After one year of implementing the TFET program, IDPF commissioned an initial evaluation from The National Centre for Research into Basic Education (NCRIBE). NCRIBE is an institute within the University of Education, Winneba, Ghana, and focuses on being a center for research excellence for educational development in Africa.

The NCRIBE Evaluation Report utilized focus group interviews for data collection. It assessed the effectiveness of the TFET program materials and teacher training and looked at the teachers’ attitudes and behaviors towards the techniques taught as part of the program.

A few of the key findings from the NCRIBE Evaluation Report are:

• The program appears to have positively impacted the teaching skills of the participants.

• More than 90% of participants describe the TFET modules as “useful” or “important.”

• Participants reported applying their trainings in the classrooms in different ways.

The baseline report sought to understand existing classroom practices as well as students’ and teachers’ classroom attitudes at 80 low-fee private schools prior to participating in the TFET program.

Some key findings from the baseline report are:

• Classroom practices during this period did not encourage students to explore or solve problems independently.

• Pupil and teacher absenteeism was high.

• The female students and teachers had more gender-equitable attitudes than their male counterparts.

This report evaluated the emerging impact of Sesame’s Techniques for Effective Teaching (TFET) program on teachers’ understandings, perceptions, and application of new pedagogic techniques. Classroom observations were carried out in three schools, two of which were part of the TFET program and one that had received no training.

Some key findings from the Midline I report were:

• The dominant classroom discourse style entails chorusing, chanting, repetition, and recitation.

• There are some indications of surface-level and partial program uptake, especially in the use of LEGOs, display of materials, and activities that make the classroom fun and interactive.

• Participants positively view the training as practical and hands-on.

• Challenges to adopting pupil-centered literacy techniques include a lack of 1) textual resources (e.g. storybooks, Big Books, etc.) and 2) teachers’ knowledge of teaching reading.

• Differentiation, teaching with low-cost resources, and positive discipline are the most frequently positively cited modules - reported as practical, useful, and empowering.

• Proprietors report a lack of teacher education and dominance of traditional teaching approaches impede the use of new pupil-centered techniques.

The Midline II classroom observation study forms part of an on-going impact evaluation to assess the effectiveness of the Techniques for Effective Teaching (TFET) program in Ghana, a partnership between Sesame Workshop and IDP Foundation. For this Midline II report, trained fieldworkers conducted 32 classroom observations in nine treatment schools with nine Master and nine Step-down TFET trained teachers and seven control schools with 14 teachers who had not received TFET training.

Some key findings from the Midline II report were:

• Classroom learning environments of treatment teachers were relatively more pupil-centered, especially in the display of learning materials, variety of learners’ seating/grouping arrangements, and positive styles of classroom management.

• When particular concepts are relayed clearly from one context to another (e.g. from materials to training), it is more likely teachers will be prepared to apply these in their instruction.

• Differences in training quality may explain why some variation emerged in this study between Master and Step-down teachers, especially in the use of literacy techniques.

• Changing or shifting teachers’ pedagogical knowledge, especially teachers who are formally untrained, requires on-going, in-depth engagement with the principles of how children learn.

• Due to the clarity, emphasis, and accessibility of particular program content (especially Modules 2, 3, and 4), treatment teachers were seen to display some of the organizational and regulatory elements of pupil-centered teaching.