Central Square Foundation

The Central Square Foundation (CSF) partners with governments to implement foundational education programs across India. Our analysis shows that CSF is one of the most scalable and cost-effective implementers of structured classroom teaching for foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN).

What problem are they trying to solve?

In rural India, 80% of Grade 3 students cannot read a basic Grade 2 text, and 74% cannot do simple subtraction. Without targeted intervention, students who fall behind in early grades often never catch up, limiting their educational and life prospects. While national and state-level reforms have made progress on delivering better foundational education, few organizations are able to reliably implement programs at the district level.

What do they do?

CSF’s approach centers on a structured pedagogy system—a carefully designed package of investments for improving classroom teaching. This package includes daily lesson plans for the entire school year, student workbooks, specialized kits for building mathematical understanding, and school-based assessment systems. Their programs follow a weekly cycle: four days of instruction, followed by one day of assessment and one day for targeted reteaching and remediation.

Beyond designing materials, CSF also works closely with key government stakeholders. CSF designs their district programs to align with state-level reforms they help create, increasing government buy-in and support. They work extensively with district officials to implement systems for quality data tracking, improved enrollment and attendance monitoring, and enhanced teacher support and mentoring. As a result of this government engagement, CSF’s programs are more likely to transition to government ownership after about five years of operation.

Why do we recommend them?

CSF has an exceptional track record of system-level impact. They played a pivotal role in designing both Uttar Pradesh's state education reform plan in 2019 and India's National Education Plan in 2020. They've since worked with 11 state governments on implementing their new initiative to improve FLN. By first establishing demonstration districts to refine their materials and methods, then scaling those proven approaches through government partnerships, CSF has created a model that maintains quality at scale while dramatically reducing costs.

Recent independent evaluations provide strong evidence for their effectiveness. Studies conducted by Education Initiatives, comparing over 15,000 students across 10 districts in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, found impressive gains: an average improvement of 0.29 standard deviations in numeracy and 0.43 standard deviations in literacy. Expanding their district level programs is extremely low cost for a structured pedagogy intervention of this quality—less than £2.50 per student.

What would they do with more funding?

Additional funding would allow CSF to implement their programs across new districts in India. This would enable them to deploy better systems to ensure quality data tracking, improve teacher training and mentoring, and increase the likelihood of successful government adoption of structured pedagogy. Your support for CSF can help them execute their mission of ensuring high-quality classroom education for all children in India.