Kenya's ICT Policy in Practice: The Effectiveness of Tablets and E-readers in Improving Student Outcomes

We are grateful to the Kenyan Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, and the committed teachers and educators in Kenya. We are thankful for the excellent editorial work of Erin Newton and Lynda Grahill. This work was supported by the United States Agency for International Development through the Kenya PRIMR Initiative prepared under the USAID Education Data for Decision Making (EdData II) project [Task Order Contract No. AID-623-M-11-00001] and by a Professional Development Award from RTI International [award number 0190453.300.001].

Kenya is investing in information and communication technology (ICT) to improve children's learning outcomes. However, the literature on ICT is pessimistic about the ability of ICT alone to improve outcomes, and few ICT programs have created the instructional change necessary to increase learning. The Primary Math and Reading (PRIMR) Initiative implemented a randomized controlled trial of three ICT interventions to enhance learning outcomes: tablets for instructional supervisors, tablets for teachers, and e-readers for students. All three showed significant impacts in English and Kiswahili above the results of the control group. The impacts of the three interventions were not statistically significantly different from each other. Based on the findings, we recommend that Kenyan policy makers embed ICT interventions in a larger instructional reform, using ICT to support particular instructional improvement challenges. We also suggest that policy makers incorporate empirically derived cost-effectiveness analysis into investment decisions, to ensure that ICT provides value for money.