Indications have emerged that the Lagos through EKOEXCEL has migrated 18,000 headteachers and teachers from analogue to digital teaching, using tablets and updated curricula.
This was even as 14,000 primary school teachers from 1,017 public primary schools have been captured under the scheme since Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu Sanwo-Olu launched EKOEXCEL in 2019 to provide quality education to both the rich and the poor and upskill teachers leveraging technology.
It was also gathered that the EKOEXCEL 2020-2021 Endline Fluency and Numeracy Evaluation showed that EKOEXCEL pupils are making remarkable progress in oral reading fluency and foundational numeracy compared to their performance before the initiative’s commencement.
It further showed that an average Primary 3 EKOEXCEL pupil is now reading at nearly the same fluency level as an average Primary 5 pupil from before the launch of the EKOEXCEL programme.
On average, EKOEXCEL Primary 2-3 pupils are outperforming 13 other country contexts on the International Common Assessment of Numeracy (ICAN) while Primary 4-6 rank third out of 14 country contexts on the same numeracy assessment.Crucially, the evaluation affirms that EKOEXCEL is both improving learning over what existed before and is itself continuing to improve learning with the program, over time.The study, which was conducted in July 2021 involved researchers administering two assessments to primary 1-6 pupils.
The tests were an oral reading fluency assessment (using a Primary 2 passage and a grade-level passage) and a foundational numeracy assessment (using the International Common Assessment of Numeracy, or ICAN).Four research questions guided the evaluation.
The first was: “The global pandemic led to learning loss nearly everywhere. How did it affect EKOEXCEL pupils’ performance in literacy?The assessment found that since a baseline oral reading fluency evaluation in Lagos State public schools in 2019 (before the launch of EKOEXCEL), pupils have made outstanding progress across all grade levels. 2021 pupils are reading an average of 311% more correct words per minute compared with their 2019 pre-EKOEXCEL counterparts, with the largest gains among Primary 1 pupils.
“These gains are significant, especially when we consider that average learning loss due to COVID-closures during this time is estimated to be between 0.5 and 1 full year of schooling in reading across 5 countries in Africa. Even in the United Kingdom, where remote learning opportunities were more accessible, learning losses amounted to 2.2 months in reading for primary school pupils.
The EKOEXCEL programme not only mitigated learning loss; it actually accelerated learning amidst a global learning crisis.”The study also sought to know how the pandemic affected EKOEXCEL pupils’ performance in numeracy, finding that “EKOEXCEL Primary 2 pupils are significantly outperforming their pre-EKOEXCEL counterparts on simple addition, simple subtraction, and addition/subtraction with borrowing. In fact, Primary 1 EKOEXCEL pupils are performing roughly one full of their pre-EKOEXCEL peers on foundational numeracy skills. It also emerged that as schools spend more time in the programme, and their school leaders and teachers receive continuous professional development and positive habits strengthen, their pupils benefit on both fluency and numeracy assessments.
Pupils at more ‘mature’ EKOEXCEL schools outperform peers at newer EKOEXCEL schools.”The third research question was if there were better learning outcomes among pupils who (A) consistently attend lessons and (B) learn from teachers who consistently deliver lessons?The report showed that pupils who consistently receive the ‘full’ EKOEXCEL programme perform far better than pupils in the general sample. But to further interrogate the differences, the study compared two different samples: intention to treat (ITT): includes all pupils tested in the 2021 sample, regardless of their attendance or their teacher’s lesson completion rate and treatment on treated (ToT) that includes only pupils who (1) were in attendance for more than 50% of instructional days and (2) attended a classroom where the teacher delivered more than 50% of lessons On grade-level oral reading fluency, ToT pupils read an average of five correct words per minute more than their ITT counterparts. ToT pupils are also significantly less likely to be non-readers by 3% across all grade levels.There was a similar pattern on numeracy outcomes. ToT pupils outperformed ITT pupils on the ICAN numeracy assessment by roughly 2% across all grade levels.The last question was locating the primary areas of growth in fluency and numeracy for the future of EKOEXCEL and the findings were equally heartwarming.“Pupils are achieving impressive gains compared with pre-EKOEXCEL evaluations.
In addition, EKOEXCEL pupils are performing well when compared with other international contexts. On the International Common Assessment of Numeracy (ICAN), EKOEXCEL ranks 1st out of 14 contexts for Class 2-3 and 3rd out of 14 contexts for Class 4-6,” it read.Despite the impressive outcomes, the study holds that there is room for improvement compared with international fluency norms and also on some foundational numeracy outcomes. Pupils are still behind international fluency benchmarks while pupils struggled with some foundational numeracy skills compared with 13 other countries (specifically more complex skills like multiplication and division).Going forward, therefore, EXOEXCEL would focus on ensuring that the average pupil is meeting or exceeding international fluency benchmarks, and also that EKOEXCEL pupils outperform other comparable contexts on more complex foundational numeracy competencies.Speaking to the report’s findings, LASUBEB’s Executive Chairman, Hon. Wahab Alawiye-King, expressed delight, promising that it’s only the beginning of EKOEXCEL’s positive impacts.“I am most delighted that the study showed the meaningful impacts of EKOEXCEL on our pupils and things will only get better, going forward. We have taken key learnings from the report and will address areas of concern.
The Governor’s wish and desire is that pupils of public primary schools receive quality instructions that would be beneficial to them and also the state, in the long run, so we are happy that EKOEXCEL is on the right track, according to these findings” he said.
Permanent Board Member of LASUBEB and oversight chair of the EKOEXCEL programme, Hon. Adebayo Adefuye, also expressed the same, noting that there would be further improvements by the time the next evaluation is done.“We are happy with the report’s findings and we take it as further motivation to work harder and achieve more milestones. We are surely not going to rest on our oars until our public school system becomes significantly better, with parents and pupils themselves attesting to the positive changes,” Adefuye said.
Governor Sanwo-Olu launched EKOEXCEL in 2019 to provide quality education to both the rich and the poor and upskill teachers leveraging technology.
So far, over 18,000 headteachers and teachers have been moved from analogue to digital teaching, using tablets and updated curricula. Over 14,000 primary school teachers from 1,017 public primary schools have been captured under the scheme.