Evaluating whether trained school leaders can advance Differentiated Learning approaches to improve learning outcomes.
Quality basic education plays a crucial role in enabling individuals to reach their full potential. However, extended school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in devastating impacts on learning. While initiatives like Differentiated Learning and Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) have proven to be effective in addressing learning loss, they face difficulties in large-scale implementation.
Quantedge Advancement Initiative is partnering Global School Leaders on Program AKSELERASI, which is jointly supported by the Asian Development Bank / Asian Development Bank Institute, UBS Optimus Foundation, and Octava Foundation. The programme is the first of its kind to evaluate whether trained school leaders can advance Differentiated Learning and TaRL approaches in schools.
Through its local implementing partner, INSPIRASI Foundation, Global School Leaders will implement a randomised controlled trial (RCT) study across 300 schools in West Java, Indonesia. The RCT study will address the following empirical research questions:
​
-
Do teachers with a short training on conducting Differentiated Learning in numeracy implement the approach?
-
Do student numeracy outcomes improve in classrooms that implement Differentiated Learning?
-
Will additional support from trained school principals strengthen the results of Differentiated Learning delivered through teachers and sustain the intervention over a longer period?
.jpg)
Additionally, Global School Leaders will develop a comprehensive Digital Learning Ecosystem to enable continuous professional learning and engagement of teachers and school leaders. The Learning Ecosystem integrates an open-sourced learning management system and an online professional learning community management system. It will also provide tools to track training attendance and knowledge improvement, and support teachers to conduct student outcomes assessments. Training materials developed will be digitised and shared with the Indonesian Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology for dissemination to a wider group of schools and teachers across Indonesia.
Through the programme, Global School Leaders aims to train and strengthen the capacities of 200 teachers and 100 school leaders, and improve the basic numeracy skills of 6,000 students. We hope our support will catalyse the development of a cost-effective and sustainable Differentiated Learning model, which can be scaled across schools in Indonesia and beyond.
Outcomes
The programme increased teachers’ and school principals’ exposure to Differentiated Learning, although this did not translate into statistically significant improvements in student numeracy outcomes. While principals who were trained alongside teachers conducted more classroom observations, these remained mostly informal.
The findings suggest that light-touch interventions alone are unlikely to drive meaningful learning gains without strong implementation support, strong teacher content knowledge, and alignment with the wider education system.
The study highlighted the importance of:
-
Sustained coaching and technical support for teachers and school leaders
-
Monitoring and accountability structures that motivate continued engagement
-
Integration of programmes within existing education structures and priorities, to reduce implementation burden
Access the findings here: Learning Recovery in Indonesia: Insights from a Differentiated Learning & School Leadership Study.
​