Literacy Boost: Cross-country analysis report

Literacy Boost is Save the Children’s innovative, evidence-based program to support the development of reading skills in young children. Literacy Boost holistically pursues the goal of literacy by using assessments to identify gaps and measure improvements in the five core reading skills, training teachers to teach national curriculum with an emphasis on reading skills, and mobilizing communities to support children’s reading.

This report presents the findings of a cross-country analysis of the equity impact of Literacy Boost using data from sites in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, Nepal, Pakistan, and Zimbabwe, drawn from investigating the following five research questions:

1. Are children – and especially those at risk – in Literacy Boost schools more often present at endline than those in comparison schools?

2. What dimensions of inequity are significantly correlated with children’s reading skills?

3. Does Literacy Boost help at-risk children catch up to their more advantaged peers?

4. How do learning gains for at-risk children compare with more advantaged children within Literacy Boost schools?

5. How do girls, the poor, and children of deprived home literacy environment (HLE) benefit from Literacy Boost as compared to similar peers in comparison schools?