Baseline Report for the Mixed-Methods Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial of Impact Network’s eSchool 360 Model in Rural Zambia

Approximately 250 million children across the world are not acquiring basic reading and math skills, even though about half of them have spent at least four years in school. Impact Network’s eSchool 360 program is a multifaceted program comprising an e-learning technology component, ongoing teacher training and professional development, and community ownership among students in community schools in rural Zambia. The e-learning component includes electricity via solar power, projectors, and tablets loaded with materials in the local language that are structured around a curriculum approved by the Zambian government.

AIR is designing and implementing a two-stage mixed-methods evaluation to measure the effect of Impact Network’s eSchool 360 program on learning outcomes among students in community schools in rural Zambia as well as the cost-effectiveness of any measured impacts.

This report presents the baseline results of the cluster-RCT used to determine the impact of Impact Network’s the eSchool 360 model. It examines the differences between the treatment and control households along the causal chain of the theory of change. In addition, it analyzes the potential for floor effects on the assessment instruments that will be used to measure the impact of the Impact Network program on student outcomes one year and three years after the introduction of the Impact Network eSchool 360 model.