[Presentation delivered at CIES 2017]. Education system data has indicated a pattern of over-enrollment in the early grades in some low-income countries. One factor that may influence the observed enrollment bulge is access to pre-primary education programs, as children who do not enter school prepared could be more likely to repeat leading to more children enrolled than are of enrollment-age. This presentation reports on a research study undertaken in Uganda to better understand pupil enrollment and repetition in Primary 1 as it relates to pre-primary access. Data was collected from schools in a district with high reported repetition, lack of or low preprimary access, and high apparent dropout between grade 1 and 2, and a district with low reported repetition, high preprimary access, and low apparent grade 1 dropout. School records were reviewed to collect ages of enrolled pupils and repeater status, in order to calculate age patterns and repetition rates in Primary 1 for each district. In addition, parents of randomly sampled pupils were interviewed about their child’s preprimary attendance, repetition of primary one or other grades, and access to preprimary education programs. Teachers of the sampled pupils were also interviewed regarding pupil age and repetition history. Overall, data was collected on 1,909 pupils in 80 schools, and 1,792 parents were interviewed. The presentation will focus on the following research questions: 1) What are the estimated repetition rates as reported by parents and schools in Primary 1 in schools in the sampled low- and high-risk districts in Uganda; 2) What are the ages of the pupils attending Primary 1 in our sample of Uganda schools and how does this relate to repetition; 3) How do the reported repetition rates relate to parent report of ECD attendance and access; and 4) What is the discrepancy between school-reported and parent-reported repetition rates. Data collection methods, measurement of repetition and ECD attendance and access, and policy conclusions will also be discussed.

This report summarizes main findings and lessons learned from the piloting of lot quality assurance sampling (LQAS) in the education sector in Ghana. It also suggests next steps for applying LQAS more broadly for education program monitoring.

وفيما يتعلق بالأدوات التي تم استخدامها في هذا المشروع – مشروع المسح الوطني لتقييم القراءة والحساب للصفوف الأولى)إيجرا وإيجما( في الأردن – فقد تمت مواءمتها بشكل خاص لكي تتلاءم مع المنهاج الأردني، وذلك من خلال ورشة مواءمة ضمت متخصصين تربويين من وزارة التربية والتعليم ومن معهد تراينجل للأبحاث )أر.تي.آي إنترناشيونال() RTI )International الذين عملوا جنباً إلى جنب مع خبراء التعليم الأساسي ومعلمي القراءة والحساب المحليين ) الأردنيين( وذلك من اجل الخروج بتصاميم )نماذج( مختصرة لتقييم القراءة وتقييم الحساب في الصفوف الأولى، )إيجرا وإيجما( باستخدام مواد مناهج الصف الثاني والثالث. إضافة إلى تقديم تقييمات شفوية فردية للطلبة. وقد قام معهد أر.تي.أي إنترناشيونال ) RTI International( بالتعاون مع شريكه، دجاني للاستشارات، بإرسال فرق بحث لمقابلة مدراء المدارس والمعلمين، وكذلك لإجراء جرد لمصادر التعلم في المدارس والصفوف، ولملاحظة دروس الحساب والقراءة كجزء من المسح القائم لوصف مدى فعالية الإدارة المدرسية. في آذار 2012، بعد أسبوع من التدريب، قامت فرق البحث، والمكونة من فريق عمل شركة الدجاني للاستشارات والمتعاقدين وكذلك أفراد من العاملين في وزارة التربية والتعليم، بزيارة ما مجمله 156 من المدارس الابتدائية حول الأردن. وقد تم اختيار معلم للصف الثاني وآخر للصف الثالث بشكل عشوائي من كل مدرسة، وقد تم أيضا اختيار 10 طلبة بشكل عشوائي من هذه الصفوف لإجراء تقييم مهارات القراءة والحساب للصفوف الأولى )إيجرا وإيجما(، وكذلك إجراء مقابلات معهم للحديث حول تجربتهم في المدرسة. وقد تم اختيار 3120 طالباً للمشاركة في التقييمات والمقابلات. وبالفعل، تم مقابلة المعلمين الذين تم اختيارهم، كما قام أحد كبار المعلمين، في وجود أحد الباحثين، برصد أداء معلم الصف الثاني أثناء تقديمه لدرس القراءة ودرس الحساب. وقد قام الباحثون بعمل جرد لساحات المدرسة والغرف الصفية المختارة. وقد تم الانتهاء من جمع البيانات في نهاية أيار 2012.

To gain insight into both student facility with foundational skills and to better understand characteristics among Jordanian schools associated with this performance, USAID/Jordan, in partnership with the Jordan Ministry of Education (MOE), contracted with RTI International under the Education Data for Decision Making (EdData II) project to conduct the SSME, including the EGRA and EGMA, in a sample of primary schools in Jordan. The hope is that evidence-based information resulting from the survey can inform future education policy decisions, as needed. The instruments used in this project—the National Early Grade Literacy and Numeracy Survey in Jordan—were adapted specifically for the Jordanian context during an adaptation workshop with the Ministry of Education. RTI’s education specialists worked together with local Jordanian reading, math, and primary school experts and officials to design abbreviated versions of the Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) and the Early Grade Mathematics Assessment (EGMA), using curriculum materials for grades 2 and 3. In addition to administering individual oral assessments of students, RTI and its local partner, Dajani Consulting, sent research teams to interview School Principals and teachers, conduct inventories of school and classroom resources, and observe reading and math lessons as part of the SSME survey.

This analysis report was written to gain insight into both student facility with foundational skills and to better understand characteristics among Iraqi schools associated with this performance. In 2012, USAID/Iraq, in partnership with the Ministry of Education (MoED), contracted with RTI International under the Education Data for Decision Making (EdData II) project to conduct an EGRA, EGMA, and SSME in a sample of primary schools in Iraq.

This report, translated in Arabic, discusses the impact and results of the pilot intervention that was implemented during the 2013-2014 school year across 43 schools reaching more than 400 teachers and approximately 12,000 students in Jordan.

This report discusses the impact and results of the pilot intervention that was implemented during the 2013-2014 school year across 43 schools reaching more than 400 teachers and approximately 12,000 students in Jordan.

This report discusses the impact and results of the pilot intervention that was implemented during the 2013-2014 school year across 43 schools reaching more than 400 teachers and approximately 12,000 students in Jordan.

A year after the first baseline EGRA was completed in four language regions, a follow-up survey was administered to samples of 30 to 40 teachers and 375 to 400 students per grade in the same regions (randomly sampled). The sampled teachers were asked about their preparation for, level of comfort with, and understanding of MTB-MLE, and their instructional practice during a reading lesson was observed. Timed observation instruments provided an opportunity to analyze time on task, and the relationship to reading achievement. Students completed an assessment of their letter sound knowledge, decoding skills, oral reading fluency, and reading comprehension in their mother tongue, and their listening comprehension and ability to read familiar words in Filipino, as well as their oral understanding of common English vocabulary words and phrases.

Following the study completed in 2013, measuring English, Filipino and Ilokano reading skills, this 2014 EGRA study is serves as a baseline for monitoring the government's Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) program by conducting EGRA assessments in four mother-tongue languages—Cebuano (Sinugbuanong Binisaya), Hiligaynon, Ilokano and Maguindanaoan. The survey also included classroom observations of teaching practice and teacher interviews to gather contextual information about the extent of MTB-MLE implementation.