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Education researchers working in sub-Saharan Africa have recently and rapidly expanded the availability of evidence related to the impact of educational interventions on learning outcomes, particularly in preprimary and lower primary education (Ganimian & Murnane, 2016; McEwan, 2015; Popova, Evans, & Arancibia, 2016). Awareness that literacy and numeracy skills are essential for children to succeed throughout their educational career, and of the tragically poor learning outcomes for many children in sub-Saharan Africa (Gove & Cvelich, 2011; Pritchett, 2013), has spurred an increase in educational interventions in the region that focus on improving learning outcomes in the initial stages of formal education. One challenge in conducting and learning from research conducted in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is the difficulty in measuring learning outcomes in different contexts. The field has seen a slow trend toward developing and using universalized measures. The three articles in this (2017) issue provide an opportunity to reflect on whether this trend is beneficial. This commentary offers a comparison of the three articles, including the different measures of student learning, languages, curriculum documents, and improvements in learning outcomes for children in Zambia, Kenya, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) respectively. [This commentary discusses Jukes et al., 2017 (EJ1147933), McCoy et al., 2017 (EJ1147934), and Aber et al., 2017 (EJ1147937).]

an: EJ1148036; source: Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness; docTypes: Journal Articles ; Reports - Evaluative ; Opinion Papers; pubTypes: Academic JournalReport;