Final, LOTB Quarterly Report, Q2, 2015-16

Quarterly ReportJuly to September 2015

Contents

2

Sr. Chapter Page

1. Overview 3

2. Executive Summary 6

3. Updates from the Last Quarter 7

4. Schools and Teachers 12

5. The Team: Capacity Development 22

6. Innovations 23

7. Successes and Challenges 25

8. The Way Forward–July to September Review 26

9. The Way Forward 28

10. A Story from the Field 30

Overview

3

One of the largest non-governmental organizations in the

country

Established in 1995 to provide education to children in the

slums of Mumbai

An innovative learning organization created to improve the

quality of education in India

Focuses on high-quality, low-cost, and replicable interventions

to address gaps in the education system

About Pratham

4

Teacher-centric educational intervention implemented by the Pratham EducationFoundation, in partnership with the Vodafone Foundation India

The programme aims to enhance teaching and learning in low-income schools through theintroduction of technology as a teaching tool

LOTB provides schools with:

Educational technology with curriculum aligned content

Holistic teacher training

On-going teacher guidance including lesson-planning support

Technical support

1,000

Schools

147,000+

UniqueBeneficiaries

1,900+

Teachers we work with

About Learn, Out of the Box

Overview

5

Monitoring the progress of the Learn, Out of the Box programme for a

given 3-month period.

Provide insights into factors such as:

Initiatives undertaken by the team

Operational updates

Programme Utilization

Trends seen in programme usage

Teacher practices in their classrooms

Innovations in the field

The Quarterly Report

047

048

049

About the Quarterly Report

Overview

July

August

September

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6 7 8 9 10 11 12

13 14 15 16 17 18 19

20 21 22 23 24 25 26

27 28 29 30 31

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3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10 11 12 13 14 15 16

17 18 19 20 21 22 23

24 25 26 27 28 29 30

31

1 2 3 4 5 6

7 8 9 10 11 12 13

14 15 16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25 26 27

28 29 30

September

Executive Summary

6

The second quarter of 2015-16 has been a phase

of transition for the programme.

Preparations are on for the way forward starting

with a comprehensive review of 980 schools

through a standardized tool. This scale of review

was a first for the programme and the RPAs were

trained through de-centralized trainings. The

review was successfully completed on the basis

of which the schools have been categorized.

Based on the review, the programme intends to

drop some existing schools and induct new

schools both in need of the intervention and

academically oriented to implement it. A

comprehensive school induction process has

been designed to engage and observe the

decision maker of the schools.

For the schools, this quarter is an academically

intensive period when productivity of the

programme peaks before the schools close for

festivities. The national average login has been 11

for this quarter and there has been a steady rise

in the first two months leading to a minor dip in

the last month of the quarter due to the

examinations.

Math & science content for Class 8 is being

worked on for inclusion in the programme’s

content framework.

A quite farewell was also given to the programme

in Karnataka & Tripura as support was withdrawn

by the end of this quarter. Karnataka logged in

equivalent to the national average one last time!

The next quarter shall again be operationally

intensive as field-testing for the new technology

shall be completed. The programme also aims to

upgrade technology for the first phase of schools

and orient the new schools being inducted in all

states.

Updates from this Quarter

7

High level updates

The school review process was completed for 980 schoolsthrough a standardized tool which had more than 50 questionsacross categories such as infrastructure, usage, managementinterest, profile of the school etc.

The programme also instituted a induction process for newschools. Emphasis has been laid on extensive engagement andphysical survey of the school.

The transition from the old SIM card was completed and theschools have now switched to the new SIM card.

Two new entrepreneurship centers were launched after drop-outsin the last quarter. The usage of the programme has been lowerin the last two months of the quarter due to competitive exams ofmany entrepreneurs around this time.

Jharkhand & Uttar Pradesh were new states achieving higherlogins than the national average.

Classroom in the lap of nature

A group activity underway in a

classroom


8

Entrepreneurship pilot

18 of the 20 pilot centers were active in this quarter

A pilot center in Jharkhand has been inactive as there was an accidental hardware damage. The

entrepreneur has agreed to get the hardware repaired but needs time to organise funds.

Successfully launched the programme with two new entrepreneurs after drop outs because of

personal commitments.

Catalyst Management Services (CMS) conducted a round of qualitative surveys at the pilot centers

in Jharkhand

Improvement in interest, comprehension, curiosity, and class participation was reported.

According to CMS, an assessment on learning levels of students was not possible because of

limited time of exposure at the time of the assessment.


9

Way Forward Activities

School review and categorization of schools

A two step review process was undertaken to assess the school’s level of engagement with the

programme. The schools were categorised into Cat-A, B and C according to the following

criterion

Usage Data

School infrastructure

Management Co-operation

School Profile

The RPAs rated all of their schools using a standardized tool and they were verified by the

respective RPMs.

Schools in category C were issued warning letters. The monitoring of these schools has been

completed and the drop out process has been initiated.

The number of Cat-C schools were evenly distributed among Urban-Rural and Government-

Private schools. Since, no category of schools were more likely to be in Cat-C the current ratio

of Urban-Rural and Government-Private schools will be maintained.

10

School Induction Process Background: One learning from previous inductions of schools

has been the essential need for the decision maker to beinterested and willing to engage with the programme. Theschool review also indicates that schools with interested andacademically inclined principals are performing consistentlywell.

Engagement of Decision Makers: The process lays emphasis ofthe engagement of the decision makers (Principal/Manager) ofthe school and aims to observe their interest, acumen andacademic foresight in management of their school.

The Induction Process: The chart below represents the start-to-finish induction process.

A group discussion in progress during one of

inductions in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh

ADVERTISEMENT

Poster/Pamphlet/ Reference/Network/

State Specific Mechanism

FIRST CONTACT

SMS

Phone Survey

(ELIMINATION 1)

PROFILING

Physical Survey

by

RPA

(ELIMINATION 2)

SEMINAR*

Attended by Manager/Principal

Observance of academic, administrative &

entrepreneurial outlook

(ELIMINATION 3)

SELECTED SCHOOL VERIFICATION VISIT

by RPM/ARPM

(ELIMINATION 4-IF REQ.)

FINAL SELECTION

&

SIGNING OF MOU Participants during the Case Study session in

Lucknow


11

A pamphlet inviting schools for the

induction process

*ICT: Information & Communication

Technology

Seminar: An important component of the process, theSeminar was an opportunity to engage with the schooldecision makers first hand. The complete process was initiallypiloted in Uttar Pradesh and results have been largelypositive.

Session Design: The seminar comprised of three sessions asdetailed below:

Problem-Solution of School

The participants were asked to identify any two-three predicamentsin the areas of ‘Teaching & Learning, Infrastructure or HumanResource’ being faced in their schools and detail a possible solutionfor the same within a structured format.

Case Study

The case study focuses on resources available within the school andprioritization in its utilization. The participants were asked to identifypossible ways of utilizing resources and present any innovative ideasto tackle these problems.

Group Discussion

In the final session, the participants were divided in three groups forgeneral discussion on education & ICT* related topics.

Observation: The LOTB team through the sessions recordsobservations and rates the participants as per theirinterest, contribution and quality of inputs etc.


Active Schools

Schools which have

logged in at least once a

month

Operational but inactive

Schools

Schools which have

working hardware but

have not been able to

login

In-operational Schools

Schools which do not

have working hardware

Schools and Teachers

12

Schools The schools section examines the behavior of schools at the State level, providing information on programme

activity, and utilization.

Quarterly Activity Status of Schools

85%

5%

9%

AugustJuly September

77%

5%17%

81%

7%

12%

The Cat-C dropout process started in September 2015. Significant number of the Cat-C schools

were dropped out in this month.

September is an exam month which saw a decrease in absolute number of active schools.

However, the percentage of active schools has increased because the dropped out schools were

not included in the number of total schools.


13

11

Himachal Pradesh

Rajasthan Uttar

Pradesh Bihar

Jharkhand

Assam

Maharashtra

Karnataka

Andhra

Pradesh

Delhi

Tripura

Uttarakhand

1 20

All Saint School in Nalanda, Bihar was

the highest user in the month of

August, 2015.

98

Jharkhand

The increase in average login per

school was the highest in Jharkhand.

After the warning letters were

given, many schools increased

utilization of the programme.

The average login per school

increased compared to the last

quarter. This quarter has the most

number of working days in schools.

Telangana

Utilization

14

20

8

20

1412 12 11

10 10 98

76 6

0

11

15

Comparison of Average Monthly Usage Per School Across States

National Average Expected Average Pilot Average

Entrepreneurship pilot

LOTB schools LOTB winter closing schools

The average login for the last quarter

across schools stands at 11 logins per

school.

This quarter has the most number of

working days. And hence, saw higher

utilization of the program.

The states which had login above the

national average are:

• Jharkhand

• Uttarakhand

• Uttar Pradesh

• Karnataka

The winter closing schools which were

among the highest login schools in last

quarter has remained almost constant in

comparison to other school logins, which

has essentially picked up.

Utilization

15

6

4

3

11

13

9

16 1615

19

16

13

Login analysis

Schools Entrepreneur center

In the current quarter, we have varied

pattern of school logins. As we can

observe that the number of logins have

doubled in comparison to last quarter for

each month.

Among the months in current quarter

beginning from July till September, we

can observe rise then fall in logins due

to the sessions starting after summer

vacation, leaves and examinations.

Further, the logins at entrepreneur

centers have constantly decreased in the

current quarter though started with a

marginal good login number from the

last quarter.

But as we compare logins in schools and

entrepreneur centers, we can definitely

observe that the logins at entrepreneur

centers have been consistently higher

than that of schools in any given month.

Avera

ge lo

gin

per

sch

oo

l


TeachersIn our Teachers section we examine teacher preferences and teaching patterns observed through the

classroom observations conducted by our team, and any other relevant data. In this quarter, a total of 275

classroom observations were carried across all LOTB schools.

16

Subjects

Math utilization has constantly been lower than

the science utilization. The Science content

helps the student to understand concepts with

better and efficient resources.

Further, the Science utilization makes it easy as

well as comprehensive for teacher and students

to learn through the usage of internet and

experiments.

Math being a practice oriented approach apart

from the clarity on concepts. Thus, this largely

makes the utilization less than science subject.

43% 45% 45%

57% 55% 55%

July August September

Math Science

Subject preferences as per the teacher login


17

53%: See

34%: Do

32%: Think

Content Used

The ‘See’ section dominates usage in the classrooms and has become a credible

introductory tool for teachers to initiate discussions on a particular topic or

chapter.

‘Think’ and ‘Do’ sections are also being used in considerable number of classes.

However, prior preparation and syllabus becomes a reason for lower priority

since by September the schools are expected to complete syllabus in time for

the examinations.

Web Search : Using Internet Resources

The word-cloud shows the most common words being searched

for, the larger the word, the more popular it is as a search term

A common theme among the searched content is teacher tend to

look for content which the students might find more entertaining

The search string song, animation were used with other searches

Teachers also searched for visual content. Words like map and

images frequently appear in the search strings.

30%

26%

44%

Lecture basedSlightly less than half of the classes observed this quarter were

lecture based. This is almost equal to what it was in the previous

quarter (43%)

30%Activity based30% of the classes were activity based – an increase over the past

quarter.

44%

Primary methods of teaching in

the classroom

Classroom and Teaching Practices

Teaching Methods

Based on classroom observations by our field staff, we have categorized classrooms into the following three

categories, based on the primary teaching method used during the observed class:


18

26%Discussion based26% of the classes were discussion based – a decrease over the

past quarter.


19

67%

38%

74%

83%

Teachers reviewed the

concepts from the last

class

Teacher used an opening activity to gain the students' attention

Teacher made

connections to previous lessons and

classes

Teacher connected

the classroom concepts to examples

from the "real world"

Occurrence in % of classes observed

Teaching Methods (contd.)

Teaching methods have largely focused on the

interactive & diverse teaching approaches as we

can observe large percentage of teachers

reviewed the concepts from last class and

connected with the lessons from previous

classes.

To make a class interactive about 38% teachers

started with an activity for students to be more

confident and gain their attention.

The classroom sessions were mixed of using the

‘WebBox’ and traditional lecture based teaching

methods.

Further, practical examples which are connect

to ‘real word’ had been the centric approach for

teachers in terms of teaching methodology used

in the classes observed.


20

53%

78%

45%

Teacher had planned and

discussed the class beforehand

with the RPA

Teacher has viewed the

WebBox content and prepared

relevant questions prior to class

Students were aware about the preparation they were expected to

do before the class

Occurrence in % of classes observed

Lesson Planning

Large number of teachers about 53% had

planned and discussed the lessons with RPA

beforehand in the classes observed.

78% of teachers felt that the WebBox

content help them in preparing for the class

before the actual session takes place.

The interaction of teachers and students in

terms of preparing for the class has been an

important aspects of learning. In 45% of

cases, students were aware of the

preparation they were expected to do

before the class. This helps students to be

more attentive in class and helps them in

understanding the concepts better.

Overall, a learning environment is being

created for a student to learn in more

exciting approach about new concepts


Impact of RPA School Visits on Program UsageThis distribution shows the effect thatclassroom visits have on number of logins:

An average of 3 visits per school permonth was done in this quarter

The number of school visits were high dueto operational reasons like SIMtransition, warning letters and so on.

Also, the number of school visits hasdoubled from the last quarter due tocommencement of regular classes inschool.

21

0

50

100

150

200

250

0 3 6 9 12 15

Visits Vs Logins

Lo

gin

s

Total Visits

22

State-Level Initiatives

The Team–Capacity Development

40%

30%

10%

10%

10%

Topical Areas Covered in State-level RPA Training

Planning and Time Management

Pedagogy

Computer skills

Content Development

Reporting and writing skills

For the school induction process. A

representative RPA from each state attended

a 2 day training in Lucknow. These RPAs took

a leading role in conducting the seminars in

their state. Through such focused

trainings, the programme aims to further

build confidence and leadership skills in

RPAs.

Assistant Regional Programme Managers are

being mentored in states and will take up

more leadership responsibilities in the future.

State level initiatives have been limited since

the teams are engaged in operational

activities.

23

Teaching and Learning Innovations

Teacher-Led

Community library in Rajasthan : With the initiative of an

RPA, two schools have set-up a Book Bank. Students donate the

textbook from their previous standard and can exchange them

for their new class.

A teacher in Mumbai is giving students rotational responsibility

to use the Web-Box content for revision. These students use the

Web-Box for revision without the supervision of the teacher.

Innovations

True to its name, the Learn, Out of the Box team strongly believes in

creativity – both in the classroom and in the workspace. Thus we

encourage innovation at various levels. Innovations undertaken by our

team, or by teachers have been highlighted in the sections below.

The school library being set-up

24

InnovationsTeam-Led Science Projects : RPAs in Giridih and Jamshedpur, Jharkhand made science projects based on

open source content available on the internet. RPAs worked on the projects and then

demonstrated it in the schools. Later on, students were encouraged to make similar projects on

their own.

Buddy Teachers : A challenge in large teacher whatsapp/facebook groups was that the

participation was dominated to a few teachers. In Mumbai this model was tweaked. Some teachers

were assigned a buddy teacher. They supported each other with ideas on class management and

utilizing digital content in the class.

Additional content : Additional teacher development content was shared with some highly

motivated teachers. The content can work as a self development tool for the teachers. It helps in

understanding how a strategically planned classroom can be more effective than a lecture based

classroom. The content also had demo classes which showed an IDTM classroom which includes

dialogue, questioning, activity, narration and project related methods.

Process-LedDivision of responsibilities: In Jharkhand responsibilities have been shared among team members.

For example, one of the RPA has been made the single point of contact for hardware issues in his

district. The person will be responsible for informing the RPM about need for repair and will co-

ordinate with the RPM and the repair agency.

25

Successes

The scale and detail in the school review process was a first for the programme which

was successfully completed

School Induction process was successfully completed in Uttar Pradesh

The schools were transitioned to the new SIM cards relatively seamlessly

Community Centers were piloted in Rajasthan which was a success and may be scaled

up in the next academic year

Successes and Challenges

Challenges

Hiring of team members at state and central teams has been challenge

The schools with accidental damage of hardware have been unwilling to pay for repair

costs which leads to high turnaround time

Teacher trainings & RPA Capacity development programmes were de-prioritized since

the programme has been in transition

In the previous quarter the team had planned a set of focuses for current quarter. In this section we reflect to

see where we stand with respect to our planned targets for the quarter.

.

26

The Way Forward: July to September Review

1. Implementing the LOTB Way forward strategy

Sub-Area Projected Activities Status at End of Quarter

Review of

engagement of

existing schools

i. Review all the schools based on

program utilization, school

infrastructure and management

support

i. All the schools went through a 2 step review

process and they were categorized into three

categories

Phasing out the

non-performing

schools

i. Giving warning letters to Cat-C

schools

ii. Dropping out of Cat-C schools

i. Warning letters were given to all schools

ii. Dropping out process started for Cat-C schools

Induction of new

schools replacing

the non-

performing

schools

i. Inviting schools to the induction

seminars

ii. Selecting schools based on our

criteria and interest shown by the

management

i. The induction process was piloted in Uttar

Pradesh

ii. An expression of interest was invited by schools

iii. Schools meeting our criteria were invited to the

induction seminars

Introduction of

new-technology

in Cat-A & new

schools

i. Selecting new technology which

would replace the Web-Box

ii. Testing out the new LWV app

i. Technology procurement only after finalization of

the agreement for the Way Forward

27

The Way Forward: July to September Review

2. RPA capacity development


RPA Fellowship i. Initiate process of fellow selection

ii. Finalize the course structure for

the fellowship

i. RPA Fellowship was de-prioritized since the

operational engagements of the programme for

the Way Forward had intensified.

Capacity

Building Courses

i. Pilot the Capacity Building Courses

ii. Initiate delivery of these courses to

field staff

i. Capacity Building Courses were de-prioritized

since the operational engagements of the

programme for the Way Forward had intensified.

3. SIM card transition


Get Phone

numbers from all

the schools

i. Get new phone numbers from the

schools

i. Facilitated purchase of SIM cards

Finalize the

phone recharge

process

i. Identifying a vendor to recharge

SIMs centrally

i. Doing a central prepaid recharge was proving to

be challenge because the pack’s amount varies by

circles

ii. 8 out of 10 states have been able to identify state

specific vendors

28

The Way Forward

Finalization of the specific technology & preparation of delivery mechanism to states

Field testing of the new technology for preparation of training modules

Orienting the programme team on the technology

Creating a tech-upgradation calendar & orienting teams accordingly

1. Way Forward: Technology

Although we did manage to meet several of our targets for this quarter, some remain to be completed. Thus

these elements, including new priorities for the coming quarter have been detailed in the section below.

Completion of the school induction process & selection of schools in non-induction districts

Completion of Agreement with Cat-A & new schools for extension of the programme

Initiating discussion with district officials for replacement of government schools

2. Way Forward: Induction

Deactivation of all remaining SIM Cards after completion of outstanding payments by schools

Physical tracking of SIM Card by generation of unique code

3. Way Forward: SIM Transition

29

The Way Forward

Compilation of Math & Science content for Class 8 received from Tata ClassEdge as per the LOTB content

framework

Completing creation of content for ‘Think’ & ‘Do’ section for Class 8 Math & Science

Finalizing other content related applications to be placed in the Tablet

4. Way Forward: Content

Close hiring for all the open positions in State and Central Team

5. Hiring & Orientation

A Story from the Field

30

Not waiting for electricity to come back…

This story comes from the district of Giridih in the state of Jharkhand. Giridih is the centre for

prestigious Indian Statistical Institute (ISI). For LOTB, Giridih is home to 30 schools and 13

entrepreneurship pilot centers.

Being one of the backward districts in Jharkhand, Giridih has had perennial electricity problems

which has become acute these days. Most schools have an environment which supports quality

learning, adequate infrastructure and resources. But still, there are numerous challenges due to

irregular power supply and sometimes black-outs.

Inspite of these challenges, Giridih has been a well performing district as the both the LOTB team

and the enthusiastic teachers have innovated a way around the absence of electricity – a critical

prerequisite for LOTB. The RPAs have been actively introducing the programme’s methodology of

diverse teaching methods, which frees the teacher from dependency on external factors like

electricity, content etc.

The teacher plans their classroom lessons in advance referring resources from WebBox & textbook

and integrate diverse teaching methods like discussions, role-play and many other methods. This

has reduced direct dependency on content and enhanced the teacher’s interaction with the class.

Empowering such teachers with ideas to teach and innovate and making them free of external

dependencies like electricity or even notebooks or blackboards shall be the true legacy of this

programme .

The meaning of education

31

I learn what I do and I do what I have learnt. True education is when the person can differentiate between right and wrong.

-From a school in Giridih, Jharkhand

Documents

Final, LOTB Quarterly Report, Q2, 2015-16