Identifying the essential ingredients to literacy and numeracy improvement: Teacher professional development and coaching, student textbooks, and structured teachers’ guides

Using literacy and numeracy outcome measures for grades 1 and 2, this study evaluated the benefits of the following ingredients: (1) teacher PD and teacher instructional support and coaching; (2) revised student books in literacy and numeracy, added to professional development (PD) and instructional support; and (3) structured teacher lesson plans added to student books, PD, and instructional support.

They found that two of the three combinations of ingredients had statistically significant positive impacts on learning outcomes. The results showed that the third combination—PD, teacher instructional support and coaching, student books, and structured teacher lesson plans—was most effective. A cost-effectiveness analysis on the ingredients showed that the option of PD and instructional support, revised books, and teachers’ guides was the most expensive, but that the additional impact on learning made this the most cost-effective intervention.

This study rigorously analyzes which ingredients for literacy and numeracy improvement would be most effective for overall impact, and suggests to policy makers that careful decisions regarding program ingredients will lead to more effectively designed and implemented interventions to improve learning in developing countries.