System-wide improvement of early-grade mathematics: New evidence from the Gauteng Primary Language and Mathematics Strategy

Fleisch, Brahm; Schöer, Volker; Roberts, Gareth; Thornton, Amy

doi:10.1016/j.ijedudev.2016.02.006

Cited by 27 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Other studies in sub-Saharan Africa have found that the combination of reading coaches and supporting learning material can improve students' proficiency in early-grade reading (Piper et al 2014, Lucas et al 2014, Kerwin et al 2017. Moreover, a previous quasiexperimental evaluation of a very similar coaching program in a different province in South Africa also found positive impacts on learning (Fleisch et al 2016), even though the context was very different: schools in this study are predominantly urban and multilingual. However, we clearly cannot conclude that this type of intervention will have similar impacts when targeted at different grade levels or subjects areas.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 51%

“…Nonetheless, the quasi-experimental evidence from Fleisch et al (2016) provides encouraging evidence that this could be a scalable model, since the program was implemented in over 1, 000 schools. Moreover, the fact that teacher behavior changed in the Training arm, without any visits by a reading coach, suggests the possibility of positive impact, even with less-qualified coaches.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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How to Improve Teaching Practice? Experimental Comparison of Centralized Training and In-classroom Coaching

Cilliers¹,

Fleisch²,

Prinsloo³

et al. 2018

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We experimentally compare two modes of in-service professional development for South African public primary school teachers. In both programs teachers received the same learning material and daily lesson plans, aligned to the official literacy curriculum. Pupils exposed to two years of the program improved their reading proficiency by 0.12 standard deviations if their teachers received centralized Training, compared to 0.24 if their teachers received in-class Coaching. Classroom observations reveal that teachers were more likely to split pupils into smaller reading groups, which enabled individualized attention and more opportunities to practice reading. Results vary by class size and baseline pupil reading proficiency. * Results reported on in this study forms part of the Early Grade Reading Study (EGRS) which was lead by the Department of Basic Education to find out how to improve early grade reading. We are grateful for useful feedback from Servaas van der Berg, David Evans, Clare Leaver, Rob Garlick, James Habyarimana, and an anonymous pair of reviewers.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 51%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

How to Improve Teaching Practice? Experimental Comparison of Centralized Training and In-classroom Coaching

Cilliers¹,

Fleisch²,

Prinsloo³

et al. 2018

Self Cite

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show abstract

“…In Gauteng province, a pedagogical intervention in the form of the Gauteng Primary Language and Mathematics Strategy (GPLMS) was introduced to improve learner outcomes in 2014. The GPLMS encompassed scripted lesson plans, provision of high-quality instructional materials and conventional teacher training with one-on-one instructional coaching (Fleisch et al, 2016). Fleisch et al (2016) investigate the impacts of the GPLMS and find that the intervention improved the numeracy scores of learners.…”

Section: Capacity Buildingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Struggling to Make the Grade: A Review of the Causes and Consequences of the Weak Outcomes of South Africa's Education System

Mlachila¹,

Moeletsi²

2019

IMF Working Papers

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While South Africa has made significant improvements in basic and tertiary education enrollment, the country still suffers from significant challenges in the quality of educational achievement by almost any international metric. The paper finds that money is clearly not the main issue since the South Africa's education budget is comparable to OECD countries as a percent of GDP and exceeds that of most peer sub-Saharan African countries in per capita terms. The main explanatory factors are complex and multifaceted, and are associated with insufficient subject knowledge of some teachers, history, race, language, geographic location, and socioeconomic status. Low educational achievement contributes to low productivity growth, and high levels of poverty, unemployment, and inequality. Drawing on the literature, the paper sketches some policy considerations to guide the debate on what works and what does not.

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“…Weakly statistically significant differences were found for Grade 2 and nonstatistically significant differences were found for Grade 4. A cohort analysis following a sample of learners from Grades 1 to 3 found a difference (effect size) of 0.7 after two years, and following a cohort of learners from Grades 2 to 4 showed an effect size of 0.5 sd after one year, which disappeared by Grade 4 (Fleisch, Schöer, Roberts, & Thornton, 2016).…”

Section: Theoretical Orientationmentioning

confidence: 98%

Improving Grade R mathematics teaching in South Africa: Evidence from an impact evaluation of a province-wide intervention

Hazell

Spencer-Smith

Roberts

2019

Journal of Education

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We present the impact on learner outcomes of a province-wide Grade R mathematics intervention (termed R-Maths) in relation to theoretical frameworks established from a meta-evaluation of evaluations of education interventions in South Africa and a review of other meta-evaluation and synthesis studies. We compare the changes in Mathematics performance from baseline to end line, of learners in the intervention group (taught by R-Maths-trained teachers/practitioners) to the comparison group (learners in schools in the same districts, but whose teachers/practitioners had not yet received the R-Maths intervention). The intervention group performed 2.9 percentage points better than the comparison group over the whole Marko-D test of mathematical competencies, with a small effect size. The greatest effects on performance were from language of learning and teaching, and district. The R-Maths case indicates that a modified cascade model which includes some elements of Fleisch's "educational triple cocktail" (structured learning materials, teacher training, and support) may be successful by working with, and through, department of education structures. Whether the effects are retained over time and if these effects can be replicated in different contexts is not yet known.

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System-wide improvement of early-grade mathematics: New evidence from the Gauteng Primary Language and Mathematics Strategy

Cited by 27 publications

References 14 publications

How to Improve Teaching Practice? Experimental Comparison of Centralized Training and In-classroom Coaching

How to Improve Teaching Practice? Experimental Comparison of Centralized Training and In-classroom Coaching

Struggling to Make the Grade: A Review of the Causes and Consequences of the Weak Outcomes of South Africa's Education System

Improving Grade R mathematics teaching in South Africa: Evidence from an impact evaluation of a province-wide intervention

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