Stephanie Simmons Zuilkowski

The impact of education on sexual behavior in sub-Saharan Africa: A review of the evidence

Abstract Many studies have attempted to determine the relationship between education and HIV status. However, a complete and causal understanding of this relationship requires analysis of its mediating pathways, focusing on sexual behaviors. We developed a series of hypotheses based on the differential effect of educational attainment on three sexual behaviors. We tested our predictions in a systematic literature review including 65 articles reporting associations between three specific sexual behaviors–sexual initiation, number of partners, and condom use–and educational attainment or school enrollment in sub-Saharan Africa. The patterns of associations varied by behavior. The findings for condom use were particularly convergent; none of the 44 studies using educational attainment as a predictor reviewed found that more educated people were significantly less likely to use condoms. Findings for sexual initiation and number of partners were more complex. The contrast between findings for condom use on the one hand and sexual initiation and number of partners on the other supports predictions based on our theoretical framework.

Poverty, physical stature, and cognitive skills: Mechanisms underlying children’s school enrollment in Zambia.

Past research suggests robust positive associations between household socioeconomic status and childrens early cognitive development in Western countries. Relatively little is known about these relations in low-income country settings characterized by economic adversity, high prevalence of malnutrition and infectious disease, and relatively lower school enrollment. The present study develops and empirically evaluates an adapted model of early childhood development using a sample of 2,711 Zambian 6-year-olds. Early learning in and out of the home was found to explain much of the relation between socioeconomic status and childrens cognitive skills, including language, nonverbal reasoning, and executive function. Child height-for-age (a proxy for overall nutritional status and health) was also predictive of childrens cognitive skills and both early and on-time school enrollment. Implications for global child development, intervention, and future work are discussed.

Implementing Mother Tongue Instruction in the Real World: Results from a Medium-Scale Randomized Controlled Trial in Kenya.

Research in sub-Saharan Africa investigating the effect of mother tongue (MT) literacy instruction at medium scale is limited. A randomized controlled trial of MT literacy instruction was implemented in 2013 and 2014 as part of the Primary Math and Reading (PRIMR) Initiative in Kenya. We compare the effect of two treatment groups—the base PRIMR program teaching literacy in English and Kiswahili and the PRIMR-MT program, which taught literacy in English, Kiswahili, and mother tongue—in two different language environments. Implementation of the MT program faced challenges because many educators were not speakers of the languages, some communities resisted mother tongue instruction, and some areas were more language heterogeneous. Effect sizes on MT literacy averaged between 0.3 and 0.6 standard deviations. The base PRIMR program also increased MT learning outcomes in some measures but had smaller effects than the PRIMR-MT program in oral reading fluency and comprehension.

Early Childhood Care and Education and School Readiness in Zambia

ABSTRACT Despite increased investment in early childhood care and education (ECCE) globally, little is known about its effectiveness in low-income countries. Using kernel exact matching within a national sample of 1,623 Zambian 6-year-olds, we test the associations between ECCE participation and seven domains of childrens school readiness. We find ECCE participation to be significantly and positively predictive of childrens receptive vocabulary, letter naming, reasoning, fine motor, executive function, and task performance skills (d = 0.20 − 0.65). Although ECCE predicted better outcomes across program types and dosage levels, associations between ECCE participation and school readiness were descriptively if not significantly larger for children attending nonprofit (versus governmental or private) programs and for those attending ECCE between three and five hours per day (versus those attending less than three or six or more hours per day). Implications of these findings, particularly for the 68% of Zambian children who remain out of ECCE, are discussed.

Dimensionality and the Development of Cognitive Assessments for Children in Sub-Saharan Africa

Over the past decade, researchers have shown increased interest in examining the cognitive development of children in non-Western countries, often in connection with evaluations of health and educational interventions. However, many studies have used Western-developed measures without proper consideration of contextual validity. Across domains—from language to cognition to non-cognitive skills—this results in varying degrees of bias that call into question the findings of these studies. In this article, we focus in particular on the problem of differences in dimensionality perception between children in sub-Saharan Africa and those in Western countries. Although most Western children are exposed to extensive two-dimensional materials during early childhood, such as picture books and photographs, most rural African children are not. We therefore argue that assessments using two-dimensional stimuli, such as line drawings or patterns, may be inappropriate for capturing cognitive development in settings where such formats are unfamiliar to young children. We also discuss a modified assessment of non-verbal reasoning designed to be contextually appropriate for children in rural Africa—the Object-based Pattern Reasoning Assessment (OPRA). Created during a national study of pre-school child development in Zambia, this new assessment uses local materials such as beans and stones, requires little training to administer, and avoids potential instrument bias related to two-dimensionality among young children living in developing countries.

Youth and Resilience in Postconflict Settings: An Intervention for War-Affected Youth in Sierra Leone

In Sierra Leone, as in conflict and postconflict settings around the world, youth are coping with their exposure to violence during conflict as well as the poverty and displacement that follow war and the stigma that can persist long after involvement with armed groups has ended. Both contextual and individual factors influence whether youth overcome these barriers successfully and resume positive life trajectories, or struggle to reintegrate into their families and communities. This study reviews findings from the 14-year Longitudinal Study of War-Affected Youth in Sierra Leone and a recent intervention study examining a short-term group cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)-based intervention for war-affected youth, and discusses the implications of the impact of interventions for understanding and promoting resilience in war-affected youth. The results suggest that group CBT approaches may be a cost-effective means of targeting support to youth most in need of psychosocial support in postconflict settings.

Early childhood malaria prevention and children's patterns of school leaving in the Gambia

BACKGROUND Early childhood malaria is often fatal, but its impact on the development and education of survivors has not received much attention. Malaria impacts cognitive development in a number of ways that may impact later educational participation. AIMS In this study, we examine the long-term educational effects of preventing early childhood malaria. Does intermittent preventive treatment (IPT) during early childhood reduce the risk of dropout? If so, does this effect vary by school type - government school versus madrassa? SAMPLE We use data from a 2001 follow-up of a 1985-1987 malaria prevention randomized controlled trial in the Gambia. The sample consists of 562 youth born between 1981 and 1986. METHODS We use discrete-time survival analysis to identify the impact of the intervention on dropout risk over time. RESULTS We find that IPT has a positive impact on dropout for government school students, but not for madrassa attendees. The difference was striking: in government schools, the odds of dropout in the treatment group were one third of those in the control group. CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest that preventing early childhood malaria may reduce dropout at a relatively low cost. In this intervention, the drugs cost less than one dollar per year per child. While IPT is no longer practised in many countries due to concerns over drug resistance, these results support the conclusion that any type of effective malaria control programme protecting young children, such as consistent and correct use of bed nets, could improve educational attainment in areas where malaria is prevalent.

Do Schooling and Urban Residence Develop Cognitive Skills at the Expense of Social Responsibility? A Study of Adolescents in the Gambia, West Africa:

The recent growth of schooling and urban residence represents a major change to the cultural context of child development across Africa. The aim of this article is to examine the relationship between these social changes in the Gambia and the development of both cognitive skills and behaviors viewed by participant communities as the basis for success in village life, comprising six aspects of social responsibility. We compared these skills and behaviors in a sample of 562 Gambian adolescents (M age = 17.1 years) from 10 villages who had either attended a government primary school (n = 207; 36.8%) or a madrasa (n = 355; 63.2%). A total of 235 participants (41.8%) had spent a short time living in the Gambia’s major urban center (median visit duration of 4.2 months). This temporary urban residence was associated with improved performance in all six cognitive tests and a decrease in five of the six social responsibility scores, as rated by adults in the community. Government schooling was associated with improved performance in five of the six cognitive tests, but there was no consistent relationship with social responsibility ratings. Associations may result from the profiles of young Gambians who choose or who are selected to go to school or live in the city, or they may result from the effects of those environments on their behaviors and skills. In either case, the implications of our findings are that schooling values certain cognitive abilities and urban life values these cognitive abilities too but devalues social responsibility.

School Persistence in the Wake of War: Wartime Experiences, Reintegration Supports, and Dropout in Sierra Leone

This article examines the relationship of wartime experience and reintegration supports to students’ risk of school dropout. It draws on longitudinal, mixed-methods data collected among children and youth in Sierra Leone from 2002 through 2008. The study finds that family financial support and perceived social support are positively associated with lower risk of dropout over time.

The role of timing in assessing oral reading fluency and comprehension in Kenya

Despite rapid growth in literacy-related programmes and evaluation in sub-Saharan Africa, little critical attention has been paid to the relevance of assumptions that underlie existing assessment methods. This study focuses on the issue of timing in the assessment of oral reading fluency, a critical component of successful reading (Chard, Vaughn, & Tyler, 2002; National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), 2000; Pikulski & Chard, 2005). Within the context of the Primary Math and Reading Initiative, a randomized controlled trial of several instructional interventions in Kenya, timed and untimed Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) oral reading fluency and reading comprehension tasks were administered to 4385 students in 95 government and 125 informal schools. Using the data from the EGRA – whose administration has expanded within sub-Saharan Africa recently – we found that students did not perform significantly better on the assessments when they had more time. This pattern largely held when we examined the effects disaggregated over student ability level. This suggests that timed assessments, which are faster to administer and logistically easier, are appropriate for use in Kenya.