This report presents findings from the Numeracy Enhancement Research and Development (NERD) pilot, which tested an AI-enabled numeracy platform called Mama Math in six government primary schools in Nigeria's Federal Capital Territory. The document is intended for education stakeholders, government officials, and researchers interested in early-grade numeracy interventions and AI-supported…
This is the Numeracy Enhancement Research and Development (NERD) learning report, documenting a pilot that tested whether an AI-enabled numeracy platform called Mama Math could support Grade 2 teachers in six government primary schools in Nigeria's Federal Capital Territory. The report is written for education stakeholders, government officials, and researchers evaluating early-grade numeracy interventions. It presents findings from the March to August 2026 pilot, which paired three…
The report begins with an executive summary stating that the most notable change was in teaching practice. Intervention teachers moved from 5.7 to 18.3 observed practices per lesson out of 20, while control teachers stayed flat at 14.3 to 14.0. Learner mean scores on the Grade 2 assessment rose from 48.7% to 71.4% in intervention schools and from 36.7% to 64.2% in control schools. The share of pupils in the two lowest grade bands fell from 54% to 11% among intervention pupils and from 77% to…
The background section cites evidence that approximately 70% of 10-year-olds in low- and middle-income countries cannot read a simple text, with 86% of children in sub-Saharan Africa failing minimum proficiency benchmarks. In Nigeria, only about one in four children aged 7 to 14 demonstrate foundational learning skills. The report notes that despite Nigeria's National Foundational Learning and Numeracy Policy, teachers have few practical tools to detect learning gaps, and positions Mama Math…
The program design section explains that NERD has two main components: teacher professional development on evidence-based numeracy teaching using the concrete-pictorial-abstract method and grouping by ability, plus the Mama Math AI platform where teachers photograph student work and receive error analysis and remediation steps. The report describes six pillars of Mama Math: photographing work for AI analysis, curriculum-aligned lesson plans, assignment generation, learner progress tracking,…
The report includes 22 tables and 6 figures covering project summary, intervention pathway, evaluation matrix, learner assessment samples by school and cohort, average performance by schools, mean scores and grade distributions, numeracy performance by strand, learner engagement scores, teacher practice scores, feasibility and delivery summary, and a risk register. Government stakeholder feedback shows all four respondents endorsed the program, with one requesting extension to over 20 schools,…