Cotlands Programme Assessment

Cotlands joined the ELOM learning community in 2016 and sent facilitators to be trained as ELOM assessors.  In 2017, they conducted an assessment of a sample of children (final n= 61) in their playgroups. This identified some areas for strengthening the training of their early learning facilitators in activities for particular domains.  

In 2018 the Cotlands playgroup model was one of the programmes evaluated in the ELPO Study.  Overall results indicated a significant increase of 20 ELOM standard score points from baseline to end-line after controlling for age and other variables. 

Cotlands used key findings to inform their strategy and action plans. Examples of data informed actions are included below.

Finding 1: Qualifications of the practitioner are not a significant predictor of ELOM outcomes.  Ongoing monitoring and support of practitioners are associated with ELOM outcomes. As a result, the team - 

• Continued weekly in-service training sessions, increasing their relevance and finding creative ways to ensure high-quality training inputs.
• Continued on-site monitoring visits and ensuring that these are supportive, not punitive and provide coaching to programme implementers
• Added to their monitoring checklist so that programme staff could track and reflect on their own practice.
• Used the Practitioners Reflection Toolkit which was produced by the Bridge ECD Community of Practice (COP)

Finding 2: Height-for-age scores (a proxy for nutritional and health status) are related to child development outcome scores. As a result, the team -

• Increased the provision of nutritional support.
• Trained staff on nutrition, especially in the birth to two playgroup programmes.
• Instituted ongoing monitoring of children’s growth, ensuring that children who are flagged are referred and receive nutritional assistance from the nearest primary healthcare clinic or hospital

Finding 3: Higher levels of programme exposure predict better child outcomes, but on average, Cotlands children only attended 51 of the 98 sessions or 52% of the available sessions. As a result, the team -

• Increased incentives in the form of nutrition to increase attendance rates from 52% to 95% in the 2019 academic year
• Analysed attendance data to determine trends of non-attendance and to find ways to mitigate the drop in attendance.
• Kept a daily record of the start and end time of the playgroup to ensure children receive the right dosage.
• Ensured follow up when children do not attend regularly
• Included attendance rates of children as a programme performance indicator

Finding 4: Cognition and executive functioning and visual processing skills are lacking in the Cotlands programme children. As a result, the team -

• Increased play-based learning activities linked to cognition and executive functioning and visual processing skills
• Strengthened in-service training of implementing staff
• Audited their toy library materials and included more resources to promote these skills

For more information on Cotlands, please visit their website.