The most recent study was conducted in Mahbubnagar District , Telangana where IEC partnered with the District Collectorate to implement the program. The differences in the learning levels of the students before and after the intervention were studied in great detail. Students were assessed on grade level competencies in Telugu, English and Math.

In 2017, a baseline was conducted with students of Grades 1, 2 and 3 and at the end of two years, the same cohort of students were assessed in endline assessment when they were in Grades 3, 4 and 5.

The study addressed two key questions:

(1) Is there a change in the learning levels of the students?

(2) Is the change attributable to the two years of intervention?

Findings

• The performance of students who participated in the programme was significantly higher than that of the students who did not receive any of the intervention. 60 percent more students in program schools attained grade level competencies.
• The intervention adopted in the pilot can be effectively transacted by existing teachers within the government set-up.
• The intervention facilitated capacity-building of teachers, with minimum external inputs and training. A strong peer-support mechanism developed where teachers reinforced each other, exchanging ideas for session plans and teaching/learning materials.
• Strong evidence that students in program schools developed basic and advanced skills in both language and math

As part of the assessment, students’ ability to both apply a formula as well as their problem-solving skills were tested. It came across that students in control schools could answer questions where direct formula had to be applied. While for program schools, students could solve problems by identifying the correct algorithm to be applied as well. This indicates that abilities to analyze and problem solve were developed as an impact of implementation of the program.