Community-Wide Support for Primary Students to Improve Foundational Literacy and Numeracy: Empirical Evidence from Madagascar

The learning crisis in sub-Saharan Africa is alarming. More than 80% of primary-school-age children are not mastering the basics of reading and math. A package of interventions to deliver remedial support for students through collaboration among parents, teachers, and community members was developed in Madagascar. The package was mainly composed of school management and pedagogical components, and each component comprises several interventions. This study investigated the effectiveness of the package by use of a randomized controlled trial. The package realized extracurricular remedial activities for 3–4 months and improved learning outcomes in basic reading and in numbers and the four basic operations. The volume of students who could read a paragraph or story written in the local language increased by approximately 21 percentage points. Students also improved learning outcomes in numbers and the four basic operations by 0.40 standard deviations. Furthermore, the package decreased the repetition rate and increased the passing rate of the primary certification exam. The results demonstrate the power of community-wide support for children in education.