EIA has a comprehensive Research, Monitoring and Evaluation (RME) component which runs across the programme activities.

The main objective of the component is to enable the programme management and implementation teams involved with the delivery of the programme to make informed decisions relating to policy and practice as well as celebrate programme successes. 

There is a Quality Assurance (QA) system built into to the primary and secondary schools component to ensure that remedial measures, adaptations and refinements are implemented as the project progresses.

Since the project's inception, the Research, Monitoring and Evaluation (RME) strategy has played a vital role in guiding its success.  RME covers four broad and often overlapping areas:

monitoring, which uses continually collected (Quality Assurance) information to inform short and long term project management decisions;

evaluation, which may  be formative or summative (providing evidence for logframe indicators), evaluating the outcomes of a particular element of the programme;

research, providing insight into the contexts in which EIA operates, participants' experiences, or wider questions, such as the link between English language and economic opportunity;

dissemination and stakeholder engagement, through which findings are shared  with both stakeholders and wider academic, policy and professional communities.

The RME component also involves undertaking research and evaluation activities. These take the form of

•    baseline studies and major milestone, longitudinal and cohort studies

•    assessment of English language competence of teachers and students

•    evaluation of classroom practice of teachers and perceptions of participating teachers and students.

•    pre-testing and refinement of innovative ideas before taking these to scale.

The findings from the research and evaluation studies are fed back into the project activities and contribute to strategic decision making for upcoming project phases. They are also disseminated through this website (hence accessible to the public) in the form of reports, as well as journal articles, national and international conferences, workshops and policy seminars.

Our work is backed by rigorous quality assurance frameworks and user feedback processes. We work closely with the Government of Bangladesh and private sector organisations. We partner with national and international research institutions and other organisations, such as the Institute of Education and Research at Dhaka University and Trinity College London.

Impact Highlights for Schools Programme

In its upscaling phase, EIA has achieved significant improvements in classroom practice and student learning outcomes, whilst operating at increased scale, through a decentralised, peer supported approach.  The findings from our research point to the following:

Students are more motivated:

•    Over 95% of students report that English is very important (up from 50% in our baseline);
•    And now only 33% report that English is difficult to learn (down from 60% in our baseline).

Teachers feel more confident:

•    Over 95% of teachers report that EIA helps them to improve their own English;
•    And over 90% report that EIA has an impact on the way they teach.

Teachers are changing their practice and students are experiencing the difference:

•    From near zero, students now talk for over 25% of their lesson time, comparable to best international practice;
•    From near zero, over 90% of their talk is now in English.

Tested against a standard international framework, student learning outcomes improved in 12 months:

•    The number of primary students passing almost doubled after EIA, rising from 36% to 70%;
•    And 40% of secondary students achieved higher levels of competence, than in our baseline study.

English - a Factor in Improving Economic Prospects

EIA also gathers evidence about the relationship between learning English and economic development. We have  explored the relationship between learning English and individuals’ economic prospects.  Our findings indicate that:

Employees need English to find work:
•    20% (print) and 40% (online) of advertisements in the job market require English.

Candidates with good English skills are more likely to be employed:
•    Applicants are 30-50% more likely to be employed than a candidate without English.

Individuals with good English skills earn a higher income:
•    The wage premium for candidates with good English skills has been found to be 20% - 30%.