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Previous large-scale education technology interventions have shown only modest impacts on student achievement. Building on results from an earlier randomized controlled trial of three different applications of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on primary education in Kenya, the Tusome Early Grade Reading Activity developed the National Tablets Program. The National Tablets Program is integrated into the Tusome activity by providing tablets to each of more than 1,200...

The paper uses multilevel analysis procedures to examine individual- and group-level learning barriers that have the greatest impact on pupil achievement in Uganda. The data for this study were collected in 2014 among 2711 Grade 6 pupils attending 82 schools in two rural districts of Iganga and Mayuge in Uganda. Data used in this paper are part of a larger study which sought to examine the schooling patterns, as well as the quality of education received by children living in rural...

School outcomes and good performance in different subjects depends on children's ability to read. Thus teaching children on how to read during early grades is critical in promoting learning to read. More advanced skills acquired in later grades depend on early grade learning, so children who do not acquire these reading skills in their early grades struggle to acquire more advanced skills usually absorbed through reading. This article report findings of a study conducted in rural public...

Objective: Drawing on the concepts of the cosmopolitan person and democratic health education, this article explores the merits of primary school-based, cross-cultural dialogues for global health education. Design: A qualitative study of the learning outcomes of the Move/Eat/Learn (MEL) project. MEL facilitates cultural meetings, primarily Skype-based, between students from Kenya and Denmark, with the aim of promoting reflection on differences and similarities in everyday living conditions...

This article examines the changes occurring in learning and literacy in the age of ubiquitous mobile phone use. Focusing on rural Kenyan women's use of mobile phone technologies in civic education programs, mobile banking, and to contact family members, the article explores how these women's use of mobile phones, based on their everyday needs, has facilitated the development of a literacy. The women learned to read on their phones to receive money, civic education information, and to...

Since 2008, the Ministries of Education in Liberia and Kenya have undertaken transitions from small-scale pilot programs to improve reading outcomes among primary learners to the large-scale implementation of reading interventions. The effects of the pilots on learning outcomes were significant, but questions remained regarding whether such large gains could be sustained at scale. In this article, the authors dissect the Liberian and Kenyan experiences with implementing large-scale reading...

The purpose of this study was to find out the extent to which parental involvement influences transition of pupils from lower to upper primary in Manga district schools in Nyamira County, Kenya. The objective of the study was to find out whether parental involvement activities influenced transition of pupils from lower to upper primary. Survey design was used for the study. The study population comprised of 19880 pupils, 590 teachers, 57 School Management Committee members, 57 and Head...

The purpose of this study was to find out the extent to which parental involvement influences transition of pupils from lower to upper primary in Manga district schools in Nyamira County, Kenya. The objective of the study was to find out whether parental involvement activities influenced transition of pupils from lower to upper primary. Survey design was used for the study. The study population comprised of 19880 pupils, 590 teachers, 57 School Management Committee members, 57 and Head...

The study examines the combined effects of key elements in parental leadership on academic performance. In the wake of inadequate learning resources, parental leadership becomes an indispensable learning input for children's academic performance. The discourse utilized data collected from 2005 to 2010 in a longitudinal study involving 1,549 children who sat for the national standardized examination in Kenya. Our findings showed that monitoring and aspirations are essential elements of...

A national qualifications framework (NQF) is an instrument used to classify a country's qualifications at different levels. Each level is defined by a set of learning outcomes expected at that level. NQFs can be useful tools in education and training reforms and are vital reference points for lifelong learning and comparing qualifications across borders. The "Global Inventory of Regional and National Qualifications frameworks 2017, Volume II: National and regional cases" gives an update on...

Background/Context: The UN Sustainable Development Goals include a renewed commitment to inclusive and equitable education for all and will maintain pressure on governments in low-income countries to ensure this provision. A range of prominent researchers and institutional actors continue to explore and to promote low-fee private schools (LFPSs) as a viable option for achieving universal access to basic education. The emphasis on LFPSs can be seen as part of the push for education policies...

This commentary discusses the three articles in this (2017) issue. The articles expand the published research base on the effectiveness of early education in the sub-Saharan Africa countries of Zambia, Kenya, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Each of the three articles employs rigorous methods to better understand the impact of classroom-based programs, in either preprimary or primary schools, designed to improve participants' outcomes in reading, mathematics, and socio-emotional...

We present results from early learning programs in six African countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda. In partnership with ministries of education, RTI International has worked within government systems to support the design and deployment of locally contextualized materials, training, and assessment tools, with the goal of improving outcomes for early learners in primary schools, and in Kenya and Tanzania preprimary as well. Here we report on the experience and...

This paper uses difference-in-difference and multivariate analyses procedures to examine the effects of two community-based intervention packages on mathematics achievement of primary school girls from low-income urban households in Kenya. The data involved in this study were collected between 2013 and 2015 from 748 12-19 years old primary school girls residing in two major Nairobi slums of Viwandani and Korogocho. These data were part of a larger intervention study that sought to improve...

Kenya’s post-colonial education system, like many in Sub-Saharan Africa, has endured many challenges. High enrollment in primary schools is often coupled with low completion rates in secondary and postsecondary education. In this article we examine some of the processes that may lead to the disempowerment and disenfranchisement of youth in Kenyan schools, and report on a new approach that we call “Uhusiano Design for Learning”. Uhusiano Design focuses on three aspects of learner-centered...

We evaluated a program to improve literacy instruction on the Kenyan coast using training workshops, semiscripted lesson plans, and weekly text-message support for teachers to understand its impact on students' literacy outcomes and on the classroom practices leading to those outcomes. The evaluation ran from the beginning of Grade 1 to the end of Grade 2 in 51 government primary schools chosen at random, with 50 schools acting as controls. The intervention had an impact on classroom...

This study investigated the relationship between socio-economic status, school-level variables and mathematics achievement of sixth graders in Kenya and Zimbabwe. The study is based on secondary data collected by the Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (SACMEQ III). SACMEQ employed cluster-sampling procedures to collect data from 4412 students in 193 schools in Kenya, and 3021 students in 155 schools in Zimbabwe. A multilevel model (Hierarchical linear...

This article discusses the findings of an empirical study that investigated the writing practices in a multilingual, rural, fourth-grade classroom in Kenya. The study was undergirded by Bakhtin's heteroglossia. Analysis of texts indicated that these emergent multilinguals used multiple semiotic resources to maximize the chances of meeting the communicative goals through translanguaging. However, the translanguaging process in writing was a tension-filled process in terms of language...

This article discusses the findings of an empirical study that investigated the writing practices in a multilingual, rural, fourth-grade classroom in Kenya. The study was undergirded by Bakhtin's heteroglossia. Analysis of texts indicated that these emergent multilinguals used multiple semiotic resources to maximize the chances of meeting the communicative goals through translanguaging. However, the translanguaging process in writing was a tension-filled process in terms of language...

This paper provides a critical appraisal of the influence of examinations oriented approaches on quality education in primary schools in Kenya. The purpose of the study was to determine effects of examination oriented teaching approaches on learning achievement among primary school pupils in Kakamega County, Kenya. It explored the assumptions underlying pedagogical approaches as well as the negative influences of exam-oriented approaches in Kenyan schools. Examination oriented approaches...