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In most of Sub-Saharan Africa, agricultural extension models have become more decentralized and participatory and thus, rely on effective farmer-to-farmer learning, while increasingly including non-traditional forms of education. At the same time, agricultural technologies become more complex and are now often promoted as integrated packages, likely to increase the complexity of the diffusion process. Based on a randomized controlled trial, this study assesses the effects of ‘farmer-to-farmer’ extension and a video intervention on adoption of a complex technology package among 2,382 smallholders in Ethiopia. Both extension-only and extension combined with video increase adoption and knowledge of the package, especially of its more complex components; although on average, there is no additional effect of the video intervention on adoption. Knowledge and the number of adopted practices also increase among farmers not actively participating in extension activities, suggesting information diffusion. For this group, the additional video intervention has a reinforcing effect, and particularly fosters adoption of the integrated package.

Presentation ID 15765

Substantial work has demonstrated that early nutrition and home environments, including the degree to which children receive cognitive stimulation and emotional support from parents, play a profound role in influencing early childhood development. Yet, less work has documented the joint influences of parenting and nutrition status on child development among children in the preschool years living in low-income countries. Using panel data on parenting, nutrition status, and early developmental outcomes of about 7,000 Cambodian preschool-age children, this paper demonstrates that inequities in early development associated with family wealth are evident at the start of preschool and increase over time. A significant share of these inequalities can be explained by differences in parental stimulation and early nutrition status. Better educated parents engage in better parental activities that stimulate children's development. However, the positive association between parental activities and child outcomes is particularly strong for non-stunted children, and parental activities can only explain about 8-14 percent of the cognitive gap between the lowest and highest wealth quintiles. The results highlight the need for integrated interventions that address both parenting and early nutrition, also suggesting that parenting interventions for the most disadvantaged families should be carefully designed and evaluated to ensure maximum effectiveness.

International audience; This policy brief presents the results of the most methodologically robust studies that estimate the impact of a reduction in class size on the student achievement and longerrun outcomes. Contrary to an idea that persisted for a long time, the effects are high, if they are compared with those of other educational policies conducted on a large scale and assessed rigorously. The absolute cost of such a policy justifies targeting it on the most disadvantaged pupils, but the investment is profitable whenever the salary gain for two years spent in a half-size class is greater than 1%. However many unknown quantities remain, in particular about how reduction in class size links up with teaching practices.; Cette note présente les résultats des recherches les plus robustes méthodologiquement, qui estiment l’impact d’une réduction de la taille des classes sur les performances scolaires des élèves et sur leur destin à plus long terme. Contrairement à une idée qui a longtemps perduré, ces effetssont élevés, si on les compare à d’autres politiques scolaires menées à grande échelle et rigoureusement évaluées. Le coût absolu du doublement des classes de CP et de CE1 justifie de cibler cette politique sur les élèves les moins favorisés, mais l’investissement est rentable dès qu’il existe des effets in fine sur la situation professionnelle des bénéficiaires aussi petits que 1 %. Il reste cependant beaucoup d’inconnues, notamment sur l’articulation entre la réduction de la taille des classes et les pratiques pédagogiques.

L’objectif pédagogique d’Énergie Jeunes est d’encourager la persévérance scolaire et de développer l’autodiscipline chez les élèves de collèges défavorisés. Le programme consiste en trois interventions en classe de 55 minutes, chaque année de la 6èmeà la 3ème. A l’issue de la première année du programme, il est constaté que les élèves de 6èmebénéficient d’une augmentation significative de leurs résultats scolaires, un résultat remarquableétant donné la faible intensité du programme. L’analyse des mécanismes suggère que l’amélioration des notes serait due à une amélioration de la qualité du travail fourni plus qu’à une augmentation de la quantité de travail. Si les élèves ne se perçoivent pas eux-mêmes plus disciplinés dans leur travail, la mesure de l’autodiscipline fondée sur l’observation des enseignants montre une petite amélioration. Enfin, l’acceptation et la perception du programme est globalement très bonne, aussi bien par les élèves que par les enseignants.

This article investigates the role of parents by looking at the effect of a parental involvement program implemented in poor primary school in South Africa. Based on a random variation of the program assignment and on a partial population design, it allows to rigorously identify impacts on parental involvement, on the relationship between parents and teachers and on student outcomes. We find mixed results suggesting that parents who volunteer to attend the meetings changed their behavior toward more involvement at home and at school. Such behavioral change appears stronger for a subgroup of parents whose children is enrolled in the facilitating teacher's class, suggesting positive interactions between parents and teachers. Yet, no cognitive or non cognitive impact on students can be detected. We interpret these disappointing results as evidence that in a developing country context, parents face constraints that makes such program unable to have significant effects on student performances

Ce document se base sur l'analyse des données collectées dans le cadre d'un stage d'été destiné à des élèves de grande section de maternelle dotés de compétences orales très faibles sur le plan de la conscience phonologique. Le dispositif permet d'organiser l'enseignement en petits groupes d'environ cinq élèves, de niveaux homogènes et dont la composition peut évoluer au fil du temps selon les rythmes d'apprentissage individuels. Par ailleurs, le programme dont bénéficient les élèves tient compte des apports récents de la recherche internationale sur l'apprentissage de la lecture. La question de l'utilisation du temps d'enseignement est au centre de la problématique et les analyses montrent que les besoins en temps d'apprentissage des élèves les plus faibles ne peuvent être satisfaits dans le cadre ordinaire de la classe. En effet, le volume de temps disponible aux apprentissages, principalement celui pendant lequel l'élève est engagé sur la tâche est largement insuffisant pour permettre d'aborder l'apprentissage de la lecture dans de bonnes conditions pour tous les écoliers. En matière de politique éducative, les résultats encouragent à développer, dans les écoles, des pratiques visant à optimiser au mieux le temps d'apprentissage des élèves, cela s'avère un moyen pertinent pour lutter efficacement contre la difficulté scolaire précoce.

Interventions targeting early childhood development, such as investment in preschools, are often seen as promising mechanisms to increase human capital and to reduce the intergenerational transmission of poverty and inequality. This paper presents results from a randomized evaluation of a large scale preschool construction program in Cambodia, and indicates a cautionary tale. The overall impact of the program on a wide set of children’s early childhood outcomes was small and not statistically significant, and for the cohort with highest exposure the program led to a negative impact on early childhood cognition. Moreover, for this group, the intervention increased inequality as the negative impacts are largest for children of poorer and less educated parents. The results can be explained by the frequent occurrence of underage enrollment in primary school in the absence of preschools, stricter enforcement of the minimum age for primary school entry after the intervention, substitution between primary and preschool following intervention, and difference in demand responses of more and less educated parents to the new preschools. These results indicate that the design of ECD interventions needs to start from a good understanding of parental and teacher decisions pre-program. More generally, they show how implementation and demand-side constraints might not only limit positive impacts, but could even lead to perverse effects of early childhood interventions.

Scaling up early childhood development services has the potential to increase children's cognitive and socio-emotional development and promote school readiness in a large segment of the population. This study used a randomized controlled trial approach to evaluate three scaled-up programs designed to widen access to early childhood development services: formal preschools, community preschools, and home-based services. The impacts of all three programs fell short of expectations because of two key flaws in how they were scaled up. First, implementation did not receive due attention; as a result, school facilities were not completed as planned, community-based programs were not always established, and low, irregular stipends created difficulties in hiring and retaining teachers. Second, the services that were available were not promoted and thus not used as widely as anticipated. The results imply that the quality of programs supplied is critical, as is attention to the demand side of the problem. The finding that these programs fell short of expectations does not mean that interventions such as these are ineffective. Rather, it indicates that quality and demand require careful attention in attempts to scale up early childhood development interventions, and any problems should be addressed prior to evaluating effectiveness.