VII. Conclusion
We demonstrate that a short-term reading program that provides age-appropriate reading
material and trains teachers to use it can have a significant effect on the reading ability of
primary school children. Reading test scores of students increased by 0.13 of a standard
deviation immediately following the intervention. These gains in reading ability were still
evident, albeit smaller at about 0.06 standard deviations, three months after the end of the
intervention. We also find that the additional focus on reading in school causes a small increase
in the number of books children read on their own at home, but we find no evidence that
improved reading skills translated into better performance in other subjects.
20 All cost information has been adjusted to 2010 USD using the US Consumer Price Index for All Urban
Consumers including all available items.
21 India, Philippines, and the UK are, of course, very different countries, making it difficult to rank programs based
solely on this measure of cost-effectiveness. However, since there are so few examples of successful reading
programs that report such cost information, we present those that we have found.
- 19 -
These results suggest that providing additional resources along with training and support
in their use can improve students' test scores in the short-run, but in order to sustain these gains,
additional support is necessary. We show that while the focus on reading in the curriculum
diminished between the first and second surveys, the effectiveness of reading did not change.
The decline in test scores seems to have been solely due to a reduction in the emphasis on
reading in the curriculum after the direct support of the NGO was removed. This suggests that
teachers retained the ability to teach reading more effectively, but simply chose to do so less
often. To make the additional resources effective, researchers may need to identify additional
supports that can sustain teachers’ focus on reading. This might, for example, be a change in
teachers’ incentives (for example, having principals change the reward structure faced by
teachers to emphasize reading) or strategies for reminding teachers of the importance of
allocating time for reading (such as text messages or even long-term periodic monitoring).
VII. ConclusionWe demonstrate that a short-term reading program that provides age-appropriate readingmaterial and trains teachers to use it can have a significant effect on the reading ability ofprimary school children. Reading test scores of students increased by 0.13 of a standarddeviation immediately following the intervention. These gains in reading ability were stillevident, albeit smaller at about 0.06 standard deviations, three months after the end of theintervention. We also find that the additional focus on reading in school causes a small increasein the number of books children read on their own at home, but we find no evidence thatimproved reading skills translated into better performance in other subjects.20 All cost information has been adjusted to 2010 USD using the US Consumer Price Index for All UrbanConsumers including all available items.21 India, Philippines, and the UK are, of course, very different countries, making it difficult to rank programs basedsolely on this measure of cost-effectiveness. However, since there are so few examples of successful readingprograms that report such cost information, we present those that we have found.- 19 -These results suggest that providing additional resources along with training and supportin their use can improve students' test scores in the short-run, but in order to sustain these gains,additional support is necessary. We show that while the focus on reading in the curriculumdiminished between the first and second surveys, the effectiveness of reading did not change.
The decline in test scores seems to have been solely due to a reduction in the emphasis on
reading in the curriculum after the direct support of the NGO was removed. This suggests that
teachers retained the ability to teach reading more effectively, but simply chose to do so less
often. To make the additional resources effective, researchers may need to identify additional
supports that can sustain teachers’ focus on reading. This might, for example, be a change in
teachers’ incentives (for example, having principals change the reward structure faced by
teachers to emphasize reading) or strategies for reminding teachers of the importance of
allocating time for reading (such as text messages or even long-term periodic monitoring).
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