Latest Datasets
We are excited to announce that all waves of data from the Early Grade Reading Studies (EGRS) conducted by the Department of Basic Education in South Africa are now available on the DataFirst portal.
The EGRS were large-scale research initiatives aimed at evaluating different approaches to improving early grade reading outcomes in South African primary schools. The studies followed cohorts of learners through primary school generating rich longitudinal data on reading outcomes.
Key Findings from the EGRS
The EGRS have provided critical evidence on what works—and what doesn’t—for improving early literacy in South African classrooms:
- Teacher coaching is highly effective: EGRS I and II demonstrated that ongoing in-classroom coaching had a significant and sustained impact on learners' reading outcomes, outperforming other interventions such as one-off teacher training or parental involvement programs.
- Structured lesson plans improve instruction: Providing teachers with well-designed structured lesson plans and learning materials led to better teaching practices and improved reading fluency, especially in mother-tongue instruction.
- Language of learning matters: Findings reinforced the importance of home-language instruction in the early grades for building strong literacy foundations before transitioning to English.
In addition, the EGRS data has been used to measure the impact of Covid-19 related school closures on learning and to establish reading benchmarks in Nguni and Sesotho-Setswana languages.