Report: Tanzania Reading Recovery Activity
The Reading Recovery Activity strengthened early grade reading proficiency through structured remedial instruction in Tanzania. Funded by the Hempel Foundation, the Activity was implemented from 2023 through 2025 by RTI International in partnership with the Government of Tanzania, including the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST), the Prime Minister’s Office Regional Administration and Local Government (PMO-RALG), and regional governments.
Report: Let's Read — How Tusome Leveraged EdTech to Improve National Learning Outcomes
The case study discussed in this brief, Tusome in Kenya, presents an example of how technology should serve and not guide national reform programmes. What the Tusome programme and others like it illustrate is that there are many other factors at play. Trust, capacity, and accountability are some but not all of the considerations that can make the difference between adoption or abandonment of an EdTech intervention.
Article: Does technology improve reading outcomes?
A randomized controlled trial in Kenya examined whether adding technology to a proven literacy program improves early reading outcomes. Three interventions were tested: tablets for instructional supervisors, tablets for teachers, and pupil e-readers. All groups showed significant gains over the control, but none outperformed the base non-ICT program by a meaningful margin. Cost-effectiveness analysis revealed that supervisor tablets equipped with Tangerine:Coach, delivered the best value, while pupil e-readers were the least cost-effective. The study underscores that technology should complement—not replace—strong instructional programs and that cost considerations are critical for scaling ICT in education.
Article: Feasibility and utility of EF:Touch
Researchers piloted Tangerine’s tablet-based executive function (EF) assessments with 197 students in rural Malawi, replacing older laptop-based methods with a more accessible, tablet format. Nearly all children completed the tasks in under an hour, demonstrating that tablets can deliver reliable cognitive measures even in low-resource schools. This innovation opens the door for large-scale studies on how malaria affects learning and supports evidence-driven strategies to improve education in high-burden regions. By making advanced cognitive assessments portable and practical, Tangerine is helping bridge health and education for lasting impact.
Report: Data collection and visualization tools in the education sector
In this report, the authors explore digital tools that allow for cost-effective, adaptable, usable, timely, and reliable data collection and visualization to inform decision-making. To develop this resource, a market landscape analysis was developed to identify potential tools. From over 50 tools, four (including Tangerine) were explored in depth to understand how they were used and adapted to different contexts in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. These case studies help users to understand the adaptability of the tools for different research needs and highlight the challenges in those implementations.
Report: Self-Administered EGRA and EGMA Pilot Results
RTI International piloted tablet-based, self-administered Early Grade Reading (SA-EGRA) and Mathematics (SA-EGMA) assessments in Ghana to measure foundational literacy and numeracy. Over 800 students in grades 1 and 3 completed the tools, which showed strong reliability and promising validity compared to traditional EGRA/EGMA. Spelling tasks in SA-EGRA correlated highly (r = 0.828) with oral reading fluency, and math tasks demonstrated acceptable consistency. These innovations reduce assessor burden and enable scalable, child-driven assessments in low-resource contexts. Findings confirm that digital self-assessments can provide accurate, efficient measures of learning outcomes, paving the way for broader deployment.
Report: Self-Administered EGRA and EGMA Pilot Results (Additional Analyses)
RTI International conducted additional analyses of Ghana’s pilot of tablet-based, self-administered Early Grade Reading (SA-EGRA) and Mathematics (SA-EGMA) assessments. Findings confirm strong reliability for most tasks and highlight the Spelling subtask as a robust proxy for oral reading fluency, even when compared to a composite literacy score built using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Syntax redesign successfully eliminated “yes bias,” while some numeracy tasks, like Number Identification, performed less effectively with higher-proficiency students, suggesting item adjustments for advanced learners. These insights strengthen the case for scalable, child-driven assessments using Tangerine, enabling accurate, efficient measurement of foundational skills in low-resource contexts.