We believe there are two parts to lasting and meaningful educational change to redress the inequalities in South Africa’s education system:

1. Directing academic talent into working parts of our school system.
2. Creating change in the whole education system by helping schools to improve performance.

SAILI’s low-cost, high-impact scholarship model is our contribution to the first part. Our research into high-performing but affordable high schools for scholarships led us to conduct in-depth school data analysis and longitudinal tracking of school performance. As we came to understand more, we began to realise that this understanding can be a tool for change within schools themselves. While schools genuinely want to improve their results, they lack both objective performance data and insight into this data. Our TARGET programme provides them with this data and helps them to accurately analyse it so they can plan and evaluate interventions.

Accurate performance insight can help underperforming schools. To bring about changes in the whole system, we are launching an exciting new project:

SAILI TARGET focuses on schools that have the capacity for improvement. SAILI consults with schools to provide performance insight and to target improvement areas, including retention of learners from Grade 8 through to Grade 12; improving Grade 9 systemic testing results; and achieving matric certificate and bachelor passes. This project provides schools with a financial incentive to improve their academic output.  SAILI TARGET works in partnership with the Department of Education and the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation.

SAILI Target School Performance Posters