Beeline Reader
Executive Summary
Project Host:
Pangea Educational Development
Fellows:
Dietsje Jolles, Research Fellow
Gabriela Jaramillo, Social Entrepreneur Fellow
Tony Senanayake, Social Entrepreneur Fellow
Introduction
Pangea’s Project Backpack addresses basic literacy education needs in vulnerable refugee communities using tablet-based semi-autonomous learning. The LEAP project focuses on improving data management, understanding learning effectiveness, and scaling the program. These are all relevant topics to organizations and individuals interested in enhancing education access and quality for underserved populations.
Organization’s role & strength
Project Backpack provides basic literacy education for out-of-school students and students in overcrowded schools. By providing families with tablets, including preloaded educational apps, the project aims to deliver educational content to families in a cost-effective and scalable way. An important aspect of the program is that it empowers parents and peers to participate in their children’s learning, regardless of their prior education.
Summary solution
This project addressed Pangea’s following concerns:
How to leverage existing data: As an evidence-driven initiative, Project Backpack has integrated data collection into its implementation. However, the team required assistance making this data more accessible and organized to continue making informed decisions.
How to enhance learning effectiveness: Pangea sought a framework to better understand the primary drivers behind semi-autonomous learning in family contexts, aiming to improve their interventions and inform data collection in the future.
How to scale up the program: Pangea employs an agile implementation approach for Project Backpack, continuously building on past iterations. They needed guidance on incorporating scaling-up considerations into their current and future implementation plans to expand the program's reach and impact.
Deliverables
1. DATA STRUCTURING TOOL
A scalable and customizable R script streamlines Pangea's demographic and literacy assessment data management. Addressing common data merging challenges (data quality, data structure, data size, data redundancy, and data privacy) empowers the organization to make informed decisions about interventions and scaling strategies.
2. A LITERATURE REVIEW ON LEARNING IN A SEMI-AUTONOMOUS CONTEXT
This literature review explores semi-autonomous learning, parental involvement, and peer interaction to enhance learning effectiveness. These concise findings can guide Pangea's next evaluation and inform similar interventions.
3. DATA ANALYSIS PLAN
The plan includes an R script for initial analysis, guidelines for analyzing existing data and future data collection, and a document on best data practices. This plan aims to assess Project Backpack's efficacy, identify factors influencing its effectiveness based on the previous literature review, and offer recommendations for enhancing evidence-based interventions.
4. SCALE-UP CONSIDERATIONS
Based on a literature review on scaling up educational interventions, we devised a simplified scale-up framework for Pangea's team, focusing on core scaling elements: effective intervention, implementation, and enabling environment. We adapted VVOB’s Education Scalability Checklist (ESC) to evaluate Project Backpack and develop concrete actions. We also provided three recommendations based on workshop results. To support Pangea and similar teams, we created accessible, user-friendly tools for future use, including workshop guidelines, instructional videos, an action prioritization tool, and a scale-up template.