2019 marked a decade in Zambia for Impact Network. Over that time, we have served over 25,000 young people, providing critical education services along with a host of other programs. In addition to this, American Institutes for Research recently released a one-year report on their independent evaluation of our programs, showing impressive gains on literacy and numeracy.
Key impacts are assessed and monitored through our Activity and Output Protocol. This measures outcomes across a variety of areas including student learning, student enrollment and retention, teacher performance, and student wellbeing. Each of these measured outcomes are linked to one of the three key areas – education access, education quality, and student wellbeing.
In order to complete the Activity and Output Protocol, data is collected using mobile applications on a weekly and termly basis. These data include:
Student enrollment, assessment, and performance on term-end examinations
Annual literacy and numeracy assessments using standardized tools
Teacher attendance and lesson scores for bi-weekly observations
School health index and maintenance works needed
At the end of each term, the team evaluates the progress made according to the Protocol, sets annual targets accordingly, and revisits programs designed to improve metrics that have been identified as underperforming. Our framework also helps us track patterns across communities and schools over time to ensure that our interventions have meaningful impact.
In 2017, we launched a 35-school expansion of the eSchool 360 and combined this expansion with a randomized controlled trial evaluation conducted by American Institutes of Research – the gold standard of research design. Evaluators randomly assigned schools to receive the eSchool 360 program or serve as a control group, allowing them to follow students for three years to determine the exact impact that the eSchool 360 program has on academic learning.
AIR’s randomized controlled trial evaluation found that attending an Impact Network school, on average, causes children to learn more than they would have otherwise. The learning gains – that is how much more Impact Network students learned than students without our program – are the equivalent of 22 months of extra schooling in reading and 12 months of extra schooling in math. Additionally, Impact Network increased enrollment in school for entering first graders by almost 15%. Qualitative research suggests that Impact Network parents were more satisfied with their child’s education.
A later report on the longer-term impact and cost-effectiveness analysis will show evidence on whether and how the eSchool 360 model can be moved to scale.
While the core of our work is Impact Education, we continue to test innovative ways to improve the lives of our students and families.
We implemented a financial literacy program to an impressive 18,000 young people, designed to help women make better financial choices.
We launched two Early Childhood Education classes focused on learning through play and activities. This program had unprecedented demand – over 200 parents registered for only 50 slots. In 2020, we have received funding to scale this project to an additional seven schools.
We created Guided Reading programs designed to help struggling students catch up. Under this program, a whopping 87% of fourth graders advanced a reading level.
We created a homework pilot designed to help families help their children study at home. This program was so successful that it is being rolled out across all 40+ schools.
We piloted a biometric attendance tracking system — the first of its kind in a development education setting — to improve our data collection platforms.
At Impact Network, we are always piloting and tweaking new programs.
