Notre Dame literacy research can improve learning outcomes and fight global poverty
![Elementary school students are pictured inside a classroom in Haiti.](https://conductorshare.nd.edu/assets/559857/fullsize/haiti_literacy_intervention1c.jpg)
A new study by a team of University of Notre Dame researchers makes a significant contribution to understanding the factors that influence how young elementary school students respond to reading interventions in fragile and low-income contexts.
The study, published in the Comparative Education Review, evaluated an early-grade literacy intervention in Catholic schools in Haiti. The study has important implications for addressing educational inequities and improving learning outcomes to create opportunity and lift millions of children globally out of poverty.
“This research brings greater attention to questions of educational equity in the acquisition of foundational skills,” said lead author TJ D’Agostino, assistant professor of the practice with the Pulte Institute for Global Development, part of the University of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs. “Which populations are being well served, which can we serve better, and how do we accomplish that? These findings can help guide future research and policy to expand literacy rates in low- and middle-income countries.”
Past research has shown that achieving reading comprehension by the end of second grade is crucial to progressing in school, which impacts future life opportunities, D’Agostino said. Some studies suggest achieving universal literacy could reduce global poverty by more than 10 percent.
Schools participating in the study received specialized teacher training as well as a curriculum in Haitian Creole and French that included a collated library. The curriculum included time for teachers to read aloud to students as well as time for students to read on their own. A group of coaches regularly visited participating schools to share best practices and evaluate what worked.
The study identified several factors that affected outcomes, including:
-
Instructional time (which suffered in some schools because of high rates of student and teacher absenteeism)
-
Curriculum uptake (whether teachers adhered to the new curriculum or instead mixed and matched it with more familiar resources)
-
School leadership (which was crucial to protecting time for learning, encouraging teacher buy-in to the program and providing extra support for students)
Researchers found that rural schools faced particular challenges, D’Agostino said, since they were more remote, received fewer coaching visits, tended to serve more marginalized populations and often experienced higher rates of student absenteeism.
![A Haitian elementary school student sits at his desk with a book, in a classroom setting](https://news.nd.edu/assets/559955/haiti_literacy_intervention_1_1200x675.jpg)
D’Agostino worked with fellow co-authors Danice Brown Guzmán and Paul Perrin of the Keough School’s Pulte Institute; Anasthasie Liberiste-Osirus, a training and technical assistance consultant who previously worked with Notre Dame’s Global Center for the Development of the Whole Child (GC-DWC), part of the University’s Institute for Educational Initiatives; and Kate Schuenke-Lucien of the GC-DWC.
The literacy intervention and research to evaluate its impact was supported by the GC-DWC Haiti in collaboration with Catholic Relief Services, the Catholic Church in Haiti, USAID, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and an anonymous foundation. The program served more than 100,000 first- through third-grade students in nearly 350 schools between 2016 and 2020.
Ultimately, the study helped the Notre Dame team identify questions for future research, the co-authors said, and can inform future literacy interventions by organizations such as USAID, which is the largest bilateral donor of basic education assistance and works in more than 50 countries.
“Improving literacy skills in the school environment is an important part of a broader, deeper set of outcomes needed to address poverty,” Schuenke-Lucien said, noting that researchers sought to engage students holistically using home and church resources as well.
D’Agostino agreed. “It is deeply rewarding to contribute to programs that help people in marginalized communities develop life-changing skills,” he said, “and it is energizing to be a part of Notre Dame’s larger work to fight poverty.”
Originally published by Josh Stowe at keough.nd.edu on Feb. 21.
Contact: Tracy DeStazio, associate director of media relations, 574-631-9958 or tdestazi@nd.edu
Latest ND NewsWire
- School of Architecture charrette yields $98M for downtown Kalamazoo public space regenerationOn June 27, the city of Kalamazoo, Michigan, announced that it was awarded a $25 million grant through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) program, as a result of its work with the University of Notre Dame School of Architecture. The grant, which will support the restructuring of downtown Kalamazoo thoroughfares and public spaces, is the latest of $98 million in grant funding the city has received following an intense, weeklong urban planning session conducted by the School of Architecture’s Housing and Community Regeneration Initiative in August 2022.
- New women’s residence hall to be named for Therese Mary GrojeanTherese Mary Grojean Hall The family of Thomas F. Grojean Sr.,…
- School of Architecture partners with city of Gary on downtown revitalization planOn Monday (July 22), the University of Notre Dame School of Architecture’s Housing and Community Regeneration Initiative and the city of Gary, Indiana, launched the first phase of a downtown revitalization project.
- Transformed Institute for Ethics and the Common Good advances Notre Dame’s commitment to excellence in study of ethicsThe University of Notre Dame’s Institute for Advanced Study is now the Institute for Ethics and the Common Good, launching its website today at ethics.nd.edu. The transformed, expanded institute will play an essential role in advancing the University-wide Ethics Initiative emerging from “Notre Dame 2033: A Strategic Framework.”
- ND Expert: Will ‘Brat Girl Summer’ translate into an autumn of Democratic victories? ‘It’s anybody’s guess’In the past three days, people on social media have embraced British pop star Charli XCX’s online pronouncement that “Kamala IS brat.” According to to Sara Marcus, an assistant professor of English and author of “Girls to the Front: The True Story of the Riot Grrrl Revolution,” that translates to a declaration that Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s presumptive new nominee for president, embodies the sort of messy, complicated, casual womanhood that the singer’s recent album, “Brat,” depicts and celebrates.
- ND Expert: NASA’s cancellation of VIPER is a frustrating setback for lunar explorationLast week, NASA announced it canceled its plans to send the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) to the Moon’s southern polar region. The rover was meant to search for water and other resources called volatiles, such as hydrogen, ammonia and carbon dioxide, which easily evaporate…