Classroom Supports South Africa

Data Driven Districts: Improving South African Student Outcomes

Last updated
November 19, 2024

A teacher high fives students outside a classroom.

Overview

Data Driven Districts provides educators in South Africa with near real-time data so they have the information they need at their fingertips to support their learners.

Impact

0 Million

Learners Impacted Annually

0%

of All South African Schools Impacted

Where We Started

Historically, South African schools tracked learner progress manually, making it difficult for educators to identify learning gaps and intervene effectively. In 2012, we partnered with the Department of Basic Education (DBE) to design, build and launch the Data Driven Districts (DDD) program, providing educators with timely, actionable data to drive learner success.

DDD connects data systems and provides near real-time insights on attendance, exams, and progression through easy-to-read dashboards, equipping teachers with the tools to better support their learners’ growth and development.

What We Did

In partnership with the DBE and the New Leaders Foundation (NLF), we utilized the DDD program to better support educators and administrators. Here’s how:

  • Gathering feedback directly from users
  • Designing, building and launching a tool to meet educator needs
  • Offering training to help education officials make the most of the program
  • Empowering principals to share best practices with their teams
  • Hosting workshops on data-driven decision-making
  • Working directly with provinces to connect their data systems to the tool
  • Collaborating with research organizations to find new opportunities

Since the start of the program, we invested $35 million to equip the DBE with modernized technology and the national rollout of the DDD tool.

How It Helped

With data from the DDD tool, schools and districts can now:

  • Plan interventions more strategically
  • Support learners in specific subjects and grades
  • Address individual learner needs

Since its launch in 2014, the program has expanded across eight out of nine provinces, now impacting 90% of South Africa’s schools!

One school leveraged DDD data to customize learning strategies, achieving an impressive 99% pass rate on the Senior Matric for its 2019 senior class, showcasing the program’s transformative potential.

A Decade of Data-Driven Classroom Transformation

2012
Uncovering Data Opportunities in Classrooms

Despite strong data collection, South African schools struggled with duplicate reporting, limited feedback, and inconsistent data use. We launched a study with McKinsey & Co. and the Department of Basic Education (DBE) that outlined steps to turn data into actionable insights, prompting the launch of the Data Driven Districts (DDD) program to boost learner outcomes.

Smiling students in a classroom.
2013
Developing Dashboards to Drive Student Progress

To bring the study’s recommendations to life, we partnered with technology providers to develop district dashboards focused on learner progress, which were showcased as proof of concept in stakeholder engagements.

A teacher working with students in a classroom.
2015
Completing District-Level Pilot and Improved Data Quality

The DDD pilot covered over 2 million learners, with 97% of schools submitting data. The custom-built Valistractor tool for school data validation and extraction was developed to improve data quality, securing support for national rollout from the DBE and provincial heads of departments.

2016
Launching the DDD National Roll-out

The successful pilot results accelerated the national rollout, with four more provinces joining, bringing the reach to six provinces. NLF expanded field staff to enhance DDD dashboard usage at the provincial and district levels.

An educator in South Africa uses a data dashboard.
2017
Expanding National Roll-out of DDD

The DDD program expanded to cover 9.7 million learners, with data from over 5,000 schools weekly and 18,500 each term, growing the user base by 80%. Deeper engagement with national and provincial stakeholders increased adoption and improved data quality.

A teacher works with students in a computer lab.
2019
Advancing DDD Impact and Optimizing Technology

The national rollout reached key milestones, covering data for 11 million learners and 5,400 repeat users. Technical improvements optimized data use, and the “Beyond the Numbers” report, developed with the DBE, offered recommendations for ongoing data-driven decision making in schools.

A South African girl writes in her notebook in a classroom.
2020
Mapping Out The Next Three Years

An independent evaluation confirmed DDD’s impact, highlighting data champions’ role in adoption. A three-year roadmap, developed with partners, outlined strategies for advanced data use, problem-solving, and long-term success.

2021
Strengthening Data Despite the Pandemic

Despite COVID disruptions, 89% of schools submitted data for 11.3 million learners. Technological advances led to DDD 2.0, leveraging Microsoft cloud data hosting and visualization tools to improve performance, scalability, usability, and reduce costs.

A South African student in a mask raises his hand in class.
2022
Launching DDD 2.0 Pilot

DDD 2.0 was successfully piloted featuring improved analytics and data visualizations. In May 2022, the program celebrated 1 million dashboard logins!

2023
Introducing DDD 2.0 with Strengthened Platform Features

DDD 2.0 was officially launched to all users, and the DBE signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) renewing the DDD mandate. Over 10,500 schools submitted data weekly and 21,800 submitted their data termly, covering 11.5 million learners. NLF supported 17,000 officials to transition to the upgraded dashboard, while RESEP and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) offered insights and role-specific recommendations.

A group of South African educators review data in an office.
2024
Becoming South Africa’s Largest Education Database

DDD is the largest education database in South Africa, adopted by 8 of 9 provinces and 67 of 75 districts, covering close to 12 million learners. The number of data users logging in per team reached 13,500, with 7,600 being recurring users. The updated Valistractor 2.0 data extraction and validation tool was rolled out to 22,000 schools, providing further data efficiencies. In addition, NLF supported education officials in integrating the use of data into learning improvement interventions reaching over 100,000 learners.

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