IMPACT EDUCATION

eLearning that works.

We envision a world where all students are given the tools they need to reach their full potential. We have developed an effective education platform for rural communities to provide a model for developing countries. With the school as a starting point, we are able to make broad changes across families and communities to improve not only their educational outcomes, but also their overall wellbeing.

We believe education is a combination of an effective curriculum (supported by Mwabu), a robust teaching and coaching model and supplemental programs around health, child protection, and environmental sustainability.

The problem

Primary and secondary school age children in the poorest countries are nine times more likely to be out of school than those in the richest countries.

While primary school enrollment is high, education quality is low, and literacy rates among young adults fall under regional averages. The average scores on the 2016 Grade 5 National Assessment were 35% in English and 37% in math, and little progress has been made on academic performance since 1999.

Despite decades of peace and stability, the Zambian educational system is providing neither the access to nor the quality of education that its citizens demand.

Our solution

eLearning works because it provides teachers with a roadmap to teach and engages students with activity-based lessons.

We've learned through research that technology alone is not enough. Delivering quality education requires all aspects of a school to work in sync. Impact Network developed the eSchool 360 model to maximize the potential benefits of eLearning in the most remote, under-served areas of Africa.

THE ESCHOOL 360

Weekly Management

Professional staff (including teacher supervisors and a technology expert) support every school, providing accountability, on-site support, and training.

School Supplies

Since the program targets under-resourced families, students, teachers, and schools are given adequate school supplies.

Solar

Since our schools are “off the grid,” electricity in our schools is generated from solar power installed on the roofs in an effort to conserve and protect the environment using cost-effective means.

Teacher Salary

In contrast to other community schools, where teachers are often volunteers who are paid sporadically and poorly, our teachers receive a living wage and benefits.

eLearning Hardware

Impact Network partners with Mwabu to provide teachers with a tablet and projector to deliver class lessons. The tablets contain thousands of lessons and lesson plans that adhere to the Zambian national curriculum, are approved by the Ministry of Education, and are taught in the local language.

STUDENT Centered METHODS

The lesson resources provide activity-oriented lesson plans for each day, designed to move learning away from traditional rote learning. They include valuable life lessons in addition to academic content.

Teacher Training

Teachers are hired locally, providing crucial job creation in rural areas. Weekly coaching sessions help tailor support to the needs of individual teachers. During monthly training sessions, teachers come together from across our schools to participate in a series of workshops.

Community Ownership

Ownership is fostered through community activities. Each school has a Parent Teacher Association that provides input, parental involvement, and support.

Rural Security

In addition to community and teacher ownership, steel doors and a security guard are provided.

Building Care

Respectable and safe facilities are key to providing a quality learning environment for students. Buildings are constructed and maintained by local workers. 

EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

Across the globe, investing in the earliest years of a child’s development has been proven to improve future learning outcomes and keep children in school longer. Early Childhood Education supports cognitive and socio-emotional developments during early childhood when the brain matures faster than any other time in life.  Indeed, it has even been proven to improve future earnings by up to 25 percent (World Bank Group, 2017). An additional dollar invested in quality early childhood programs has a return of between $6 and $17.

Impact Network Early Childhood classes operate across 8 schools and 350 children, and are divided into two classes: Middle Class (aged 3-4) and Reception Class (aged 5-6). There are a maximum of 25 learners in each class in order for the teachers to be able to manage the classes and provide appropriate support to each individual child. Impact Network uses a play-based approach to learning and a child-friendly space. The play-based approach offers many opportunities for exploration and manipulation across a number of domains including cognitive, physical and socio-emotional.

Using play for instruction takes a few different shapes in the Impact Network ECE classes. Free play allows children to lead their own playing and explore the world and classroom around them. Guided play is a child-led approach with guidance from a trained adult who is able to scaffold learning appropriately for children. Direct instruction is adult-designed and controlled but still uses play to engage children in different topics and skills.

OUR PILOT SCHOOLS

In 2009, Impact Network began building schools in rural Zambia to bring educational access to out-of-school children. By 2011, we had built 5 community schools, operated by the community. But after completing these construction works, we realized that while the buildings were impressive, the level of education was inadequate. We shifted our focus beyond the build, and created the eSchool 360 system to deliver high-quality education, while keeping costs to a minimum. We began a partnership with Mwabu, to provide standardized, high-quality lesson plans and lessons to our teachers and students.

In 2013, we had piloted the eSchool 360 across 8 schools in Katete District with incredible success. Building upon that and using the classroom as a starting point, we designed and implemented projects to address the social determinants of education focusing on girls and woman empowerment, health and the environment. These projects include financial literacy, child protection, girls and women empowerment, environmental sustainability and life skills and sexuality and have impacted over 25,000 lives.

We continue to work with these initial schools to pilot new innovations that have the potential to help rural community schools across the country.

OUR EXPANSION

In 2017, we launched an expansion to bring the eSchool 360 program to 35 additional schools in the Eastern Province in Zambia. This initiative has been funded through the Board of American Institutes for Research (AIR), whose members visited the pilot program in Zambia in the spring of 2016.  AIR will also design and implement a cluster-randomized controlled trial to determine the impact of the program on children’s learning outcomes.

These efforts will bring a quality education to 3,500 additional children in 35 schools across three districts of Zambia’s Eastern Province, and build important evidence on the effectiveness of the eSchool 360 program across three districts in Zambia.

Findings after the first year find that our students are 12 months ahead on numeracy and 22 months ahead on literacy compared to control group students.