Mathematics from the Beginning: Evaluating the Tayari Preprimary Program’s Impact on Early Mathematics Skills

Given the dearth of research on early numeracy interventions in low- and middle-income countries, this paper presents the instructional methodology and impact results of the Tayari program. Tayari is a preprimary intervention in Kenya (2014–2019) that prepares children aged four and five for entry into primary school through materials for students, training for teachers, and continuous in-classroom support. Evidence points to the long-term benefits of developing an early foundation in mathematics. The few preprimary mathematics studies in sub-Saharan Africa have not described the instructional methodology in enough detail to add to our knowledge of best practices. The Tayari methodology was built on the Kenyan government’s preprimary syllabus to produce instruction that was developmentally sequenced, linked to out-of-school experiences, and supportive of children’s number sense. Tayari is evaluated using a randomized controlled trial (RCT) and collection of longitudinal data from 2,957 children in treatment and control schools at three time points. Pupil assessment items were drawn from a growing body of research on preprimary numeracy in developing contexts, plus instruments and techniques from the Measuring Early Learning and Quality Outcomes (MELQO) program (UNESCO, UNICEF, Brookings Institution, & World Bank Group, 2017). The endline impact evaluation of the longitudinal RCT results showed statistically significant effects in the numeracy tasks of producing sets, identifying numbers, and naming shapes, while revealing no initial effects in the areas of oral and mental addition. We present recommendations for Tayari’s improvement in terms of mathematics instruction, as well as preprimary policy implications for Kenya and similar contexts

Changes in Classroom Quality Predict Ghanaian Preschoolers’ Gains in Academic and Social-Emotional Skills

Rates of participation in early childhood education (ECE) programs are on the rise globally, including in sub-Saharan Africa. Yet little evidence exists on the quality of these programs and on the role of classroom quality in predicting learning for young children across diverse contexts. This study uses data from the Greater Accra Region of Ghana (N = 3,407; Mage = 5.8 years; 49.5% female) to examine how changes in four culturally-validated dimensions of ECE classroom quality predict children’s growth in early academic and social-emotional skills from the beginning to the end of one academic year. We find that improvements in domains of classroom instructional quality are related to small, positive gains in children’s early academic and social-emotional outcomes over the school year, and that these improvements are generally larger for children and classrooms with higher baseline proficiency and quality levels. Associations between changes in social-emotional aspects of classroom quality and child outcomes were mixed. These results extend the knowledge base on ECE quality to a new and under-represented context while also providing important information regarding the contexts and children for whom teacher training and other quality-focused improvement efforts may be most needed

Evaluating implementation of LEAPS, a youth-led early childhood care and education intervention in rural Pakistan: protocol for a stepped wedge cluster-randomized trial

BACKGROUND: The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) highlight the importance of investments in early childhood care and education (ECCE) and youth development. Given Pakistan's large young population, and gender and urban-rural inequalities in access to education, training, and employment, such investments offer opportunities. LEAPS is a youth-led ECCE program that trains female youth, 18-24 years, as Community Youth Leaders (CYLs) to deliver high-quality ECCE for children, 3.5-5.5 years, in rural Sindh, Pakistan. METHODS: We use a stepped wedge cluster-randomized trial to evaluate implementation of LEAPS. Ninety-nine clusters will be randomized to receive the intervention in one of three 7-month steps (33 clusters/step). The primary outcome is children's school readiness (indexed by the total score on the International Development and Early Learning Assessment (IDELA)). Secondary child outcomes are children's IDELA domain scores and executive functions. Data are collected in cross-sectional surveys of 1089 children (11 children/cluster from 99 clusters) aged 4.5-5.5 years at four timepoints (baseline and at the end of each step). Additionally, we will enroll three non-randomized youth participant open cohorts, one per step (33 CYLs: 66 comparison youth per cohort; 99:198 in total). Youth cohorts will be assessed at enrollment and every 7 months thereafter to measure secondary outcomes of youth personal and professional development, depressive symptoms, and executive functions. A non-randomized school cohort of 330 LEAPS students (10 students/cluster from 33 clusters) will also be enrolled and assessed during Step 1 after intervention rollout and at endline. The quality of the learning environment will be assessed in each LEAPS ECCE center and in a comparison center at two timepoints midway following rollout and at endline. A concurrent mixed-methods implementation evaluation will assess program fidelity and quality, and the extent to which a technical support strategy is successful in strengthening systems for program expansion. A cost evaluation will assess cost per beneficiary. Data collection for implementation and cost evaluations will occur in Step 3. DISCUSSION: Youth-led models for ECCE offer a promising approach to support young children and youth. This study will contribute to the evidence as a means to promote sustainable human development across multiple SDG targets. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03764436 . Registered on December 5, 2018

Evaluating implementation of LEAPS, a youth-led early childhood care and education intervention in rural Pakistan: Protocol for a stepped wedge cluster-randomized trial

Background: The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) highlight the importance of investments in early childhood care and education (ECCE) and youth development. Given Pakistan\u27s large young population, and gender and urban-rural inequalities in access to education, training, and employment, such investments offer opportunities. LEAPS is a youth-led ECCE program that trains female youth, 18-24 years, as Community Youth Leaders (CYLs) to deliver high-quality ECCE for children, 3.5-5.5 years, in rural Sindh, Pakistan.Methods: We use a stepped wedge cluster-randomized trial to evaluate implementation of LEAPS. Ninety-nine clusters will be randomized to receive the intervention in one of three 7-month steps (33 clusters/step). The primary outcome is children\u27s school readiness (indexed by the total score on the International Development and Early Learning Assessment (IDELA)). Secondary child outcomes are children\u27s IDELA domain scores and executive functions. Data are collected in cross-sectional surveys of 1089 children (11 children/cluster from 99 clusters) aged 4.5-5.5 years at four timepoints (baseline and at the end of each step). Additionally, we will enroll three non-randomized youth participant open cohorts, one per step (33 CYLs: 66 comparison youth per cohort; 99:198 in total). Youth cohorts will be assessed at enrollment and every 7 months thereafter to measure secondary outcomes of youth personal and professional development, depressive symptoms, and executive functions. A non-randomized school cohort of 330 LEAPS students (10 students/cluster from 33 clusters) will also be enrolled and assessed during Step 1 after intervention rollout and at endline. The quality of the learning environment will be assessed in each LEAPS ECCE center and in a comparison center at two timepoints midway following rollout and at endline. A concurrent mixed-methods implementation evaluation will assess program fidelity and quality, and the extent to which a technical support strategy is successful in strengthening systems for program expansion. A cost evaluation will assess cost per beneficiary. Data collection for implementation and cost evaluations will occur in Step 3.Discussion: Youth-led models for ECCE offer a promising approach to support young children and youth. This study will contribute to the evidence as a means to promote sustainable human development across multiple SDG targets.Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03764436 . Registered on December 5, 2018

Can an Accelerated Intervention Close the School Readiness Gap for Disadvantaged Children? An Evaluation of the Effects of the LEARN Project’s Summer Pre-Primary Program on Literacy Outcomes in Northern Lao PDR

Developed against the backdrop of Sustainable Development Goal 4, as well as a global trend towards rigorous assessment of early childhood programs, this thesis answers questions about the effects of an accelerated school readiness intervention for non-Lao children in disadvantaged communities of Lao People’s Democratic Republic. Through a longitudinal, cluster randomized control trial, the study employs multi-level regression with an analytical sample of 391 children to examine the outcomes of a summer pre-primary program piloted from 2015-2018 by the Lao government with support from Plan International and Save the Children International in the Dubai-Cares funded Lao Educational Access, Research, and Networking (LEARN) Project. Research questions are investigated through a design in which the same panel of children are assessed against a control group at three intervals using the Measurement of Development and Early Learning. The thesis identifies significant associations between receiving the treatment and achieving higher gain scores on several emergent literacy tasks between baseline and midline, with effects roughly in line with similar interventions in other contexts. At the same time, the thesis finds that those effects had largely faded by endline. An interaction between treatment and ethnicity was only evident in a few instances, suggesting that the intervention may have boosted school readiness for Khmu children more by the start of grade 1 and for Hmong children more during grade 1. The thesis raises important recommendations about how to improve the fit between the ultimate objectives of accelerated interventions, the evaluations they undergo, and the needs of the broader education system. New contributions to knowledge are also found by interrogating a global assessment paradigm through a comparative linguistic lens, so that forthcoming evaluations benefit from the lessons learned based on LEARN’s attempt to fit a square peg into a unique alpha-syllabic, tonal Southeast Asian language

Counting outcomes, coverage and quality for early child development programmes

Improved measurement in early child development (ECD) is a strategic focus of the WHO, UNICEF and World Bank Nurturing Care Framework. However, evidence-based approaches to monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of ECD projects in low-income and middle-income countries (LMIC) are lacking. The Grand Challenges Canada®-funded Saving Brains® ECD portfolio provides a unique opportunity to explore approaches to M&E of ECD programmes across diverse settings. Focused literature review and participatory mixed-method evaluation of the Saving Brains portfolio was undertaken using an adapted impact framework. Findings related to measurement of quality, coverage and outcomes for scaling ECD were considered. Thirty-nine ECD projects implemented in 23 LMIC were evaluated. Projects used a 'theory of change' based M&E approach to measure a range of inputs, outputs and outcomes. Over 29 projects measured cognitive, language, motor and socioemotional outcomes. 18 projects used developmental screening tools to measure outcomes, with a trade-off between feasibility and preferred practice. Environmental inputs such as the home environment were measured in 15 projects. Qualitative data reflected the importance of measurement of project quality and coverage, despite challenges measuring these constructs across contexts. Improved measurement of intervention quality and measurement of coverage, which requires definition of the numerator (ie, intervention) and denominator (ie, population in need/at risk), are needed for scaling ECD programmes. Innovation in outcome measurement, including intermediary outcome measures that are feasible and practical to measure in routine services, is also required, with disaggregation to better target interventions to those most in need and ensure that no child is left behind

Buk bilong Pikinini Literacy Program Evaluation 2018: Evaluation Report

Buk bilong Pikinini (BbP) provides access to early childhood education and care (ECEC) programs with a specific focus on English language literacy for children from vulnerable communities in Papua New Guinea. This is highly relevant, given the fact that there is likely an over-representation of illiteracy in disadvantaged households and few opportunities for children within those households to be ready for a school system with English as the language of instruction. Established in 2007, BbP has been in operation for more than 10 years and has opened 17 library sites in that time. This evaluation provides evidence about the likely effectiveness of the programs relative to best practice and in the early childhood and school policy and program delivery context of PNG. The major methods used were literature review and critical review of BbP documentation, and stakeholder consultations, semi-structured interviews and observations of classrooms

Validating a Population Measure of Early Childhood Development in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: The Early Human Capability Index

Increased focus on population monitoring of early childhood development has been spurred by the Sustainable Development Agenda, together with burgeoning evidence for the need to support children to reach their developmental potential. Tracking children’s development in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) has been challenged by a lack of appropriate measurement tools and resources to implement measurement. The early Human Capability Index (eHCI) was designed to measure holistic development among children aged 3-5 years, be feasible for large-scale use in low resource settings, and capture locally relevant information. The aim of this thesis was to investigate the reliability, validity, and sensitivity of the eHCI across diverse settings to advance understanding of how the tool can be used to facilitate population measurement of early childhood development. Four research studies utilised pre-existing data collected using the eHCI from 2013-2020 among children aged 2-6 years in seven LMICs, including Brazil, China, Kiribati, Lao PDR, Samoa, Tonga, and Tuvalu. The first study investigated whether data fit the theoretical structure of the eHCI (nine developmental domains) across seven countries, given the necessary adaptation of the instrument in each country. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated the eHCI maintained the same factor structure across countries, providing evidence for the tool’s construct validity. The second study explored the convergent, divergent, discriminant, and concurrent validity of the eHCI, and whether results varied across seven countries. Results provided evidence that the tool captured aspects of early childhood development it was designed to measure. Although the eHCI was intended to measure development among children aged 3-5, results from this study indicated it may be validly applied to children aged 2-6 years. The first two studies established the eHCI was psychometrically robust using cross-sectional data. The third study used longitudinal data to explore the ability of the eHCI to predict children’s later abilities in Lao PDR, establishing predictive ability of the tool. Specifically, whether scores on the eHCI at 2-5 years predicted cognitive development (literacy, numeracy, executive function) at 6-9 years, four years later. Receiver Operator Characteristic curve analyses demonstrated the summary indicator, eHCI overall development, signalled risk for poor future cognitive development with similar ability to measures of socioeconomic position. The eHCI was designed to have adequate sensitivity to detect variation in children’s development to facilitate program evaluation, which is a limitation of many existing population measures. The final study tested the sensitivity of eHCI scores to inputs promoting children’s development, namely quality of early childhood education. Using cross-sectional data in Lao PDR, adjusted linear regressions demonstrated small, positive associations between quality and children’s development measured via the eHCI, as was hypothesised. Together, studies demonstrated that the eHCI, a pragmatic, freely available and locally adapted tool, can be validly applied to children aged 2-6 years across diverse LMICs, for the purposes of locally relevant population monitoring of early childhood development, as well as program evaluation. Ultimately, information collected using the eHCI may be used to inform policy and practice in terms of resourcing and supports to promote children’s development.Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Public Health, 202

An investigation into the relationship between the quality of children’s speech and early years environments

The aim of this study was to ascertain if factors in three different learning environments; indoor classrooms, outdoor classrooms and natural environments, for children aged 3-5 years, are associated with the quality of their utterances and if so, the nature and effects of those factors. Adopting a theoretical framework of interactionism and a philosophical stance of transcendental idealism, meant that this study built on the belief that knowledge is gained from what is innate and what is experienced, and that development is built on interactions, whilst building on the innate knowledge that already exists. A paradigm of interpretivism ensured as an onlooker the research was undertaken whilst aiming to present views and opinions from multiple perspectives and meanings. Through a phased approach, and by using interviews (n=63) and observations (n=43), data was collected. This comprehensive study has identified that within the study settings the quality of young children’s utterances does differ depending on the environment in which the children are playing and learning, with outdoor classrooms producing the highest quality of utterances. By defining the features of the environments, through interviews, it has been possible to devise a Transferable Quality Assessment Framework (TQAF), comprising of 27 elements. This TQAF identifies and assesses these 27 features across different environments. Through empirical evidence it has been possible to establish that the 27 elements, which fall into the broad areas of resources, the environment and the atmosphere, are needed to constitute a high-quality learning environment for young children’s speech and language development. By then analysing young children’s lexical diversity alongside the TQAF analysis, it has been possible to argue that there is a positive association between the quality of the environment and the quality of children’s utterances within the four study settings. It is argued that it is possible to define a high-quality environment, for the purposes of speech and language development and this definition may be used to enhance practice and improve outcomes for children accordingly. This thesis contributes to existing scholarship, methodologically by providing a quality rating scale that is transferable between different play and learning environments, and through providing knowledge on how the quality of young children’s speech and language is influenced by the environment in which they are immersed