Effective and Scalable Math Support: Experimental Evidence on the Impact of an AI- Math Tutor in Ghana

This study is a preliminary evaluation of the impact of receiving extra math instruction provided by Rori, an AI-powered math tutor accessible via WhatsApp, on the math performance of approximately 500 students in Ghana. Students assigned to both the control and treatment groups continued their normal classes with identical curricula and classroom hours. Students in the treatment group were given access to a phone for one hour a week – during their study hall period – and were allowed to use Rori to independently study math. All other aspects of the groups’ in-school experience were the same. We find that the math growth scores were substantially higher for the treatment group and statistically significant (p < 0.001). The effect size of 0.36 is considered large in the context of educational interventions: approximately equivalent to an extra year of learning. Importantly, Rori works on basic mobile devices connected to low-bandwidth data networks, and the marginal cost of providing Rori is approximately $5 per student, making it a potentially scalable intervention in the context of LMICs’ education systems. While the results should be interpreted judiciously, as they only report on year 1 of the intervention, they do suggest that chat-based tutoring solutions leveraging AI could offer a cost-effective and operationally efficient approach to enhancing learning outcomes for millions of students globally.