Download Study

General

Study Overview

Title:

Exploring effects of anganwadi center facilitator skills development sessions in rural Bangalore

Study is 3ie funded:

No

Study ID:

RIDIE-STUDY-ID-5b4eff4845ee8

Initial Registration Date:

07/18/2018

Last Update Date:

06/28/2018

Study Status:

Ongoing

Location(s):

India

Abstract:

Save the Children, with support from the Phillips-Van Heusen Foundation, is supporting anganwadi (early childhood care and development) centers in rural Bangalore to support children's learning and growth. SC's support encompasses both physical support to improve the learning environment of anganwadi centers as well as skills development of center facilitators by training facilitators on Save the Children's Early Literacy and Math (ELM) program. This evaluation seeks to explore the effect of the ELM trainings for facilitators on children's learning and development. We select 50 schools in the program area and randomly split them into a treatment group which receives both physical support and skills development for facilitators, and a control group, which receives only physical support.

Registration Citation:

Seiden, J., 2018. Exploring effects of anganwadi center facilitator skills development sessions in rural Bangalore. Registry for International Development for Impact Evaluations (RIDIE). Available at: 10.23846/ridie148

Categories:

Education

Additional Keywords:

Early Childhood Development, ECCD, IDELA, anganwadi

Secondary ID Number(s):

Principal Investigator(s)

Name of First PI:

Jonathan Seiden

Affiliation:

Save the Children US

Name of Second PI:

Affiliation:

Study Sponsor

Name:

Phillips-Van Heusen Foundation

Study Sponsor Location:

United States

Research Partner

Name of Partner Institution:

Type of Organization:

Location:

Intervention

Intervention Overview

Intervention:

Save the Children's Early Literacy and Math program is a flexible series of pedagogical trainings offering ECCD facilitators concrete ways to improve their lessons in anganwadi centers. ELM inspires ECCD facilitators to create classrooms with diverse and supportive activities that cover the various domains of early learning and development. Stressing the use of local materials, ELM provides guidance on the layout and schedule of classrooms, including group and pair work, the use of learning corners and structured free time and other developmentally appropriate activities.

Theory of Change:

The government of India runs one of the world’s largest programs for early childhood development. The government’s ICDS offers a package of health, nutrition and preschool education services to children through the Anganwadi Centres. This is for children from the prenatal stage to the age of 6 years, as well as for pregnant and lactating mothers. Anganwadi Centres work on integrating health, hygiene and nutrition education, along with four domains of development – early literacy, early math, motor skills and socio-emotional development – that are integral to early learning. These cross-sectorial services are delivered through one community-based service provider: the Anganwadi worker. Although the service was envisaged well, the implementation has been quite inept, attributing to low-skilled Anganwadi teachers and poor learning environments. Henceforth, it is imperative that public preschools provide purposeful learning that engages students to be active learners; recognize and celebrate individual differences; and utilize educational practices that promote social and self-empowerment. This intervention strives to improve the quality of learning activities in anganwadi center classrooms.

Multiple Treatment Arms Evaluated?

No

Implementing Agency

Name of Organization:

Prajayatna (with support from Save the Children)

Type of Organization:

NGO (local)/Community Based Organization/Other civil society organization

Program Funder

Name of Organization:

Phillips-Van Heusen Foundation

Type of Organization:

Other

Intervention Timing

Intervention or Program Started at time of Registration?

Yes

Start Date:

07/15/2017

End Date:

Evaluation Method

Evaluation Method Overview

Primary (or First) Evaluation Method:

Randomized control trial

Other (not Listed) Method:

Additional Evaluation Method (If Any):

Regression with controls

Other (not Listed) Method:

Method Details

Details of Evaluation Approach:

This is an experimental study. Out of all of the anganwadi centers in the program area, 25 centers were randomly selected for “heavy touch” intervention in Year 1 including both infrastructure support and ELM trainings for facilitators. 25 centers were randomly selected for “light touch” Year 1 treatment including only infrastructure support. We collect both baseline and endline data allowing us to both compare the balance between treatment and control as well as examining gains between the study groups at endline.

Outcomes (Endpoints):

Child development (final) and its component domains of motor, emergent literacy, emergent numeracy, and social emotional Classroom quality (intermediate)

Unit of Analysis:

child/caregiver pair and classroom

Hypotheses:

1. Is the endline sample comparable to the baseline sample in terms of attrition? 2. What can the endline assessment tell us about children’s learning and development skills? What does this mean for continuing programming in this area? 3. Did children in intervention angawadi centers have a higher average development at endline than those children in comparison areas? 4. How does children’s development of learning and development skills over time vary by learner background and literacy environment? What does this mean for targeting intervention components? 5. Did the relationships between background characteristics change over time? 6. Did the classroom environment change over time, and did these changes correspond with changes in early learning and development.

Unit of Intervention or Assignment:

anganwadi center

Number of Clusters in Sample:

50

Number of Individuals in Sample:

258 (a census of all age-appropriate 3-6.5 years old will be included)

Size of Treatment, Control, or Comparison Subsamples:

approximately 50/50 as a census of all age-appropraite children will be included in

Supplementary Files

Analysis Plan:

Other Documents:

Data

Outcomes Data

Description:

We have already collected the baseline data, but the endline data is not yet collected. After baseline and endline merging, data will consist of child-level observations that include caregiver information as collected. The child outcome data (IDELA and domain scores) will be the primary outcome of interest, both the overall score and its 4 core domains (motor, emergent numeracy, emergent literacy, and social-emotional development).

Data Already Collected?

No

Data Previously Used?

Data Access:

Data Obtained by the Study Researchers?

Data Approval Process:

Approval Status:

Treatment Assignment Data

Participation or Assignment Information:

Yes

Description:

Data Obtained by the Study Researchers?

Data Previously Used?

Data Access:

Data Obtained by the Study Researchers?

Data Approval Process:

Approval Status:

Data Analysis

Data Analysis Status:

Study Materials

Upload Study Materials:

Registration Category

Registration Category:

Prospective, Category 1: Data for measuring impacts have not been collected

Completion

Completion Overview

Intervention Completion Date:

Data Collection Completion Date:

Unit of Analysis:

Clusters in Final Sample:

Total Observations in Final Sample:

Size of Treatment, Control, or Comparison Subsamples:

Findings

Preliminary Report:

Preliminary Report URL:

Summary of Findings:

Paper:

Paper Summary:

Paper Citation:

Data Availability

Data Availability (Primary Data):

Date of Data Availability:

Data URL or Contact:

Access procedure:

Other Materials

Survey:

Survey Instrument Links or Contact:

Program Files:

Program Files Links or Contact:

External Link:

External Link Description:

Description of Changes:

Study Stopped

Date:

Reason: