ThinkZone

ThinkZone is a social enterprise that works towards improving the learning outcomes of children in low-resource settings. ThinkZone utilizes offline-enabled mobile application solutions for training and equipping youth to become educators. Through ThinkZone’s data-driven technology and research-based methodology on learning, youth support children aged 3-10 years in their communities to develop foundational literacy and numeracy skills.

We also use voice, SMS-based & Whatsapp-based low-cost technology to provide free, interactive learning resources for families. We work with communities to support at-home learning for children aged 3-10 years.

Mission: Improving learning outcomes of children from low-resource settings by implementing high-quality education programs.

Vision: Every child should have the opportunity to pursue their dreams. 

Approach: Building a sustainable model to improve the learning outcomes of children through REST (Review Engage Strengthen Train) framework

Itishree has multiple years of experience in program designing, content development, monitoring & evaluation, and teacher training. At ThinkZone, Itishree works as a Program Lead. Her responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Managing and coordinating day to day activities of the program team.

• Identify and delegate tasks and assign roles to team members.

• Monitor team members' progress and ensure deadlines are met.

• Provide constructive feedback and guidance to team members to help them reach their goals.

• Conduct capacity building sessions for team members to improve their knowledge

• Designing the program structure

• Developing implementation guidelines

• Motivating the team to achieve organizational goals.

• Fostering creativity among team members

• Collaborate with experts to take feedback on products

Along with the team leader, two other team members are well-positioned to provide the LEAP project with effective support. We have 24 full-time and 17 part-time members. The work is divided among the team members in a way that maximizes efficiency and ensures that all tasks are completed within the allocated time. Each team member has expertise in different areas, allowing us to tackle complex tasks with ease.

The LEAP Project will not be an additional responsibility for the team lead or the other two members. As we look to strengthen the evidence of our solution, it will be a part of our work. And we have made commitments to enhance our understanding of the impact of our solution.

The team lead brings program design, product development and monitoring to the table. Among other team members, one being the founder keeps a deeper understanding of the organisation, and geography where we operate and overall programs in detail; one being a senior associate in partnerships and outreach, brings experience in collaborating with subject experts and developing documentations. We are confident that the team of three having experience in various areas can effectively support the project.

Empowering Community Educators with the Required Skills to Help Children in Underserved Communities & Build a Strong Foundation

Nearly 24 lakh children in Odisha attend Government primary schools. But only 29.7% of children enrolled in standard 3 can read standard 2 level text, as research shows. 26.8% of standard 3 children studying in Government schools can do subtraction and only 26.1% of standard 5 children can do division.

Comparing these numbers to the years before the pandemic, the learning levels of children have declined drastically due to closure of schools and inability to access edtech during the pandemic. Children were promoted to the next class without having solid foundational skills, adversely affecting the learning outcomes of children. This situation is likely to deteriorate over time if the necessary measures are not taken urgently.

Community tutorship (Tuition) is a very popular concept in India where children attend paid private classes. It is run by tutors from the same or nearby communities. Apart from schools, children take private tuition classes after or before school hours. Research says that there is a constant increase in the percentage of children who opt for private tuitions. The majority of women and youth in Odisha set up small tuition centers in their own communities to teach small children in the area. These tuition centres work as remedial classes for children and are often low-cost which provide an affordable way to supplement a child's education. Furthermore, tuition centres offer a more personalized learning experience for children, which can benefit their academic development. 

But tuition teachers or community educators do not always possess a degree in a professional teaching course nor are they fomally trained in it. As these community educators play a critical role in providing education in a community, targeting them would result in the improvement of the learning outcomes of children. ThinkZone identifies and empowers these community educators with the required skills through instructor-led support and accessible technology (ThinkZone mobile application). Community educators go through a rigorous training program (training programs are conducted in blended mode) to learn about child development, teaching pedagogy, using ICT (Information Communication Technology) in education etc.

Community educators belong to the same community as children, so they have a better understanding of children's learning patterns. And that is the reason children can also freely interact and share their thoughts with them without hesitation and fear. This rapport between a community educator and child helps identify the difficulties a child faces comprehending a concept. Educators use this rapport to create a safe environment where children can feel comfortable asking questions and expressing their ideas. It also helps a community educator plan learning activities for children that cater to learning needs.

This solution enables a youth or a woman to establish a sustainable and professional micro-businesses in education, also achieve self-sustainability by offering paid courses for children in their own communities. 

Till date, we have not conducted any summative research for this solution. However, we have conducted interviews and collected case studies to see the program's effectiveness. Our internal evaluation, which tracks progress through the Thinkzone mobile application, reveals significant advancements from the baseline assessment to the endline assessment.

From the numbers, we have found that children's numeracy and literacy skills increased significantly (that is 62.62% in numeracy and 60.8% in literacy skills). 

The onboarded educators have shown remarkable improvement in 21st-century skills, pedagogy and communication skill. 

Story of an educator: 

From the stories and interviews, we found that

• Empowering community educators is a niche area for imparting quality education in underserved communities.

• The solution is one-of-a-kind that benefits two kinds of population that is children and youth or women.

• The numbers that we found serve as strong evidence of the effectiveness of our program in enhancing children's literacy and numeracy proficiency.

• Youth and women who opt for community tuition have the potential to make a positive impact on society in terms of education.

• We have been implementing this solution for five years. The positive impact that we have observed is noteworthy. Every child's learning needs are different and when we try to fit them all into the same frame, some children may fall behind. Hence, this solution has the potential to address the learning needs of individual children while improving their learning outcomes.

The number of children opting for private tuition classes is increasing day by day. Parents send their children to community educators in the hope of children will perform better as private tuition is one-to-one mentorship.

Youth and women setting up tuition centres (microenterprises) are increasing. These tuition centres are part-time income-generating opportunities for them. What we have observed is that with appropriate training, these community tutors have the potential to contribute much to children's learning. But there is very limited research on private tuition as an after-school program adding value to children's learning. So research is needed in this field to understand the potential of private tuition in helping children learn better. It is imperative to evaluate the impact of these tuition centres on children's learning and economic empowerment of youth and women.

The LEAP will help us showcase that a local solution can bring positive changes to children's education. This model will be used as an example of a successful local solution to Government and global stakeholders and thereby replicate the model in various geographies to improve children's learning outcomes. 

The LEAP project will help us understand

• Does the availability of quality education in the own community affect the academic performance of children who live in underserved communities?

• What are the best practices for promoting a local education solution (community educators) to maximize its effectiveness in children's education?

• How an accessible digital solution can enhance the learning of children in underserved communities? 

  
  

During the 12 week LEAP project period the outputs of the LEAP Project would be a monitoring and evaluation framework, suggestions to scale our solution and guidelines to conduct a RCT evaluation. 

• Monitoring and Evaluation Framework: A monitoring and evaluation framework will help us evaluate the effectiveness of our program and identify factors/risky areas that need attention. The framework would include performance indicators, data collection methods, and measurement methods.      

• Suggestions for scaling the solution: Suggestions, ways and guidance to implement our solution on a larger scale to make it a sustainable solution that can be replicated in all underserved communities. A number of suggestions may be made, such as funding opportunities, the development of the team's capacity, communication between key stakeholders, and the establishment of partnerships.

• Research guidelines: We need to understand the impact of the program on the target population and assess if it meets the desired objectives. For this, we want to conduct an evaluation. We require support and guidance to conduct research for this solution and analyze the results. We then need to determine the appropriate course of action for implementing the program.

The following would be our action plan based on the outputs of the LEAP project:

• Integrating the monitoring and evaluation framework into our system: We will integrate the M&E framework into our core program. The M&E framework will ensure that we can track changes and make necessary adjustments to the solution. It will also allow us to maintain a comprehensive record of all the relevant data, which will be used to assess the progress and impact of the solution. Additionally, this will enable us to make decisions informed by reliable data and evidence.

• Scaling the solution: We will compile all the suggestions into a Standard Operating Procedure that would be followed while implementing the solution in other geographies. Based on the suggestions, we will capacitate our team to ensure its successful implementation.

• Conducting an Evaluation: The guidelines for evaluation will be crucial in conducting an evaluation for the solution. The results of the evaluation will provide us with a clear picture of the efficacy of the solution. We will document all the findings and propose to replicate the model in underserved communities to improve children's learning outcomes.

• Approaching the government and other potential partners: We will use this data to show the effectiveness of our solution and how it can benefit children. We will use this as leverage to form partnerships and secure funding. 

  
  

The desired short term outcomes for the LEAP Project for the organisation and solution are:

• Improved understanding of monitoring and evaluation: The monitoring and evaluation framework and research guidelines would help the team to improve their understanding about data, colleting data in accurate methods, analysing data and draw conclusions from data.

• An extensive network of experts and partners: The project would help connect us to experts and partners across the globe. Through the network of experts and partners from a wide range of fields, we will be able to finetune our solutions and gain new perspectives.

• Presenting our solution to a wider population: We will be able to reach out to a larger audience and introduce our solution to them. This will help us gain valuable insights and feedback to further improve our solution. Additionally, it will help us gain recognition for our work and potentially open up new opportunities.

The desired long term outcomes for the LEAP Project for the organisation and solution are:

• Creating a sustainable and scalable model that can be replicated across all under-resourced communities and integrated with existing technologies and systems.

• Recognizing the solution's positive impact on children's learning, further solidifying the organization's credibility. The solution would provide access to quality education for all, regardless of socioeconomic background. This would help bridge the gap between underprivileged children and access to quality learning opportunities, enabling equal opportunities for all.