This document was designed as a practical response to requests from USAID’s Africa Missions, which have increasingly indicated their need for more guidance on the role of language of instruction (LOI) in their efforts to achieve Goal 1 of the 2011 USAID education strategy: Improved reading skills for 100 million children in primary grades (USAID, 2011). This need reflects a call by USAID in the Technical Notes of its 2011 USAID Education Strategy (the Bureau of Economic Growth Agriculture and Trade, Office of Education [EGAT/ED]), which identified LOI among the seven areas in which Missions were likely to need technical assistance or additional resources for designing or implementing early grade reading programs.