Maurice Mutisya

Factors Associated With Low Achievement Among Students From Nairobi’s Urban Informal Neighborhoods

This article contributes new evidence on factors associated with low achievement among pupils in urban informal neighborhoods in Nairobi, Kenya. The authors use three different data sets to examine the effect of residence in particular neighborhoods, pupil gender, primary school type, and household socioeconomic status on pupil achievement in the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination results for 2005 and 2006. Results suggest that residence in Nairobi’s informal neighborhoods of Korogocho and Viwandani, enrollment in a public school, and one’s gender, if female, are the strongest explanatory variables for low achievement. Policy implications from the study results are discussed.

Randomized impact evaluation of education interventions: experiences and lessons from a reading to learn intervention in East Africa

This paper presents the experiences and lessons learnt during the design and implementation of the randomized impact evaluation (IE) of a reading to learn (RtL) intervention in early primary grades. The study was to assess the impact of RtL on literacy and numeracy among pupils in low-performing districts in East Africa. The intervention was designed in a way that in each country one district implemented an intervention package that included teacher training, and teaching and learning materials; while the other district implemented this same package with an additional parental involvement component. Baseline data were collected in mid-2009 in Grades 1 and 2, and in 2010 for the incoming Grade 1. The endline data were collected in mid-2011. A total of 119 treatments and 110 control schools participated in the study. The randomized design provided an opportunity to attribute causality and also qualitatively establish pathways through which the intervention impacted on learning. The paper provides lessons learnt and demonstrates how the challenges faced during the evaluation were addressed. Additionally, the paper shows how IE was utilized to provide robust evidence of what works thus enabling policy-makers to make decisions on sustainability and scale-up of education interventions.

Assessing the impact of free primary education using retrospective and prospective data: lessons from the Nairobi case study

This paper describes the design and methodology used to assess the impact of free primary education (FPE) policy in Nairobi, Kenya. The key outcome of the study was to assess the impact of FPE on schooling outcomes among the urban poor. The study assesses the impact of FPE by examining how two non-comparable groups responded to the introduction of the policy. Retrospective data were collected for 2000–2004, while prospective data has been collected annually since 2005. This household survey has created both cross-sectional and longitudinal data sets. This provided an opportunity to assess factors, other than lack of fees, which associate with school enrolment and retention. The strength of this paper is in demonstrating how survey design can be utilized to assess the impact of a public policy between different population groups. Based on the design and methodology used in this Nairobi case study, the paper provides lessons on how to utilize household surveys to assess policy impacts.

When to Randomize: Lessons From Independent Impact Evaluation of Reading to Learn (RtL) Programme to Improve Literacy and Numeracy in Kenya and Uganda

In East Africa, there is great effort directed toward ensuring that there is learning and value for money invested in universal education policies initiated over the past decade. Kenya and Uganda are two countries that typify this effort. The effort includes the work of research organisations such as Uwezo, which assess learning levels; RTI, which assesses language and early grade reading; and the work of African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC), which looks at schooling patterns of different households. All these studies paint a disappointing picture both for the universal access Education for All policy and the large sums of money that have been devoted to achieve it. The verdict is that too many pupils in schools are not learning and too many poor ones are excluded from universal public access. Uwezo reports that 70% of pupils in Grade 3 cannot do Grade 2 work, and 9% of those completing Primary 8 in Kenya cannot do Grade 2 work. Answers are not easy to find, so borrowing what has worked elsewhere has been attempted. This article presents one effort toward finding what can work to improve learning for pupils in early grades. It is based on the idea of “Reading to Learn” implemented elsewhere and attempted in East Africa by Aga Khan Foundation and independently evaluated by APHRC using randomization methods. Lessons presented highlight the role and complexities of randomization in addressing the educational challenges in East Africa.

The Mediating Effects of Aspiration, Self-Confidence, Interest in Schooling, and Peer Influence on the Relationship Between Teen Girls’ Behavior and Academic Performance

Indulgence in risky behavior is a reason for low academic performance. We hypothesized that four constructs including academic aspiration, self-confidence, interest in schooling, and peer influence...

Mothers’ Education and Girls’ Achievement in Kibera: The Link With Self-Efficacy:

Research evidence has established the importance of mothers’ education and their children’s educational achievement. However, little has been done to establish the association between mothers’ education with girls’ literacy and numeracy scores, while linking it with self-efficacy. Using baseline data collected in Kibera informal settlement in 2015 as part of the Adolescent Girls Initiative–Kenya (AGI-K), this article tests the mother–child education achievement hypothesis while taking into account girls’ self-efficacy. Results show a significant association between parental education and numeracy and cognitive scores at the bivariate level. In addition, interaction effects of mother’s and father’s education showed that girls whose mothers had at least some secondary education significantly performed better in numeracy, while the performance increased even more with increased father’s level of education. Findings also show that on average, girls’ numeracy and cognitive scores significantly increased by half of a standard deviation for a unit increment in self-efficacy. One policy implication is that investments into the secondary education of mothers in support of their daughter’s education need to strengthen individual attributes of girls in self-efficacy.

Parental education and high school completion in the urban informal settlements in Kenya

Abstract A well-established empirical association exists between family background and children’s educational attainment. Studies have shown the importance of parental education for not just children’s educational outcomes but also other behavioral, and health outcomes. In this paper, data collected by African Population and Health Research Center in 2012 across Nairobi’s slums are fitted to a logistic regression to estimate the likelihood of secondary school completion. Even after controlling for influential covariates such as socioeconomic status; parental survivorship; slum area of residence and duration of stay; marital status; and substance abuse the effect of parental education on secondary school completion persists. Among female adolescents compared to male adolescents, parental presence, drug abuse, and migration into the slum compared to birth in the slum were associated with lower school completion. Overall, the study confirms the importance of parental education for adolescent secondary school completion but extends its effects beyond that reported in the literature on SSA, which is that mother’s and father’s education affect the acquisition of literacy and numeracy, math achievement, age for grade, and cognitive development.

Moderated effects of risky behavior on academic performance among adolescent girls living in urban slums of Kenya

Abstract This paper examines effects of life-skills, mentoring, and counseling education intervention implemented among primary school attending girls aged between 10 and 19 years, living in Nairobi slums. We hypothesized that interaction between the intervention and aspiration, self-confidence and interest in schooling, mediates the impact of risky behavior on academic performance. This quasi-experimental study had two treatment arms of 538 girls and one comparison with 272 girls. The first treatment arm received life skills mentoring, after school support with homework, and parental counseling; the second treatment arm received a package similar to the first arm excluding parental counseling; while the comparison arm received nothing during the implementation period, but they got a secondary school fees subsidy at the end of the intervention. The analysis shows that the intervention had statistically significant effects on some aspects of risky behavior and the mediators. Results from a structural equation model show existence of strong moderated mediation effects of risky behavior on academic performance. The importance of the findings is in demonstrating how inner-character attributes could enhance learning outcomes, especially among adolescent girls in low-resourced environments.

Correlates of Spatial Differences in under-five mortality in Nairobi’s informal Settlements

Child mortality in Kenya is often associated with individual level factors including socio-economic status, nutritional status, and poor access to health services. Geographical factors are less documented as important predictors of child mortality in the country. Using a Bayesian geo-additive survival model, this paper examines the factors associated with child mortality in two Nairobi slums, Korogocho and Viwandani, accounting for spatial random effects. It uses longitudinal data for the period 2006-2011 involving 30339 children aged below five years from the Nairobi Urban Health and Demographic Surveillance System implemented in the two slums. In addition to determinants such as mother’s education and age, size of the household and ethnicity, our findings show a certain spatial structure in child mortality risk, with differences between some villages in Viwandani, while no spatial variations were observed in Korogocho. The results call for specific efforts from policymakers to refine child health interventions in Nairobi’s urban slums

Experiences of parents with the Reading to Learn approach: a randomised control trial initiative to improve literacy and numeracy in Kenya and Uganda

Parental involvement in their childrens schooling is in recognition that establishing the context in which a child attends school is important. Reading to Learn (RtL)was implemented in two districts of Kwale and Kinango in Kenya and of Amolatar and Dokolo in Uganda. This paper looks at parental involvement and their experiences with RtL. Data are obtained from survey responses at baseline and focus group discussions with parents at endline. Findings indicate that parents are key actors in literacy and numeracy of their children. The study underscores the role of parents and context in literacy activities and policy implementation.