Research on Improving Systems of Education: Ethiopia, 2018-2021 RISE

The Research on Improving Systems of Education (RISE) programme (launched in 2013) studies how education systems in low- and middle-income countries can improve learning and reduce persistent learning inequalities. The Research on Improving Systems of Education: Ethiopia, 2018-2021 contributes to this agenda by examining Ethiopia's flagship General Education Quality - Improvement Programme (GEQIP), with a particular focus on its third phase, GEQIP-for Equity (GEQIP-E, 20182024). GEQIP-E strengthened the reform's emphasis on outcomes especially equitable access to quality education and improved learning prioritising girls, children in pastoralist and emerging regions, and learners with special educational needs, including disabilities.

This data collection supports a longitudinal, mixed-methods research design that combines education system diagnostics with quantitative school and household surveys to assess how GEQIP-E is associated with changes in learning and learning equity. The quantitative component consists of a longitudinal school survey and direct assessments of pupil learning administered at the beginning and end of the school year in sampled primary schools across seven regions: Addis Ababa, Amhara, Benishangul-Gumuz, Oromia, Southern Nations, Nationalities and People's Region (SNNP), Somali, and Tigray. Schools were selected to include: (i) schools previously covered by the the Young Lives: School Survey, Ethiopia, 2012-2013 (available from the UK Data Service under SN 7823), (ii) schools targeted early in GEQIP-E implementation, and (iii) additional randomly selected schools, with sampling designed to reflect regional population shares and GEQIP-E's phased roll-out.

Two cohorts, Grade 1 and Grade 4, were assessed in the 2018/19 school year (baseline and endline within the year) to measure learning progress ("value added") in literacy and numeracy. In each school, 28 Grade 1 and 28 Grade 4 pupils were randomly selected from up to two classes per grade. Similar cohorts were assessed again in 2020/21, although data collection was affected by conflict-related disruptions and school dropouts in some areas, including the Tigray war. The learning assessments are linked to household surveys for sampled children and complemented by a school principal survey, a school facilities survey, and a mathematics teacher content knowledge test.