Nobel Prize-Winning Economist Finds Among Largest Ever African Learning Gains In Kenya School Network

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 17-A Nobel Prize-winning economist has found that Bridge International Academies Kenya has achieved among the largest learning gains ever measured by a major study in Africa.

The groundbreaking study led by the 2019 Nobel Prize-winning economist Professor Michael Kremer finds that underserved children receive 53 percent more learning over the course of their pre-primary and primary school career at Bridge International Academies Kenya.

Bridge International Academies has educated over a million pupils in Kenya since it opened its first school in Mukuru.
Graduates attend top national secondary schools and have gone on to win places at prestigious universities in Kenya and in the US.

The study was launched on stage by the Nobel Prize-winning economist to Heads of State and national Education Ministers at the Education World Forum, the world’s largest gathering of education and skills ministers, hosted by the UK Government in London.

The study finds that after two years, primary school pupils in Bridge International Academies Kenya are nearly a whole additional year of learning ahead of children taught using standard methods.

For pre-primary pupils, children gain nearly an additional year and half of learning, learning in two years what children in other schools learn in three and a half years.

“Bridge changed the way I studied because of the way they taught. I understood the lessons better,” Grace Kerubo, Bridge graduate – Amherst College, Massachusetts, USA.

It also found that Grade 1 pupils in Bridge International Academies Kenya were more than three times as likely to be able to read as their peers in other schools.

The World Bank estimates that 90 percent of 10-year-olds in Sub Saharan Africa do not reach this benchmark.

Kenya’s national strategic plan showed that over 85 percent of Grade 3 pupils cannot arrange alphabetical order words in English or Kiswahili.

In addition, the Nobel prize winning economist found that pupils starting from the lowest learning levels gained the most, with girls making the same leap in learning as boys. It contrasts with research which shows girls in Sub-Saharan Africa are consistently disadvantaged in learning.

“I have received so many pupils who come from schools but are so behind in class, they can’t read or write but after two weeks they tend to improve fast.”
Ann Mwangi, Teacher – Bridge International Academy, Gicagi, Nairobi County

In academic terms, Bridge International Academies Kenya increased learning by 1.35 standard deviations for pre-primary pupils and 0.81 standard deviations for primary pupils. To put these into context, these effect sizes far exceed the 99th percentile and represent learning gains in the top 1% among large, rigorous studies in Africa.

The results are a resounding affirmation of the scientific learning and teaching model used by Bridge International Academies Kenya since 2009. This model now underpins public transformation programmes supporting more than a million children a day across the continent.

“As a teacher, your lessons are prepared and you have the teaching methods to really engage the children. I love Bridge because it has been a gateway to success for a million pupils and I am definitely proud to be part of this noble cause.”

Damiana Mukami, Bridge Teacher – Bridge International Academy, Mukuru Kwa Njenga, Nairobi.

The two-year study is the result of a large-scale randomized control trial (RCT), including more than 10,000 children from across Kenya’s counties.

According to the study, learning for two years in a Bridge International Academies primary school was equivalent to spending three years in other schools.

For pre-primary children, two years’ learning in a Bridge International Academies Kenya school was the same as three-and-a-half years in another school.

Further, it shows 82 percent of Grade 1 pupils in Bridge International Academies Kenya schools were able to read a sentence, compared to 27 percent of children in other schools.

“Bridge International Academies Kenya pupils are 20 percent more likely to take the KCPE than their peers,” it reads.

“Attending a Bridge school for two years increases the probability that a pupil achieves 250 mark or more in the KCPE by more than 40 percent; opening up the possibility of accessing a good secondary education.”

Bridge International Academies’ methods increased equity.

Pupils starting from the lowest learning levels gain the most. Learning gains were greatest for pupils predicted to have the lowest performance who outperformed similar pupils attending other schools by a larger margin than their more advantaged peers.

Bridge International Academies’ methodology ensured gender parity in the classroom, with girls making the same leap in learning as boys.

“I found out about Bridge from a friend who had enrolled her son right from class 1 to class 8. He is currently a pupil at Alliance High School. Seeing how well he was performing I was also prompted to transfer my son,” Norah Waruguru, Parent, Bridge International Academy, Kinoo, Kiambu County.

“Bridge’s efforts to standardize education produce relatively uniform outcomes, including across diverse teacher characteristics and locations. The variance in effects across Bridge locations is small relative to the overall effect,” reads the study.

The holistic learning system pioneered in Bridge International Academies Kenya schools, with the support of the Kenyan Government, has been exported across the continent with State and National Governments implementing public sector transformation programmes based on Bridge International Academies’ blueprint.

“The effects in this study are among the largest in the international education literature, particularly for a program that was already operating at scale,” 2019 Nobel Prize winner, Professor Kremer said.

“This study shows that attending schools delivering highly standardized education has the potential to produce dramatic learning gains at scale, suggesting that policymakers may wish to explore the incorporation of standardization, including standardized lesson plans and teacher feedback and monitoring, in their own systems.”

Professor Isaac Mbiti of the University of Virginia and a co-author of the study said, “enrolling at Bridge reduces dispersion in test scores, having larger effects for pupils at the bottom of the test score distribution than those at the top.

“Enrolling at Bridge has positive effects on grade progression and on measures of working memory, self-control, and receptive vocabulary. We find positive and statistically significant effects on higher order skills.”

Reuben Wambugu, Managing Director, Bridge International Academies Group said improving education outcomes for our youth, “is one of the most important challenges of our generation. We are delighted that this study, by a Nobel prize winning economist, has found unequivocal evidence of learning gains in our schools — among the largest gains seen in Africa.”

“It is a testament to the holistic and integrated teaching and learning approaches we have pioneered in Kenya since 2009.”

He added that, “it is particularly pleasing to see that pupil starting from the lowest level of learning gain the most from attending Bridge International Academies, and that Bridge pupils are much more likely than their peers in other schools to take the end of school KCPE exams. We know every child can learn and every child can improve. No child should ever be left behind because of their background.

“This would not have been possible without the ongoing support of the Kenyan Government which has made education a top priority. We are proud as Kenyans, that it is work done in Kenya that has paved the way for successful public education programmes by leaders across the continent.