Implementation measurement in education
Why measure implementation?
Whether an education programme succeeds or fails often hinges on the quality of implementation.
Did teachers show up to the training? Did the school support officers offer the type of mentorship that was planned? Did new textbooks reach schools and get used in the classroom? These factors are critical to whether children achieve intended learning gains.
Yet implementation is often understudied and underreported (Angrist & Meager, 2023). Moreover, there is little consensus on how to measure implementation and which dimensions to prioritise on a limited evaluation budget (Ryan et al., 2024).
A common framework and public good resources
The What Works Hub for Global Education has developed a framework to guide implementation measurement across education programmes. We are curating and developing several practical resources to support implementation measurement.
Insight note
Our insight note on measuring implementation in education describes the implementation measurement framework in detail and offers practical guidance on how to identify, prioritise and measure critical implementation stages. This is a working paper and we welcome feedback.
Compendium
We will launch a compendium to curate and share examples of rigorous implementation measurement of education interventions, including calls for new empirical data on measurement credibility and cost. We aim to identify a sweet spot of rigour and practicality – rigorous enough to be credible, while practical enough to be scalable. This is intended as a resource for researchers, policymakers, implementers and funders. The compendium will inform future refinement of the framework and build a growing body of
evidence on the best and most up-to-date implementation measurement approaches.
Repository of templates and tools
We will curate a selection of existing survey instruments from leading researchers and implementers. We will also provide templates for mapping education interventions to facilitate use of the framework.
Item bank
We will assemble an item bank of indicators relevant to several well-established education interventions, with each item mapped to the framework’s implementation dimensions.
Request updates about our implementation measurement resources
Please share your contact details via our online form if you would like to receive updates about accessing our template and tool repository and/or the item bank.
Implementation measurement related content
Implementation science
Our approach and framework
Insight note on measuring implementation in education
Our compendiums
The What Works Hub for Global Education is funded by the FCDO and the Gates Foundation, with other strategic partners aligning resources and providing in-kind support.
The What Works Hub for Global Education is funded by the FCDO and the Gates Foundation, with other strategic partners aligning resources and providing in-kind support.