Evaluation of the Malawi teacher professional development support (MTPDS) program : final evaluation report

The program was implemented through three discrete "packages" of support, implemented at the school level: (1) Level 1 – National Continuous Professional Development: CPD in-service teacher training includes modules on literacy and leadership that reach all 36,080 Standard 1–4 teachers in all 34 education districts nationwide through in-service training conducted over weekends and school holidays; (2) Level 2 – Intensive Literacy Intervention: This includes CPD plus additional days of training, scripted lesson plans, and the Nditha Kuwerenga Reader for every Standard 1 student in the seven target districts; (3) Level 3 – Coaching: This includes all previous interventions plus coaching by MTPDS and Primary Education Advisors (PEA) (select schools in Salima and Ntchisi). USAID/Malawi commissioned an evaluation of the MTPDS activity comprised of two complementary components. An impact evaluation (IE) approach was to assess the differential impact and costeffectiveness of the three levels of treatment intensity on student learning in reading. A performance evaluation approach was to document lessons learned and to assess progress towards sustainability (specifically the handing over of the national CPD program to the MoEST). The four-person evaluation team utilized a multi-level, mixed-methods approach to gain both a breadth and depth of information. These methods included: document review, data quality assessment (DQA), direct observation, key informant interviews (KII), focus group discussions (FGD), mini-surveys, and a statistical analysis of quantitative data to derive impact and associated cost-effectiveness estimates. Each technique facilitated triangulation of data during the analysis and reporting phases (Excerpt, modified).