How much can we remedy very low learning levels in rural parts of low-income countries? Impact and generalizability of a multi-pronged para-teacher intervention from a cluster-randomized trial in The Gambia Alex Eble, Chris Frost, Alpha Camara, Baboucarr Bouy, Momodou Bah, Maitri Sivaraman, Jenny Hsieh, Chitra Jayanty, Tony Brady, Piotr Gawron, Stijn Vansteelandt, Peter Boone, Diana Elbourne * June 2020 Abstract Despite large schooling and learning gains in many developing countries, children in highly deprived areas are often unlikely to achieve even basic literacy and numeracy. We study how much of this problem can be resolved using a multi-pronged intervention combining three interventions known to be separately effective. We conducted a cluster-randomized trial in The Gambia evaluating a literacy and numeracy intervention designed for primary-aged children in remote parts of poor countries. The intervention combines para teachers delivering after-school supplementary classes, scripted lesson plans, and frequent monitoring focusing on improving teacher practice (coaching). A similar intervention previously demonstrated large learning gains in rural India. After three academic years, Gambian children allocated to the intervention scored 46 percentage points (3.2 SD) better on a combined literacy and numeracy test than control children. Our results demonstrate that, in this type of area, aggressive interventions can yield far greater learning gains than previously shown. * Eble (corresponding author): Teachers College, Columbia University. Email: eble@tc.columbia.edu. Bah (newsbah@yahoo.com), Boone (pb@effint.org), Bouy (bbouy@effint.net), Camara (a.camara@effint.net), and Sivaraman (maitri.effectiveintervention@gmail.com): Effective Intervention, UK and The Gambia. Hsieh (ptjhsieh@gmail.com): Center for Comparative and International Education, Department of Education, University of Oxford. Elbourne (Diana.Elbourne@lshtm.ac.uk) and Frost (chris.frost@lshtm.ac.uk): London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK. Jayanty (chitra.jayanty@gmail.com): independent consultant. Brady and Gawron: Sealed Envelope, Ltd. (support@sealedenvelope.com). Vansteelandt: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK, and Department of Applied Mathematics, Computer Science and Statistics at Ghent University, Belgium (stijn.vansteelandt@lshtm.ac.uk) We would like to acknowledge the contributions of our team in The Gambia, particularly Lenin Balan, Lamin Janneh, Alieu Jibba, Jenieri Sagnia, and Abhishek Thakur. This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, protocol number 8767. Funding for this study was provided by Effective Intervention, a UK-registered charity.