Assess, Adapt and Group: Enhancing Early‐Grade Reading Outcomes Through Readiness‐Based Differentiated Instruction in Ghana

Background In Ghana, students struggle to acquire foundational literacy skills, prompting the government and international donors to identify more effective pedagogical approaches. This study examines the potential of readiness‐based differentiated instruction (DI) in Ghana's multilingual, mixed‐ability primary schools. Methods Data include longitudinal reading assessments and surveys from a nationally representative sample of 3559 students and 408 teachers in Grades 2–3 across 198 public primary schools. Results Most teachers in our study do not consistently use readiness‐based DI methods despite curricular mandates. However, in classrooms where teachers regularly assess student readiness, group students and adapt instruction accordingly, students perform better in various reading outcomes compared with classrooms without such differentiation. These gains range from basic decoding skills, such as letter‐sound knowledge and non‐word reading, to more advanced skills, such as reading fluency in both English and the local language. Conclusions Overall, these benefits of readiness‐based DI are comparable with the effects of several months to a full year of schooling in low‐ and middle‐income countries, highlighting the substantive role the approach could play in enhancing literacy outcomes in Ghana and similar contexts.