Evidence Generation
Asia
Evidence Generation
Asia
Scaling Access and Learning in Education (SCALE)
The evidence base for foundational learning has never been stronger. However, promising interventions struggle to move from small-scale pilots to sustainable, system-level reforms. Often, the political and institutional conditions for scaling are not part of the equation.
FCDO's Scaling Access and Learning in Education (SCALE) program takes a novel approach to challenge. To position interventions on the path to scale, it aims to identify interventions that are already a clear priority for the government, embed research and learning to understand and address binding constraints, and align key stakeholders through a credible ‘scaling roadmap’—ensuring that ‘what works’ can sustainability reach more children.
Central to this approach is data and evidence. Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), in partnership with the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), leads this work with a clear purpose: to actively leverage data and evidence to maximize the scalability of effective interventions—understanding not just what works, but how it works and what is needed to make it work at scale.
This involves designing with impact and scalability at the forefront, then using research and learning to strengthen the foundations for sustainable scale, informing the decisions governments make as they integrate the approach into the education system. IPA and J-PAL bring technical expertise in scaling and actionable research and learning, embedded directly into each investment, which we call ‘Innovative Partnerships’.
| Strengthening what matters for scale | Testing, learning, and adapting in real time | Working through government systems to drive lasting change |
| Scaling is difficult, and there is a growing understanding of why interventions fail to reach scale. Drawing on IPA's scaling ingredients framework, our research and learning activities are designed to directly strengthen what matters most to scaling, including quality and impact of the intervention, in addition to the broader ecosystem and enabling environment. | Implementation research is embedded through test-learn-adapt cycles, supporting Ministries of Education and partners to iterate and improve. Learning activities are co-created from the design stage, to ensure we can inform the key questions and decisions at the right time, drawing on existing data as much as possible. | Scaling requires more than evidence—it requires the political will, institutional capacity, and systems alignment to sustain change. We work alongside Ministries of Education as leaders of the scaling process and active participants in the research and learning, targeting the decisions that most determine a program's path to scale and ensuring government ownership from the outset. |
Beyond individual Innovative Partnerships, IPA leads cross-cutting research across the SCALE portfolio—with the goal of ensuring that lessons learned translate into better outcomes, not just within SCALE but across the global education sector. This work helps answer what actually works in scaling effective education interventions, and how to get there.
Research covers two interconnected areas: key thematic issues cutting across education interventions and systems—including equity, attendance, and school leadership—and the scaling process itself, synthesizing lessons on how to strengthen the essential ingredients for scale and use research to maximize the odds of sustainable impact.
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