and Student Outcomes |
| Field Abstract | Before We will evaluate the impacts of a program that combines school meals and literacy training in 160 schools in Nampula province in Mozambique. We partner with World Vision (WV) Mozambique, which provides school meals acquired from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and who also provides training for teachers and other educators on early grade literacy instruction. School meals are already provided every school day to all students in the study schools and consist of vitamin-fortified porridge. WV will begin to implement an early grade literacy program called “Unlock Literacy” (UL), which 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: school meals only, school meals + teacher training, or school meals + teacher training + enhanced reading camps. In this final experimental arm, reading camps will be supported by a designated teacher at the school to ensure that meetings are regular and that parents and the school council support the camps. This evaluation will focus on the impacts of this programming on the reading abilities of students in grade 4, student attendance and grade attainment, teacher attendance, teaching practices, and student nutrition. We hypothesize that the combination of school meals and 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. | After 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. |
| Field Last Published | Before May 02, 2023 03:47 PM | After May 03, 2023 09:58 AM |
| Field Intervention (Public) | Before USDA, through McGovern Dole (MGD), funds school feeding in Mozambique. World Vision’s (WV) “Unlock Literacy” (UL) program will be implemented in Nampula province in Mozambique and is also implemented in several other African countries. The school meals consist of porridge with micronutrients (vitamins and others) added and are provided to all teachers and students at the school, every school day. Students from different grades take turns to have their meals together. 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 several 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, such as during cooking or cleaning. 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. One experimental arm will include "enhanced reading camps" which will be supported by a designated teacher at the school who will ensure that the reading camps meet and that they are supported by parents and the school council. | After 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.) |
| Field Primary Outcomes (End Points) | Before 1) Early grade literacy 2) Student attendance 3) Student grade attainment 4) Teacher attendance 5) Teaching practices 6) Child nutrition | After • 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 |
| Field Primary Outcomes (Explanation) | Before 1) Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) 2) Attendance rate of grade 4 students on the day of the endline interviews 3) Follow-up (with the school principal) of baseline students two years later to determine who is still in school and in which grade 4) Attendance of grade 4 teacher in the past 5 days as recorded in the school records 5) A classroom observation will be conducted - specific instrument TBD 6) Number of meals eaten per day | After |
| Field Experimental Design (Public) | Before 1. School meals only 2. School meals + Unlock Literacy program 3. School meals + Unlock Literacy program + enhanced reading camps | After 1. Control 2. Unlock Literacy teacher training 3. Unlock Literacy teacher training + community intervention (Note all schools in the sample receive school meals.) |
| Field Randomization Method | Before Done 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). | After 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). |
| Field Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms | Before 1. School meals only = 60 schools 2. School meals + Unlock Literacy program = 50 schools 3. School meals + Unlock Literacy program + enhanced reading camps = 50 schools | After 1. Control = 54 schools 2. Unlock Literacy teacher training = 56 schools 3. Unlock Literacy teacher training + community intervention = 50 schools |
| Field Public analysis plan | Before No | After Yes |
| Field Secondary Outcomes (End Points) | Before | After • 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). |
| Field | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Field Document | Before |
After
Pre-analysis plan final May 2 2023.docx
MD5:
fb27baa2580de5e5ec0643fdb0a6792e
SHA1:
afb91d889b5430af1bc04c607bec786096513561
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