Click to read more? EdTech and foundational English Literacy in South Africa

We explore the relationship between literacy and the time learners spend using individualised educational technology for South African primary school learners in 2019 and 2022. Cross-sectional analysis of the data shows that learners' target annual time (18 hours) is associated with a 0.14 standard deviation increase in Grade 3 literacy scores in 2019 and a 0.42 standard deviation increase in 2022. Similar effect sizes were found for other grades. These effect sizes are large for education interventions. The programme is relatively cost-effective and has demonstrated scalability. Our results are important in the context of South Africa's literacy crisis and the paucity of educational technology evaluations.

I20, I21, I24

Literacy; educational technology; early grade reading; South Africa