Remediation -- providing additional support to help students catch up to and/or master the content being taught in class -- is needed by many students but is often challenging to implement. Time and financial resources are two of the largest barriers to providing quality remediation for students in most schools, and these barriers can render remediation models impossible to sustain in resource-limited contexts. One particular model of remediation -- Supported Peer-Assisted Remediation (SPAR) -- reduces these barriers by engaging learners as facilitators in remediation and putting the teacher in a supportive, monitoring role. SPAR is one approach to remediation that can supplement or replace other models of remediation. It is not the only model a program might consider, but it does offer advantages that other models do not. This guide introduces considerations programs should take into account when evaluating the benefits or designing a SPAR model. It offers decision trees, poses questions, and walks a program through deciding how a SPAR could benefit a program. If a SPAR model can be useful for your program, the T&L team at RTI International can help you design one specifically for your program.

Has reading achievement increased as a result of the USAID/Uganda School Health and Reading Program interventions? Early Grade Reading Assessment data collected for 4 Cluster 1 languages (Ateso, Leblango, Luganda and Runyankore-Rukiga) and English at the beginning of Primary 1 compared to end of Primary 3 show increases in fundamental reading skills, higher than increases found in control schools. By the end of P3, learners in Program Schools are reading more words than learners in control schools and are closer to becoming fluent readers in both Local Language and English.