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The benefits case
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Impact, Feasibility and Transferability Report
An overview of deploying the Bridge Methodology to drive up school performance at scale in low infrastructure economies
June 2019
Executive Summary
Bridge International has built a strong reputation with governments in Africa, India and China working in partnership with teachers and communities to help build capacity and capability in government school systems and enabling significant improvements in school attainment levels in underserved, low income communities in regions with low infrastructure and limited participation. Unique to the Bridge methodology is their collaborative approach, working with existing government teachers and government schools to drive up attainment levels. Bridge operates as a technical partner, providing training, materials and technology to support existing teachers improve their practice, underpinned by research and informed by a wealth of data and insight which has led to the development of an approach that meets local needs and delivers exceptional results at scale and at pace. This report has been prepared by Cairneagle Associates as an independent analysis of independent impact studies, internal reports and metrics. It explores how the Bridge methodology has been successful in driving up education outcomes in low infrastructure communities around the world and considers the feasibility of achieving similar levels of improvement in educational attainment and GDP improvements in other locations with similar challenges. This includes analysis of existing independent impact assessments conducted on Bridge’s work in a number of countries, as well as internal studies and reports conducted by the Measurement & Evaluation division at Bridge. Cairneagle also reviewed and evaluated Bridge’s own data on operational, impact, academic and other core data sets, some of which are included in the appendices. The partnering approach embedded in the Bridge Methodology, the case studies and other evidence reviewed, alongside the analysis undertaken as part of this review, all point to a robust and research driven approach to school improvement, underpinned by the unique experience and expertise of Bridge International in delivering significant improvements in education outcomes and offering good value for money.
An Introduction to Bridge and the Bridge Approach
Bridge was established in 2007 specifically to challenge and change the quality of education available to children in underserved, low income communities. Their approach is reflected in the recent shift in emphasis by the United Nations which saw a move from measuring enrolment in the Millennium Development Goals of 2000, to a focus on social justice through inclusive and quality education as set out in the 2015 Sustainable Development Goals. The Bridge Platform and Methodology is unique and proprietary and has been developed through scientific research on learning and pedagogical practice, experience gleaned first-hand through the analysis of billions of education data points, the observed practice of the top performing teachers and a relentless focus on insight driven continuous improvement at the classroom, school, local and national level. No other education intervention has been able to deliver the same level of system intervention, delivering large and fast learning outcomes at such large scale in emerging markets.
Building on experience of education transformation at a systems level at scale and at pace in countries including Nigeria, China, Kenya, India and Liberia, the Bridge methodology includes all aspects of school improvement and has been designed as a full 360-degree support ecosystem that works at every level from classroom to national government. The programme engages existing schools and government teachers, invests in them, builds their confidence, their capability and their accountability to deliver a step change in education outcomes. The Bridge approach is a powerful vehicle for social justice, ensuring that, regardless of a child’s location of birth, the income or education levels of their parents, all children of Sindh have the opportunity to reach their full potential. The programme is comprehensive, providing everything from a unique and proprietary technology platform, teacher training and supervision to inspection, lesson plans, textbooks and test papers as well as all of the supporting infrastructure and data needed to manage a scale programme at every level. While the government remains in full control of the education system and continues to employ the teachers and keep the building open and maintained, Bridge provides the government with comprehensive technical support, across all aspects of this quality transformation. It is effectively a comprehensive support to, rather than in place of, the relevant government agencies. The programme works alongside the existing infrastructure at all levels including: • with individual teachers o training government teachers already working in the schools in modern, scientifically based pedagogy in the English medium, supported through continuous professional development and coaching using research developed lessons plans for every subject and every class for every year group o providing the technology the teacher will need to access the lesson plans and to record key data points that will inform supervisors of the progress being made and areas were support is needed • with children o placing them in classes that are age and capability appropriate so that they are able to progress through the curriculum o ensuring all pupils have access to high quality educational materials that lead to accelerated and continuous improvement of learning gains that will close the learning gap through remedial interventions • at the school level o data driven needs-based support visits to schools where support is flagged o web based toolset that delivers real time information about each school in the region o continuous improvement and evaluation with schools inspected daily, combined with cloud enabled technology that allows everyone to respond what is happening on the ground quickly o technology integration in even remote classrooms such that technology and data to drive student learning gains through use of technology
• within the region o universal access to dashboards showing data on key metrics including attendance, accountability, lesson delivery, inspections etc o principals and ministry support officers are able to carry out regular academic monitoring and utilise knowledge and tools to support teaching and learning in the schools.
The Benefits Case
The Bridge approach sees existing government schools transformed into powerful public schools. By targeting communities with the highest numbers of children, the Bridge approach maximises impact at pace and at scale. The approach to identifying which schools and which teachers participate in the programme is underpinned by a well-considered set of criteria that has been developed and refined through previous projects to secure the best outcomes. Our analysis concludes that the Bridge Platform and Methodology: • is unique and proprietary and drives exceptional educational outcomes in some of the most marginalised communities and regions (Section 1) • delivers significant learning outcomes in low socio-economic communities. (Section 2) • works successfully inside of existing government schools with existing government teachers and structures (Section 3) • delivers at the scale and speed to drive momentum in school improvement and impact children today (Section 4) • successfully operates in low infrastructure environments (Section 5) • delivers learning gains in environments with low levels of initial English fluency in teaching force (Section 6) • works in communities with challenging levels of insecurity (Section 7) • in particular increases enrolment and learning levels for girls (Section 8) • and demonstrates Value for Money, Socio-Economic benefits and high Return on Investment for the country (Section 9) Because Bridge works within the existing education system and offers a full 360 degree support ecosystem, the Bridge solution has been able to demonstrate significant impact and value for money. Although the education and socio-economic benefits can be quantified and valued in different ways, much of the value to society and to individuals is intangible. Nevertheless, a financial return investment can be calculated using a range of methods developed by the OECD, UNESCO, and numerous independent academics. The general conclusion of the research is simple and unequivocal: improvements in the quality (as opposed to the quantity) of schooling increases the cognitive ability of the labour force, which directly translates to greater productivity and higher economic output for a province or country. More specifically, the work correlates and quantifies both improvements in education outcomes (on the ‘input’ side) and the corresponding increases in GDP growth (on the ‘output’ side).
Contents Contents
Executive Summary.................................................................................................................. 0 An introduction to Bridge and the Bridge approach ........................................................................... 0 The Bridge approach to delivering sustainable improvement in education outcomes ................................... 1 The benefits case .................................................................................................................... 2
About the Firm/Authors ............................................................................................ 6 Introduction...........................................................................................................7
Purpose and structure of this report ............................................................................................. 7 Report outline ........................................................................................................................ 8 Section 1: The Bridge methodology ..............................................................................9
1.1 - Bridge International Academies............................................................................................. 9 1.2 – The Bridge ethos............................................................................................................... 9 1.3 – Unique and Proprietary Bridge platform, technology and methodology............................................10 1.4 – Delivering improved education outcomes at a systems level.........................................................11
The Teacher Guides, at the cornerstone of Bridge’s methodology.....................................................11
Data-driven continuous improvement .......................................................................................11
Increased students’ learning time............................................................................................12
Section 1.5 – Misconceptions about Bridge Methodology.....................................................................12 Section 2: Feasibility of delivering significant learning outcomes in low socio-economic communities ........................................................................................................ 14
2.1 – Introduction: Global context ...............................................................................................14
An evidence-based response to education policy priorities..............................................................14 The Global context ..............................................................................................................15
2.2 – Bridge International Academies are teaching students in low socio-economic communities ...................16 2.3 – Bridge delivers significant learning outcomes in low socio-economic communities..............................17
Learning Gains Proven by Research Studies of Bridge programmes implemented in other similar socioeconomic contexts...............................................................................................................17
Section 3: Feasibility of delivering with existing government school teachers ........................ 24
3.1 - Introduction ...................................................................................................................24
3.2 – Increase in public school enrolment ......................................................................................25 3.3 – Reduction in teacher absenteeism ........................................................................................26 3.4 – Teacher feedback ............................................................................................................26
Section 4: Feasibility of delivering at the scale and speed required..................................... 28
4.1 - Bridge track record in delivering at scale and pace....................................................................28 4.2 – EdoBEST roll-out plan........................................................................................................28 Section 5: Feasibility of working in low infrastructure communities.................................... 29
5.1 – Bridge’s methodology : Efficacy in overcoming low infrastructure-related challenges..........................29
Section 6: Feasibility of working in communities with teachers who start off with low levels of English fluency...................................................................................................... 32
6.1 – Bridge can deliver strong learning outcomes for students through teachers with limited pre-service English fluency levels ........................................................................................................................32 6.2 –English fluency levels of by country and territory.......................................................................33 Section 7: Feasibility of increasing learning levels and enrolment of girls............................. 34
7.1 – Girls education/enrolment challenges across Sub-Saharan Africa and Eastern and South-eastern Asia ......34 7.2 – Bridge territories with similar girls education/enrolment challenge................................................35 7.3 - Bridge methodology closes gender gap in educational outcomes....................................................35 7.4 – Outcomes following Bridge’s intervention ...............................................................................36 Section 8: Feasibility of transforming education in fragile communities (insecurity, conflict, postconflict).............................................................................................................. 39
8.1 - Characteristics of Fragile Communities ..................................................................................39 8.2 - Characteristics of Sub-Saharan Africa ....................................................................................41 8.3 - Characteristics of Eastern and South-eastern Asia .....................................................................41
Section 9: Value for Money, Socio-Economic Assessment, Cost Benefit Analysis ..................... 42
9.1 - Scope of Impact, and Expected Outcomes compared with Current Conditions ...................................42 Students Impacted...............................................................................................................42 Current state – baseline of education outcomes...........................................................................43 9.2 - Expected impact – education outcomes ..................................................................................43 Comprehensive package of services provide high value for money ....................................................44 Socio-economic impact .........................................................................................................46 9.3 - Return on Investment........................................................................................................48
Conclusion........................................................................................................... 51 Appendices .......................................................................................................... 53
Appendix 1: Girls education/enrolment in Sub-Saharan Africa and Eastern and South-eastern Asia ................53
Percentage of children of primary school age who are not in school by gender, Sub-Saharan Africa ...........53
Percentage of children of primary school age who are not in school by gender, Eastern and South-eastern
Asia.................................................................................................................................55
Appendix 2: 2019 Fragile States Index Data....................................................................................56 Fragility indicators ..............................................................................................................56 2019 Fragile States Index Data by country..................................................................................56
About the Firm/Authors
Established in 2001, Cairneagle is a leading independent strategy and management consultancy specialising in Education. We work with clients right across the education ecosystem – form nursery schools to higher education, with providers, education services organisations, charities and governments. We have built a strong reputation for delivering client outcomes underpinned by rigorous, data-driven analysis and judgements derived from our experience in the market. Our work includes corporate strategy, growth strategy, market assessment, business planning, performance improvement, new operating model and service design, cost reduction, transformation programme design and support, valuation support and commercial due diligence, research and evaluation. About 50% of our work is international in character, split between helping clients internationalise and working for overseas clients. Leading the review was Julie Mercer, Partner at Cairneagle. Julie is a qualified accountant who has worked in industry and for government. Julie has worked at all levels of the education system, supporting organisations spanning early years’ provision to higher education. Julie’s clients include public, private and international education providers as well as governments and she has worked with educations systems in the UK, India, Australia, Japan, the Middle East and the USA. Julie started her career as a civil servant and brings 30 years of experience of working with clients and government on major transformation programmes and advising government on education reform, including reviewing the value for money of a number of government programmes in the UK, Middle East and India. Prior to joining Cairneagle, Julie was global industry lead for the Education sector at Deloitte LLP.
Cairneagle Associates LLP June 2019
Introduction
This section of the report introduces Bridge International Schools, their mission and an overview of the Bridge Approach to school improvement at a systems level. Along with section 1, the introduction provides the reader with the information they need to contextualise sections 2 onwards which demonstrate how the Bridge approach can deliver transformative performance improvements in schools and the associated increase in educational outcomes for girls and boys at scale and at pace. The report looks at Bridge and the evidence Cairneagle was able to draw on through case studies and independent research to assess Bridge’s interventions in Nigeria, Liberia, China, India, Kenya and Uganda as well as the relevance of their approach to delivering a far-reaching education reform programme at scale and pace to communities in other regions, with a focus on Sub-Saharan Africa and Eastern and South-eastern Asia. The success of the Bridge Approach is well documented and has delivered measurable, successful outcomes in a wide range of regions that share similar socioeconomic, geographical, infrastructural and educational measures. These programmes demonstrate how Bridge works with existing government teachers to significantly improve learning outcomes at scale and pace. The approach has been designed to be a 360 Degree, turnkey solution for the schools that the government identifies for complete transformation built on 5 pillars summarised below.
The approach is underpinned by innovative technology and a data driven platform, alongside high-quality learning materials, effective training and ongoing coaching for teachers and school leaders. Underpinning the operations are technology-enabled support teams providing 360-degree support for learning outcomes. The toolkit and approach have been developed by Bridge over many years of research and practice.
Purpose and structure of this report
This independent review of the Bridge Approach has been prepared by Cairneagle Associates. The study draws on published material, data provided by Bridge and independent reports and research that have examined the projects undertaken to date. The study examines each of the socioecomic and other factors that have been common to the programmes supported by Bridge to demonstrate the efficacy of the programme, how it will support improved education outcomes for the children in some of the least developed communities in a country and the impact this has on the teaching profession, local communities and the economy. We have drawn heavily on the following case studies, information and data to help demonstrate the efficacy of the approach and its applicability to other similar contexts. They include: • Case study reviews of Bridge programmes including: o EdoBEST, Edo State, Nigeria which saw large learning gains (70% of an entire year’s worth of gains in less than one term) and a 22 % increase in enrolment in 12 months; o Bridge’s work in Liberia which saw very large gains in student learning outcomes in the first year and teacher absenteeism reduced from 60% to less than 10% impacting early grades literacy and numeracy; o Implementation in Guizhou, China to improve learning outcomes in English
• External reports evaluating the impact of the programmes from: o Oxford Policy Management and the University of Sussex, funded by the UK Department of International Development (DfID) o Edo State Universal Board of Education (in collaboration with Bridge) o The Ministry of Education of Liberia, Pencils of Promise, Worldreader, University of Liberia, and Bridge o The Centre for Global Development o Decision Management Consultants (DMC)
For ease of reference key documents have been included as appendices to the study.
Report Outline
The remainder of this report offers the following insights: • An overview of the key socio-economic and other attributes that can been seen in Sub-Saharan
Africa, Eastern and Sothern Asia which have been addressed by other Bridge programmes • How Bridge has demonstrated their approach to addressing the requirement, and the impact on educational attainment • Any independent evidence to support their approach and the impact they have had Each requirement is considered in turn, as set out below, followed by an overall set of conclusions. Section 1-9 demonstrate how the Bridge methodology: • Section 1: applies to Sub-Saharan Africa, Eastern and Southern Asia • Section 2: delivers significant learning outcomes in low socio-economic communities • Section 3: works inside of existing government schools with existing government • Section 4: delivers at scale and speed required • Section 5: operates in low infrastructure environments • Section 6: delivers in environments with low levels of initial English fluency in teaching force • Section 7: works in communities with challenging insecurity • Section 8: increases enrolment and learning levels for girls • Section 9: demonstrates Value for Money, Socio-Economic Assessment, Return on Investment
