Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Pre-school and School Education (MoPSE) has embarked upon an ambitious reform agenda to bring the Uzbek public education system in line with twenty-first century international standards and skills that includes participating for the first time in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) in 2021 and in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2022. At the onset of UEEP, the teaching culture in many schools in Uzbekistan was still quite teacher-centric, with only a modicum of observable student-centered instructional strategies promoting critical thinking, creativity, communication, and collaboration. Basic reading and mathematics scores were within the international mean, but students struggled with reading comprehension and more complex mathematics. In 2023 UEEP designed and piloted an evidence-based, in-service, continuous TPD (CTPD) cascade approach that sought to improve classroom instruction for Uzbek Language Arts and Mathematics teachers via the effective implementation of TGs and the student-centered strategies therein. The training approach consisted of a three-tiered cascade training model where 80 Tier 1 Master Trainers (MTs) trained and supported 800 Tier 2 trainers, who in turn trained over 8,000 Tier 3 teachers. Training sessions included evidence-based practical instructional techniques such as modeling, role-playing, small group practice, and discussion. The CTPD approach used Methodological Days (MDs) already existing within the Uzbek education system to conduct the monthly sessions rather than one-off, multi-day training events. The Program provided all trainers with facilitator guides, slides, and scripts. The Program implemented the CTPD approach using three concurrent processes of (1) readiness and training, (2) follow-up and quality assurance, and (3) action research. The Program’s ambitious action research agenda determined the degree to which teachers were applying new techniques and whether the cascade CTPD approach was effective. Specifically, the Program designed and implemented a study to assess the effectiveness of the Program’s CTPD cascade approach in terms of teachers’ satisfaction of learning events, their acquisition of knowledge and skills, their shift in self-efficacy, possible changes in teacher beliefs about new teaching approaches, and to what extent teachers received the necessary support at the administrative and school levels. The CTPD effectiveness study used an adapted version of Kirkpatrick’s training evaluation model2 as the guiding framework. In this panel, we will share the findings of this study which suggest minimal dilution effect between levels of training, and discuss some of the critical success factors, namely, the monthly dosage of trainings and the quality assurance ‘feedforward’ loop that led to the effectiveness of the cascade approach.

To improve the quality of instruction and learning, a challenge that many ministries must confront, is the need to provide teacher professional development at scale. Uzbekistan has approximately 10,104 schools, 502,687 teachers, and 6,336, 933 students.2 In 2022, when MoPSE rolled out the new EFL teacher and student books, it struggled to reach and train all teachers.

The purpose of this panel presentation is to present the results of two uptake studies to understand how mathematics, Uzbek language arts, ICT, and EFL teachers in Uzbekistan are using and applying newly developed teaching and learning materials in the classroom.

Digital transformation: an opportunity for long-lasting improvement of quality of education service delivery in Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan Over the past decade, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyz Republic have been consistently demonstrating their commitment to quality education, evidenced by the amount of GDP allocated to education. These education systems aim to produce world-class graduates capable of success both globally and at home. Various donors have stepped in to support these efforts in a coordinated way via direct funding of initiatives that enhance instructional skills, increase accountability for excellence, and improve formal and non-formal learning environments. In Uzbekistan, critical thinking, problem solving, and practical skills are at the forefront of the Ministry of Public Education (MPE)’s agenda. In the Kyrgyz Republic, performing well on the upcoming PISA survey in 2025 is a focal point for the Ministry of Education and Science (MOES) in recent years. And, in Tajikistan, COVID-19 provided an important opportunity to rethink the delivery of in-service teacher training from in-person to a blended learning format, resulting in impressive early grade learning gains. However, the COVID-19 crisis brought many education systems to a grinding halt, and these three countries were no exception. Nevertheless, the speed and efficiency with which their education systems adapted has been remarkable. It speaks to their resilience, rooted in the fact that these countries enjoy strong institutional, financial, and policy legacies that are strongly rooted and capable of weathering storms. Undoubtedly, the strongest driving force behind this change is the belief shared at all levels of their education systems – especially at the level of parents and teachers – that education is important. It comes as no surprise that when faced with the challenge of school closure due to a pandemic, their various systemic actors collaborated and adapted their approaches to continue delivering teacher professional development (TPD). In the Kyrgyz Republic, after less than a year following the outbreak of the pandemic, the majority of teachers reported accessing online learning resources, and 85% of teachers did so using smartphones. The USAID-funded Okuu Keremet! project had planned to deliver teacher training in person, but swiftly shifted to development of blended learning modules for reading and mathematics. It designed an online training platform that in a short period of time was accessed by 18,000 registered teachers and librarians. The online learning platform integrates Google Analytics that can allow the Ministry of Education and Science (MOES) to not only monitor progress towards certification of individual teachers, but to also detect, in real time, the teachers and schools that are lagging behind . In Uzbekistan, the Ministry of Public Education (MPE) has made significant investment in continuous professional development, and as part of its growth strategy, Avlonyi has created a Learning Management System (LMS) for teacher accreditation based on OECD teacher professional development standards. To aid Avlonyi in this significant undertaking, the USAID-funded Uzbekistan Education for Excellence Program (UEEP) project developed a blended TPD model comprised of synchronous and asynchronous in-person and online assessment-based learning events (with the focus to improve Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL) instruction for grades 5–11 and 1-11, respectively). In addition to gaining skills through this opportunity, teachers will achieve career advancement through the accreditation of their efforts by Avlonyi. In Tajikistan, the impact evaluation data shows strong performance as a result of the USAID Read with Me project implemented in collaboration with the Ministry of Education. TPD in Tajikistan applies digital development principles, a multi-user coaching and training platform, which provides content and accountability for self-regulated learning, coaching, peer learning and performance monitoring, including uploading assignments and assessments, aligned with the National Teacher Competency Framework. The EGRA end line results clearly showed the benefit of effective teaching techniques correlating to oral reading fluency gains of more than thirteen correct words per minute. This panel brings together researchers and practitioners documenting the transformational change of Teacher Professional Development in the three Central Asian Republics – Kyrgyz Republic, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Panelists will discuss details about the effectiveness and utility of online learning platforms vis-à-vis TPD and student learning gains; the skills required to make this shift to digital, self-regulated learning; and lessons learned for getting these new platforms mainstreamed into educational systems.