Evidence Generation
Asia
Evidence Generation
Asia
In collaboration with the Ghana Education Service and IPA Ghana, researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to measure whether in-service teacher training in foundational literacy and numeracy, combined with sustained classroom coaching by Head Teacher coaches, improves teaching quality and reading and math skills in grade 1 and 2 classrooms. Results will be available in late 2026.
Reading and math skills learned in early grades form the basis for students’ education, as they build every later subject on these early skills. However, across many low- and middle-income countries, large numbers of early-grade students leave primary school without mastering basic reading and mathematics. For instance, in Ghana, more than 80 percent of primary school students do not attain foundational literacy and numeracy skills. This learning gap may be tied to issues around classroom quality, which include overcrowding, exams focused on rote memorization, and a lack of learning materials. At the same time, teachers in Ghana often do not receive the ongoing support they need to strengthen their classroom practice. This creates a significant need to develop effective policies that can provide this support once initial training ends.
Teacher professional development that combines initial training with ongoing coaching may help close this gap. Coaching gives teachers repeated opportunities to practice new strategies and receive feedback in their own classrooms rather than relying on training alone. A related program for kindergarten teachers in Ghana, Quality Preschool for Ghana, combined training with coaching and was found to increase teaching quality and improve student learning in both the short and long term. Can this model of training for grade 1 to 3 teachers yield similar results?
Quality Coaching in Foundational Literacy and Numeracy for Ghana (QCFLN) is an in-service professional development program for grade 1 to 3 teachers, delivered through the Ghana Education Service. The program combines initial in-person training with ongoing coaching support over the course of an academic year.
Teachers attend an initial multi-day training at the start of the school year covering literacy and numeracy content, modeling of instructional strategies, and opportunities to practice new techniques, followed by shorter booster training later in the year. Headteachers at participating schools serve as coaches: they attend their own training on how to observe classrooms, model strategies, and provide feedback. After this, they support teachers through semi-monthly one-on-one classroom observations and semi-monthly group coaching sessions that bring together grade 1 to 3 teachers at each school.
In collaboration with the Ghana Education Service and IPA Ghana, researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to measure whether the QCFLN in-service teacher training and support program improves teaching quality and student learning in grades 1 to 3. The study involves 100 schools in the Greater Accra Region, which were randomly assigned to one of two groups:
Researchers are measuring changes in teaching quality, including the quality of classroom instruction and ongoing support for teachers, alongside students' literacy and numeracy outcomes.
Results will be available in late 2026.
1. World Bank, “Foundational Learning,” World Bank Group, May 16, 2025, https://www.worldbank.org/en/brief/2025/05/16/foundational-learning
2. Suman Sachdeva, Alyson Gombas and Agnes Arthur, “Tackling the Learning Crisis: Data-Driven Decision-Making in Ghana's Education System,” UNICEF, August 23, 2024, https://www.unicef.org/ghana/stories/tackling-learning-crisis-data-driven-decision-making-ghanas-education-system
3. Frank Quansah, “Ghana wants learner‑centred classrooms – but many teachers still favour old methods,” The Conversation, June 7, 2026, https://theconversation.com/ghana-wants-learner-centred-classrooms-but-many-teachers-still-favour-old-methods-283010
4. Wolf et al. 2019; Wolf and Peele 2020
