Research on Improving Systems of Education (RISE)

PROJECT OVERVIEW

The Research on Improving Systems of Education (RISE) Program is a multi-country research project, co-funded by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) and Australia’s Department for Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). Through rigorous research, RISE seeks to answer the question:

“What works to improve education systems to deliver learning at scale in developing countries?”

The RISE Program aims to expand the evidence base around education reform and drive systems-level change by:

• Commissioning high-quality research on education systems and systems-level reforms that responds to locally-identified challenges.

• Engaging with researchers and practitioners to deliver an analytical framework to understand how education systems function.

• Ensuring that researchers, teachers, practitioners and policymakers have the latest up-to-date information on the impact of education programs on learning outcomes.

RISE’s work in Tanzania is led by the Tanzania Country Research Team. An international team of 12 education experts from Georgetown University, the University of Virginia, Twaweza, the University of Dar es Salaam, World Bank, and the Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development. In Tanzania, the RISE Country Research Team is studying the impacts of the recent education reforms in Tanzania and working to test interventions that have the potential to improve education service delivery. EDI was responsible for conducting the baseline survey which consists of data collection in 397 primary schools across Tanzania , including interviews with District and Ward Education Officers. In details, the following activities were carried out in each school:

• Full listing of all the teachers in the school and of all Grade 2 and Grade 3 students;

• Interviews with the head teachers at sample schools;

• Interviews and assessments with 10 randomly selected teachers at each sampled school;

• Interviews and assessments with 10 randomly selected Grade 2 students, and 10 randomly selected Grade 3 students;

• Two classroom observations per primary school;

• Brief interviews with district-level and ward-level education officials in sample areas.

In 2020, EDI Global conducted the RISE Midline survey, the follow-up to the baseline data collection round completed in May 2019. EDI Global conducted this survey activity from January to April 2020 and sampled the same 397 primary schools surveyed during the RISE baseline survey, tracking and interviewing the same teachers, students, Head Teachers at the baseline as well as replaced teachers who were no longer teaching at the school at the time of the midline survey.

PROJECT UPDATE

Midline survey activities completed. Preparations for the Endline Survey are underway.