Pro Bono Team Helps Measure Impact of Shannon Trust’s Reading Programs for Incarcerated People

March 30, 2023

In collaboration with the Lightbulb Trust, an Analysis Group team provided pro bono analytical support to the Shannon Trust, which runs reading and literacy programs in approximately 100 prisons across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. While the Shannon Trust collects data monthly on its learners and their progress, the sheer volume of data as well as inconsistencies from manual entry prevented the Trust from a true assessment of how its programs were performing.

The Analysis Group team, including Vice President Chris Feige, Senior Analysts Hugo Cayssials and Jeanne Vellard, and Analyst Claire Paoli, used R-studio to build a tool that could easily organize and prepare the data for review. The bespoke tool cleans and flags data errors and collates the data into a single spreadsheet compatible with Shannon Trust’s customer relationship management system. Shannon Trust is now using the data tool to support its fast-growing programs and better harness its limited resources for the benefit of learners.