ACCELERE!1

Improving Reading, Equity, And Access in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

ACCELERE!1 was a multi-year project that aimed to improve educational outcomes for girls and boys in select provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and supported the government of the DRC’s goals for the education sector: access, quality, and governance. STS led the development of diagnostic and assessment tools under Result 1.4: Quality of education environments improved, Result 2.l: Quality of instruction at the primary level improved, Result 2.2: Teaching and learning materials used in the classroom effectively, and Result 3.1: Development and implementation of policies for improved access and learning strengthened.

STS’s work included conceptualizing, adapting, and refining assessment tools; developing guides for the use of these tools; training staff and other data-collecting agents accordingly; overseeing the implementation of these assessments; and leading data analysis and findings compilation. In addition, STS led the execution of the project’s Operations Research Agenda and otherwise generally contributed to planning and coordination. STS’s efforts supported cohesion across all project data collection and analysis, as well as the use of data to adapt project activities. STS worked to strengthen local capacity and infused a collaboration, learning, and adapting (CLA) approach throughout its work.

For each of the following studies and assessments, STS provided study design, developed tools, trained data collectors, supervised data collection, analyzed results, drafted reports, and shared results with a variety of audiences:

• Operations Research, including a Teacher Motivation and Incentives Study and a study of Income Generating Activities and the Village Savings and Loan Program
• Early Grade Reading Assessments
• Quarterly Assessments
• Rapid Needs Assessments
• Benchmarking

Finally, STS worked closely with field teams to develop a theory of change for the project as a whole. Once a theory of change was finalized, STS designed a series of tools to test it. To facilitate CLA and results-sharing at the end of each data collection, STS designed a simple and user-friendly Excel-based dashboard for project field staff.

Dates: 2015 – 2020