We don’t think our program works.
We know it does.
We don’t think our program works.
Child Aid works diligently to evaluate our program and the impact that it is having on teachers, students, and the schools we work with.
We have defined studies and methodologies for testing and evaluating our work. Not only to provide us with the data that we need to prove our impact, but also to help us refine and improve our programs to be even better.
Our approach to student evaluations
Child Aid evaluates and reports on the results of our programs each year. In 2016, Child Aid developed a impact evaluation program. It studied how Child Aid students performed in comparison with other students in Guatemala. The goal was to gain statistically valid evidence that our programs were working – that children in Child Aid schools were learning to read and comprehending what they were reading better than those without Child Aid trained teachers.
Measuring Student Achievement
Our most important measure is whether students are learning and improving their literacy skills. To test this, we routinely measure changes in second and third grade students’ reading comprehension skills with a Child Aid trained teacher. They are compared to a control group outside of the Child Aid program. The test we use was developed by USAID and the Guatemalan Ministry of Education.
To date, we have tested over 10,000 Child Aid students. Over the last 10 years, the results show that our program is working. They also suggest that the longer a student attends Child Aid schools, the greater the impact.
The longer a student attends Child Aid schools, the greater the impact.
Evaluating Teacher Improvement
Our time-based evaluation captures direct, structured observations of teachers in their classrooms:
– How long do teachers spend doing specific tasks and activities?
– How often do teachers use provided books and specific teaching techniques?
– How engaged are students at each point?
This allows us to verify true behavior change over time. The data and insights of this evaluation inform how we improve our program. For example, our testing showed that students are spending only 5% of the school day actively reading. Child Aid is now increasing training about the importance of students dedicating time to what we are calling “eyes on text.”
Our results are getting noticed
Child Aid’s dedication to program evaluation, and the rigor of our testing/evaluation methodology has not gone un-noticed. Our Director of Evaluation and leadership team have submitted our findings to research publications and travel to various conferences and events to speak about our program and the results that it is yielding.
If you are interested in learning more about our methodology and techniques, please do not hesitate to reach out to us at info@child-aid.org.
Additional Findings
