By Dr. Kirsty Newman, Vice President of Programs, and Kirstin Buchanan, Communications and Advocacy Manager, The Luminos Fund
Globally, 250 million children are out of school, and millions more are in school but not learning, costing an estimated USD 10 trillion annually by 2030. In sub-Saharan Africa, 90% of children do not learn to read by age 10. Given the scale of the learning crisis, it is tempting to look for a silver bullet to address it – a proven solution that can be scaled up wherever children are not learning. However, there is no single formula or recipe for education delivery. Various evidence-based approaches, including structured pedagogy for teachers and targeting teaching instruction by learning level, can effectively support learning. However, when trying to deliver learning outcomes, how you implement matters just as much as what you implement. More specifically, education programs that improve learning generally commit to learning as their single focus, measure whether learning is taking place, and continuously iterate to optimize learning outcomes.
At the Luminos Fund, our sole mission is to ensure all children experience joyful, foundational learning. Since 2016, our model has been well-tested and refined to deliver transformative learning for children. Below we summarize why a commit, measure, iterate approach is essential to drive impact on student learning outcomes.
Commit
We are often asked what we believe governments or donors need to do to ensure children are learning. Our response is that they must first commit to a single focus on ensuring children’s learning. This can sometimes be a frustrating response – the recommendation to first focus on whether there is enough commitment could feel a bit woolly and esoteric when weighted against recommendations of more practical or targeted actions, such as increasing student attendance or expanding access.
Often, it is assumed that simply working on an education project or with an education ministry means that delivering learning is implicitly the aim of education interventions. This misconception – that most people and organizations working on global education have learning as their driving goal – plays a significant role in the learning crisis.
A recent study investigating the objectives driving education projects in various developing countries found that improving learning outcomes was rarely the primary aim. Factors such as political patronage and student attendance frequently dominate the focus. There is a similar pattern in donor-funded education projects – objectives such as access or equity often play a significant role in project design and implementation, with an assumption that learning will follow. Yet very few education programs in developing countries – whether led by governments or donors or both – have demonstrated an impact on learning outcomes. Currently, three out of five of the largest global funders of basic education have no evidence of impact on literacy at scale. Those few programs that have achieved impact on learning outcomes have done so not by accident but by focusing relentlessly on learning and making intentional programmatic decisions to maximize learning outcomes.
Measure
Once there is a commitment to prioritize student learning outcomes as a central aim, the logical next step is to measure whether children are grasping foundational skills. This is critical because there is no one magic formula that is guaranteed to deliver the same impact to every child, regardless of context. For example, Luminos uses a structured pedagogy approach and has achieved remarkable learning outcomes in Liberia. But there are also examples of structured pedagogy interventions that have achieved little to no impact. Indeed, some interventions show strong impact in one context but negative impact in other contexts.
Effectively measuring learning takes careful skill and effort. The evidence tells us that if given the chance to cheat on assessments, humans generally will do so! Therefore, ensuring assessments are kept strictly confidential and training staff to rigorously collect, clean, and analyze data is of paramount importance.
At Luminos, we are laser-focused on measuring our impact on children’s learning and we regularly collect and use real-time data to drive the necessary program adaptations. Such efforts require significant investments in time, staff capacity, tools, and resources. But by investing in these systems, you gain a clear and accurate understanding of the extent to which each student is learning.
Iterate
Data is critically important to verify whether your program is actually achieving impact. It also informs decisions that will boost student learning outcomes as you implement. Getting education right for children requires careful research, astute design, disciplined implementation, and, importantly, rapid cycle iteration.
Iterations can and should be made at multiple levels. For example, at a classroom level, robust data can help teachers target support to struggling students, including those with learning differences such as dyslexia. At a program level, data can reveal which specific skills or areas students are struggling with which can, in turn, inform plans for teacher training and coaching.
For Luminos, iterative design is a core component of our identity and approach, and research results continuously demonstrate our approach’s powerful impact on student learning.
The commit, measure, iterate steps are not unique to the Luminos Fund. For instance, very similar principles are embedded in the RISE Five Actions to Accelerate Progress in Learning, the UNICEF RAPID framework to accelerate foundational learning, and the Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) approach.
This convergence on best practices is indeed a good thing! We do not need a new silver bullet to solve the learning crisis – several organizations are already succeeding in improving learning, and they identify these three steps as integral to their success. We know what works; now, let’s embrace these key steps to create a future where all children achieve joyful, foundational learning.