MCSIE

Photo credit: RTI International/All Children Reading Cambodia

Donor: USAID • Partner: Purdue University • Timeframe: Aug. 2019 – Oct. 2024

Multi-Country Study on Inclusive Education (MCSIE)

IDP is conducting a five-year evaluation of USAID inclusive education activities in Cambodia, Malawi, and Nepal through the USAID-funded Long-Term Assistance and SErvices for Research Partners for University-Led Solutions Engine (LASER PULSE) by a consortium through the Purdue Applied Research Institute. The Multi-Country Study on Inclusive Education (MCSIE) is the first major effort by USAID to investigate what works to improve the quality of education for learners with disabilities. The activities in Cambodia, Malawi, and Nepal represented USAID’s most concerted effort to date to build systems to ensure learners with disabilities have access to quality education. 

Evaluating five thematic areas (process, screening and identification, teacher training, instructional approaches, and unintended consequences), MCSIE derives lessons learned about what works to sustainably advance teaching and learning outcomes for children with disabilities in varying contexts. USAID and its partners will use the findings from MCSIE to inform adaptations to current and plan for new inclusive education programming globally. To further advance the global evidence base, IDP has produced a number of deliverables, including country-level and comparative reports, culminating in a final report and an evaluation guide on measuring disability inclusion within education programming which are available via USAID’s Office of Education website—Education Links are provided below.  

Project Highlights

  • Conducted country-specific and comparative (multi-country) literature and policy reviews around the situation of disability-inclusive education.
  • Produced detailed evaluation reports identifying strengths and areas of opportunity related to inclusive literacy instruction, screening and identification of children with disabilities, and teacher training in each country.
  • Used evaluation methodologies that include key informant interviews and focus group discussions with implementing partners, disabled persons’ organizations, national and subnational government stakeholders, classroom teachers, principals, and parents; household surveys of parents of children with disabilities; secondary source document review and rubric analysis; and training and classroom observations.
  • Mapped areas of intervention to include existing systems and actors engaged in disability inclusion within each country. 

Project Resources

MCSIE Overview

Country Reports and Mapping