The Support to Rural India’s Public Education System (STRIPES) Trial: A Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial of Supplementary Teaching, Learning Material and Material Support

Rashmi Lakshminarayana, Effective Intervention
Alex Eble, Brown University
Preetha Bhakta, Naandi Foundation
Chris Frost, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM)
Peter Boone, Effective Intervention
Diana Elbourne, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM)
Vera Mann, Independent Consultant

We conducted a cluster-randomised controlled trial to assess the effectiveness of providing supplementary, remedial teaching and learning materials (and an additional ‘kit’ of materials for girls) on a composite of language and mathematics test scores for children in classes two, three and four in public primary schools in rural Andhra Pradesh, India. After two years of the intervention, composite test scores were significantly higher in the intervention group (107 villages; 2364 children) than in the control group (106 villages; 2014 children) at the end of the trial (mean difference on a percentage scale 15.8; 95% CI 13.1 to 18.6; p<0.001; a 0.75 standard deviation improvement). Test scores were not significantly different in the 54 villages (566 girls) in the kit intervention group compared to the 53 kit control villages (548 girls) at the end of the trial (mean difference on a percentage scale 2.0; 95% CI -2.4 to 6.4; p=0.4).