In response to the growing need to improve learning outcomes, USAID's 2011 Education Strategy focused on improving the teaching and learning of reading in early grades. Its goal of 100 million children showing improved reading skills testified to USAID’s commitment to investing in and measuring improvements in learning outcomes. As a result, USAID education programs with a focus on early grade reading have become the norm, with such programs implemented in approximately 20 countries during the five years since the adoption of the education strategy. In the last couple of years, the lessons of successful pilots are being applied on increasing scale in numerous countries. Taking successful pilot projects to scale and helping education systems implement their national reading strategies at scale have therefore become the primary challenges faced by USAID and other supporters of educational improvement in the developing world. The challenges of realizing large-scale impact, and of seeing that impact sustained, are not new to development. However, they are being approached with renewed interest and attention in the education sector. This paper examines seven countries where interventions to improve early grade reading are being taken to scale - some with project support, some through government initiative. Management Systems International's framework for taking projects to scale, and the framework defined in the Brookings Institute's Millions Learning report are used to examine how scale has been and is occurring in these selected countries.

In March 2011, a research team evaluated the skills of 420 P4 and 420 P64 students with an Early Grade Mathematics Assessment (EGMA) instrument adapted to the Rwandan curriculum and context. An English-language Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) instrument was adapted to the Rwandan context, while a Kinyarwanda-language instrument was developed based on the linguistic structure of the Kinyarwanda language.5 We gathered a diverse range of information using the Snapshot of School Management Effectiveness (SSME) instruments developed by the EdData II project and customized for the Rwandan context. A random selection of districts and non-private schools in Rwanda were included in the survey, and therefore students from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds are represented.

The purpose of this report is to provide data on children’s early grade reading skills as measured by the EGRA. In addition, we report information from an accompanying interview with children, the teacher passage, and select data from the EMES-TOS. The report focuses on these key research questions (RQs): 1. To what extent are students in Grades 2 and 3 learning to read in Nepali? 2. What reading-related skills are students in Grades 2 and 3 acquiring? 3. What factors—both in-school and out-of-school—help explain student performance on the EGRA? 4. How well do teachers understand a written explanation of a proposed Early Grade Reading Program? This analysis is guided through the prism of the core research questions that were developed and agreed upon in consultation with the Ministry of Education (MOE) and its stakeholders. This report presents data that address each of the research questions and draws conclusions based on those data. The report also identifies additional areas for further research or exploration that could be useful for decision makers. To get started, results from the first research questions are presented, providing an overview of the core findings from the EGRA. A brief description of the EGRA and the survey administration follows, as well as some descriptive characteristics of the study. After this, an in-depth analysis for each of the remaining three key research questions is presented. The report finishes with conclusions and recommendations.

Synthesis of three data capacity assessments (Ghana, Mozambique, Philippines) that aimed to both to evaluate the countries’ data systems and to determine how well each country’s own data systems can: • Inform and support the development and implementation of education sector policies, plans, and strategies; • Provide the basis for coordinating and aligning external assistance in support of the education sector; • Underpin the development of USAID’s five-year country strategy, sector-specific programs, and projects; and • Generate data to evaluate and report on the performance, outcomes, and impact of USAID (and other) investments.

The objective of this sector assessment activity is to identify strengths, weaknesses, and key leverage points to improve children’s reading outcomes within the institutional context of Cambodia’s education system.

The objective of this sector assessment activity is to identify strengths, weaknesses, and key leverage points to improve children’s reading outcomes within the institutional context of Cambodia’s education system.

This report summarizes the results from a three-month pilot research activity in Kaolack, Senegal designed to test whether communications techniques can bring about changes in family members’ knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors related to their children learning to read. At the end of three months, family members in Kaolack demonstrated strong recall of the main messages of the campaign and were much more likely than control families to espouse beliefs supportive of their children learning to read.

Social and Behavior Change Communication is the systematic application of interactive, theory-based, and research-driven communication processes and strategies to address tipping points for change at the individual, community, and social levels. The files included with this resource include the presentation and background materials used during a seminar on SBCC delivered by Karen Schmidt and Joe DeStefano. The agenda for this SBCC Seminar, delivered in May 2014, was: Part 1: What is Social and Behavior Change Communication? Part 2: What is the history and theoretical basis for SBCC? Part 3: What is the best way to develop a SBCC Strategy?

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.