Literacy Boost 2nd year Endline Zimbabwe March 2014

During the 2013 school year, Save the Children (SC) implemented the Literacy Boost (LB) program, designed to improve reading skills for early grade students, focusing on training education staff and working with teachers, parents, and community members to boost students’ academic growth. LB trains teachers in effective teaching methodologies and works with communities to maintain weekly activities for students to participate in, reinforcing academics inside and outside the classroom.

The project collected data from 3rd grade students using an early grade reading assessment at the beginning and end of the 2013 school year. These data also enable SC program staff to adapt the intervention’s teacher training and community activities to the students’ particular needs. In February 2013, baseline data were collected in six Literacy Boost schools and four comparison schools. At each of the 10 schools where data were collected, 20 children in the third grade at each school were sampled at baseline. Endline data were collected in the same schools in November 2013. In total, 200 students (120 Literacy Boost, 80 comparison) were assessed at baseline, and 143 of these same students (91 Literacy Boost, 52 comparison) were located at endline and assessed. Control schools were a good comparison and not significantly different than LB program intervention schools on a variety of background characteristics.