The Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MOEHE) conducted the first EGRA assessment in the West Bank in March 2014 among a nationally representative sample of Grade 2 students, followed by a benchmarking exercise in September 2014. In 2018, the Early Grade Reading (EGR) project conducted a project baseline using an adapted EGRA 1 and MELQO 2 3 . Following this assessment, the MOEHE expressed interest in revising the 2014 provisional Grade 2 benchmarks and developing Grade 1 benchmarks. EGR conducted a technical benchmarking workshop in November 2018.

Since 2014, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MOEHE) has worked closely with USAID to advance educational initiatives. The results from two major early grade-reading assessments and a study conducted to measure the amount of classroom time allocated to foundational reading instruction indicate the critical need to increase and optimize the amount of instructional time during the school day. This policy brief documents the research process and findings which have led to the recommendation to increase and optimize instruction time allocated for MSA instruction.