We invest deeply in periodic rigorous external evaluations.
These evaluations — including a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of our direct-delivery model in Uganda, the Educate! Experience — found that toward the end of secondary school, graduates of the model earn nearly double the income of their peers.
A follow-up RCT found that four years later, participants demonstrate large and durable shifts in skills coupled with significant improvements in educational and gender-related outcomes, including a 25% increase in university enrollment for women, 21% less likelihood of having a child, and 18% decrease in inter-partner violence for women.
Just before graduating from secondary school, participants of the Educate! Experience showed improvements in key economic areas.
Results from a quasi-experimental evaluation conducted towards the end of secondary school from 2015-2017, in partnership with BRAC, to better understand the impact of the Educate! Experience at scale: BRAC. (2018). “PSM End of Course Evaluation Report.”
Another external evaluation revealed that 4 years after the Educate! Experience (3.5 years after graduating from secondary), our graduates are better off than their peers in key areas linked to improved life outcomes: soft skills, education, and gender equity.
Among other benefits, the Educate! Experience leads to improved soft skills, increased secondary school completion rates, more youth selecting STEM and business majors, delayed fertility, reductions in risky behavior, and declines in intimate partner violence.
From what we’ve seen, this is the first evaluation in Africa to causally link soft skills to improvements in life outcomes related to education and gender.
This randomized controlled trial (RCT) was conducted in partnership with researchers from the University of California-Berkeley, the World Bank, and Innovations for Poverty Action, to measure the long-term impact of our model.
Well-regarded existing research connects our skills, education, and gender equity-related outcomes to improvements in lifetime employment and income.
Together, these external evaluations tell a positive story – that Educate! participants are on a higher trajectory toward better life outcomes.
What do these results mean for Educate! participants?
The following is a stylized example illustrating how participating in our direct-delivery model, the Educate! Experience, impacts a young woman over time, based on evidence from our external impact evaluations.
Barbara enrolls in the Educate! Experience and builds valuable transferable skills like self-efficacy, creativity, and grit.
Soft skills impacts were large and statistically significant for female participants 4 years post-participation, e.g. self-efficacy at 0.13 SD, creativity at 22.9%, and grit at 0.21 SD.**
In two rigorous evaluations, students demonstrated large income and employment gains at the end of the model, before graduating from high school.
Barbara is able to pay her school fees with the income she earned and graduates from high school.
Female participants are 7.9% more likely to graduate than their peers.**
A follow-on RCT revealed that youth who go through our model are prioritizing tertiary, trading short-term economic gains from working full time for longer-term potential gains from higher education.
Though Barbara has not been focusing on earning an income while enrolled in university, she graduates with honors and pursues employment as a civil engineer.
Females are 11% more likely to graduate and with a GPA that is 0.21 SD higher than those who did not participate in the Educate! Experience.**
*Results from a quasi-experimental evaluation conducted from 2015-2017, in partnership with BRAC, to better understand the impact of the Educate! Experience at scale: BRAC. (2018). “PSM End of Course Evaluation Report.”
**Results from female subsample of a follow-on Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) to measure our model’s impact on students 3.5 years after graduating from secondary. Carney, Dana, et al. (2019). “Educate! Evaluation: Four-year Follow-up Report.”
In secondary school, Barbara starts a small business and earns nearly double the income of her peers.
Female participants earn 244% more income than their peers towards the end of secondary school, both genders earning 95% more than their peers not participating in the model.*
Barbara delays entering the workforce and enrolls in university to study engineering.
Female participants are 25% more likely to enroll in university and 22% more likely to choose a business or STEM degree than her peers who did not participate in the Educate! Experience.**
Barbara’s improved life skills, higher educational attainment, and improved gender-related outcomes are strongly correlated with long-term labor market and income improvements.
Female participants are 21% less likely to have children/have been pregnant, 18% less likely to report being a victim of inter-partner violence, and 28% more likely to feel as though she can decide whether she works outside of the home.**
“These results command attention as successful interventions of this type do not abound.”
- Luis Benveniste, Practice Director for Education Global Practice, World Bank
Key RCT Follow-up Evaluation Results
The RCT follow-up shows that students who participate in the Educate! Experience demonstrate significantly improved outcomes four years after completing the model, including:
Large & lasting impacts on soft skills
Educate! Experience participants show statistically significant improvement in areas like creativity, grit, pro-social attitudes, and self-efficacy.
Greater educational attainment
Educate! Experience participants are more likely to graduate from secondary school, select higher-earning majors, complete higher education studies, and earn higher cumulative grade point averages.
Improved gender-related outcomes
Educate! Experience participants have a lower likelihood of ever having been pregnant, have fewer children, report fewer incidences of domestic violence, and have an increased likelihood of feeling as though they can work outside the home.
Girls achieve even greater results.
Compared to their female peers in the control group in our follow-up, female participants:
7.9% more likely to graduate from secondary school
25% more likely to enroll in university
22% more likely to choose a business or STEM degree
These evaluation results demonstrate that our model continues to make progress towards gender equity, with an even larger relative impact on girls as compared to boys.
Our gender impact effects are comparable to interventions that purely target gender outcomes.
Results from a follow-on Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) to measure our model’s impact on students 4 years after completing the Educate! Experience. Carney, Dana, et al. (2019). “Educate! Evaluation: Four-year Follow-up Report.”
We’re preparing youth with the skills to succeed in today’s economy.
Educate!’s Evaluation Philosophy
Educate!’s impact measurement philosophy relies on periodic, rigorous external evaluations to measure medium- and long-term outcomes. Our work in schools has been extensively evaluated, including through randomized controlled trials of our models in Uganda and Rwanda. For these evaluations, Educate! has partnered with researchers from the University of California, Berkeley; Innovations for Poverty Action; Oregon State University; and the World Bank, with funding from the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), the United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth, & Development Office (FCDO), and the Global Innovation Fund (GIF), among others.
These evaluations examine our impact on the following outcomes: 21st-century skills development, educational attainment, community involvement and leadership, as well as economic outcomes
Long-term research was conducted with generous support from:
Impact on Scholars
95% income increase from a base of $88.43 in the comparison group
Impact on Girls
244% income increase from a base of $32.43 in the comparison group