Evaluation of the First Phase of the Liberia LEAP Program

Final report from the CGD and UC San Diego team evaluating the pilot phase of a flagship education reform in Liberia praises Rising Academies for producing “a consistently positive pattern of results across learning, access, and safety dimensions.”

Earlier, the CGD and UC San Diego team produced a midline report (summary) that covered the first year of the pilot (2016-17). Estimated learning gains for students in Rising schools were among the largest of any operator, equivalent to between 1.3 and 1.8 additional years of schooling compared to students in control schools.

Evaluation of Rising Schools by the University of Oxford in Sierra Leone

Using innovative computer-adaptive test software to track progress on literacy and numeracy, the Dr David Johnson and PT Jenny Hsieh of Oxford University find that students in Rising schools made between 48% and 160% more progress than students in comparable private and government schools. Girls in Rising schools progressed faster than boys, and 2 to 4 times faster than girls in the comparison schools.

This is the third and final report from the Oxford research team. The team has previously released a first annual progress report (summary) and a second annual progress report (summary) that found students in Rising schools had made 2 to 3 times as much progress in reading and maths as students in comparable private and government schools.

Experiences of Educating During and After the Pandemic

IDinsight, supported by Echidna Giving, conducted phone interviews with parents and guardians of Rising students in 2021 to better understand how to "adapt educational activities to ongoing and future school disruptions due to COVID-19." The aim of this study was to "help education providers to better understand the impact of school closures on educational outcomes and to adpt remote learning strategies."

Testing the Impact of Education via IVR in Ghana

Rising Academies explored the impact of Interactive Voice Response (IVR) content delivered to students and teachers in Ghana in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic upon school reopening. The study sought to evaluate the impact of the Rising on Air audio content on students, with a focus on foundational numeracy skills for students and instruction of foundational literacy skills for teachers, and published in the EdTech Hub Evidence Library.

Teaching and Testing by Phone in a Pandemic in Sierra Leone

The Center for Global Development partnered with Rising Academies to implement a randomised control trial during the COVID-19 pandemic in which, in addition to the government educational radio broadcast, students received SMS reminders to listen to the broadcast or SMS reminders plus one-on-one live phone sessions with school teachers. Rising Academies teachers displayed higher implementation fidelity, with students receiving an average 10 out of a maximum of 16 calls per subject, compared to an average of 7 calls per subject from public school teachers.

Freetown City Council Research

Rising Academies and EducAid worked in partnership with Freetown City Council, the Teaching Service Commission (TSC) and the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education (MBSSE) to develop and agree a set of minimum standards for schools. The project seeks to improve the FCC's ability to track its schools, as well as improve them.

BCorp® Certification

In 2019, Rising Academies achieved BCorp certification, becoming the first certified BCorp in Liberia or Sierra Leone and only the third certified in West Africa. In 2021, Rising Academies was selected as one of the "Best for the World" for being in the "top 5% of the Customers portion of the B Impact Assessment which measures the impact a company has on its customers through their products or services." Rising was ranked with the 2^nd highest score amongst all BCorps in this category.