Uganda/LARA: Journeys Monitoring and Support Supervision tool

This tool is used by school support actors (e.g., DEOS, DIS, MEOs, DIS, MIS, IS, CCTs, head teachers, project staff) to monitor and support implementation of Journeys for school staff and Journeys for pupils. The tool serves two purposes: (i) to gather monitoring data to understand how well schools are organized and supported to implement the Journeys program. Monitoring data is also used for reporting purposes. With regard to Journeys for school staff, the type of monitoring data gathered using the MSS tool include the number of school change agents (SCAs) in the school, number of SCAs that have Journeys handbooks, number of Journeys for staff activities that the school conducted, evidence that SCAs receive support from support actors, number of SRGBV cases that have been resolved out of the total cases reported. For UKU, monitoring data gathered include the number of UKU teams in the school, number of UKU teams that have attendance registers, whether UKU attendance registers are updated regularly and whether UKU teams have work plans; (ii) to supervise and support SCAs and Teacher Patrons. SCAs lead Journeys sessions for Schools Staff while Teacher Patrons lead Journeys sessions for Pupils/UKU. The MSS tool has an observation checklist for School Staff Journeys sessions and an observation checklist for UKU sessions. The checklists are used by the school support actors to record key information about the Journeys session they observed, including whether the SCA/Teacher Patron applied Journeys facilitation approaches, followed the rights steps to conduct the session and used the planning form and evaluation form correctly to initiate and appraise the session respectively. Each checklist is complemented with a feedback section where the school support actors document the positive things (areas of strength) the SCA/Teacher Patron demonstrated during the Journeys activity and area of improvement.

Uganda/LARA: EGR Action Research Tools

LARA developed action research tools to measure the level of fidelity of implementation of the EGR methods and generate lessons learned to inform adaptations in EGR programming. The action research tools gather both historical and real-time data at the school. They include the EGR core methodologies action research tool; the remedial instruction action research tool and the intensive coaching action research tool (subdivided into two tools i.e. head teacher coaching event log and school based community of practice event log). The EGR core methodologies action research tool assesses the teacher’s perception of the Teacher Guide usability, level of macro pacing, implementation of lesson plan elements, implementation of core EGR methodologies and tracking of instructional adaptations by the teacher. The remedial instruction research tool tracks the teacher’s perception to remedial instruction, the implementation of group-based instruction as well as in-class assessment. The intensive coaching action research tool tracks teacher’s perception of intensive coaching and keeps a log of head teacher instructional coaching events in addition to school-based community of practice activities. The action research tools are designed to be deployed electronically in order to seamlessly incorporate extra data quality standards and innovations like the Stalling’s classroom observation snapshot (Stallings and Kaskowitz, 1974 ). The project also developed the action research process flow guidelines to guide data collection activities.

Uganda/LARA EGR Monitoring and Support Supervision Tools

There are two sets of monitoring and support supervision (MSS) tools that the project has been using throughout the implementation period. These are; (i) the Lesson Observation Tools; and (ii) the Head teacher/CCT Coaching Tool. The lesson observation tools are used by the support supervision actors (e.g., school inspectors, CCTs, head teachers and project staff) during support supervision visits to schools. Specifically, the tools gather monitoring data on the uptake of EGR instructional methods by teachers to understand what teachers are doing well and areas where they need support. LARA developed a lesson observation tool for every grade (P1 – P4). Each tool has a section to assess the teacher’s preparedness for the lesson they are going to teach; a check list to assess the teacher’s instructional practices during the lesson; and the post observation section where the support supervision actor summarizes what the teacher did well and areas that the teacher needs to improve. The lesson observation tool for each grade is accompanied by a learner check which is administered to a sample of 4-6 learners per grade. The purpose of a learner check is to quickly show the classroom teacher and or head teacher the reading abilities of the learners present in the observed EGR lesson. The learner checks are designed from the content of the previous weeks and the teacher is able to gauge and determine the areas to prioritize when carrying out revision or remedial sessions. The Head teacher/CCT Coaching Tool is used by the zonal head teachers and CCTs to support head teachers so that they can in turn effectively support teachers in their schools. The zonal head teachers and CCTs observe and support head teachers to provide effective instructional support to teachers. The tool has a pre-observation section which assesses how the head teacher is prepared to support the teacher in class; a lesson observation section used by the zonal head teachers and CCTs to evaluate the actions of the head teacher while in the class observing the lesson; and post observation section to appraise how the head teacher conducts the post observation discussion with the teacher.