Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/314508 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 17611
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Motivated by extremely low levels of basic reading skills in sub-Saharan Africa, we experimentally evaluate two interventions designed to enhance students' early-grade literacy performance in rural Mozambique: a relatively light-touch teacher training in early-grade literacy along with the provision of pedagogical materials, and reacher training and materials in conjunction with community-level reading camps. Using data from 1,596 third graders in 160 rural public primary schools, we find no evidence that either intervention improved teachers' pedagogical knowledge or practices or student or teacher attendance following two years of implementation. There are some weak positive effects on student reading as measured by a literacy assessment, primarily observed in a shift away from scores of zero, and these effects are consistent across arms. Our findings are consistent with the growing consensus that more intensive school- and/or community-based interventions are required to meaningfully improve learning.
Subjects: 
teacher training
primary school
literacy
randomized control trial
Mozambique
JEL: 
I25
J24
O12
O15
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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