We are indeed dealing with a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) environment. The Philippines suffers natural and man-made vulnerabilities such as typhoons that occur throughout the year, earthquakes, and more recently, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. These challenges necessitated the establishment of the Education Futures Program. While the Philippines Basic Education Continuity Plan in response to the pandemic, DepEd recognized at that time the urgent need to “future proof” education. Nationwide education in futures thinking and foresight planning was needed to address the future learning needs of all children and building education resilience in times of crisis. This presentation provides an overview of the "Co-creating Learning Spaces for Improved Early Language Literacy and Numeracy in the Philippines" activity, under the USAID funded All Children Reading (ACR) - Philippines. Following a brief introduction to futures thinking and foresight planning, this presentation describes how school-level teams in the Philippines developed prototypes of learning spaces for the future that addressed anticipated needs of learners. We present the prototyping process centered on human centered design thinking, the way that school teams collected feedback on their innovations from teachers in the region, parents, and learners themselves, and a snapshot of the prototypes developed, and the benefit of the prototyping process to school teams and the relative success they had in realizing their future learning spaces innovations after two years.

The Numeracy at Scale study was designed to identify and examine aspects of successful numeracy programs, to provide policy makers and development practitioners with evidence-based strategies for improving numeracy instruction and learning outcomes across contexts. To this end, the study team identified and analyzed six programs across five countries that had rigorous evidence of impact on numeracy learning outcomes and which were operating at scale or which showed the potential for scale in an entire region or country. In each country, the study teams carried out a mixed-methods study including quantitative observations and interviews conducted in 80 to 130 schools per country; as well as qualitative observations and interviews in ten schools per country. The Numeracy at Scale study investigated two research questions addressed in this presentation: 1) What classroom ingredients (such as teaching practices and classroom environment) lead to learning in programs that are effective at scale? 2) What methods of training and support lead to teachers adopting effective classroom practices? The programs involved in this study are based in India, Jordan, El Salvador, Madagascar and South Africa. Two of the programs are government-led. The six Numeracy at Scale programs represent a variety of designs, from providing instruction to at-risk girls via interactive software to a national-scale numeracy initiative integrated into all public primary schools. Despite their differences, these programs share a large number of common elements. This presentation will provide an overview of the common pedagogical strategies found across these successful numeracy programs, such as use of multiple representations, discussion about mathematical concepts, and targeted support for students, as well as the approaches these programs used to support the development of these practices among teachers. Drawing from qualitative data, the paper will then discuss details of how these common elements were executed differently under different program models. Both the common, key elements and “differences in the details” that are found across these programs can generate helpful guidelines and ideas for how practitioners and governments can strengthen their own numeracy professional development approaches, across different operating contexts and program designs.

The USDA-funded “McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program (FFE)” implemented by Mercy Corps (MC) in partnership with Research Triangle Institute (RTI) and the Borlaug Institute (BI) is a five-year project that is aimed at improving the literacy of school-age children and increasing the use of health, nutrition, and dietary practices among 100,000 students in primary grades 1-4 of 416 target schools and 100 public libraries in the Kyrgyz Republic. In May 2022, the USDA McGovern-Dole program conducted an Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) in target 50 schools. According to this assessment, about 30% of surveyed schools never hold extracurricular literacy activities with parents. Sixteen percent of interviewed students reported that they never read with someone at home. To address this critical issue, the USDA McGovern-Dole program is working with public libraries that are the centers for the development of literate modern citizens. The program builds their capacity and help them host events and activities that promote student literacy and a culture of family reading. Additionally, the program supports public libraries by providing them reading materials, books developed by local authors and illustrators, and methodological guidelines. The books are age- and reading level-appropriate. The methodological guidelines include community engagement strategies such as collaborating with parents, teachers, and community organizations to raise awareness about the importance of reading. The guidelines also cover organizing reading events, summer reading camps, book fairs, and literary festivals to celebrate reading and literacy. The project delivered about 80,000 Kyrgyz and Russian books to 100 target public libraries. Public Libraries are centers for the development of literate modern citizens. And to strengthen the capacity of the schools and public librarians, the program conducted summer camps in 64 target schools and 100 public libraries. More than 1,700 early grade students participated in the reading summer camps.

Too often, teachers are subject to top-down policies, procedures, and pedagogies that either bear little resemblance to their day-to-day experience or are so numerous as to be overwhelming in the face of their other responsibilities. When this occurs, teachers often resist these top-down approaches, instead opting to figure things out on their own, or creating their own hybrid approaches that are acceptable according to local social norms. For example, King and his colleagues (2022) found that while teachers adopted effective reading program content, they often retained their previous, less effective pedagogies; teachers utilized a heuristic short-cut requiring lower mental effort to implement the program while upholding social norms in the school. When teachers fail to adopt new and effective instructional reforms, learners don’t access the benefits of the improved instruction and the impact on learning outcomes is minimized. This situation may explain findings from Nepal, Nigeria, Uganda and Kenya, where 80% of the impact from early grade reading (EGR) interventions is explained by just 13% to 34% of schools, depending on the country context (King et al., 2022). What can be done to increase the uptake of interventions in LMICs? Research on educational change and the diffusion of innovation suggest peer-to-peer learning can be a powerful way to enhance the diffusion of information and provide the support teachers need to adopt new methodologies – and can be more effective than top-down approaches for changing behavior (Fullan, 2015; Daly et al., 2010). Through peer-to-peer interactions, individuals develop social capital, the resources through which information and trust are exchanged and can be called upon to support the successful adoption of innovation and new methodologies. We will present findings from a study (October 2022-September 2023) conducted in collaboration with USAID/Tanzania Jifunze Uelewe Project that seeks to better understand the ways in which teacher peer-to-peer transmission of information, ideas, and support in Tanzania harness that power of social capital to more efficiently diffuse effective pedagogies and support their application in the classroom. Utilizing social network analysis (SNA) combined with key informant interviews, we studied how teacher-influencers and the density of teacher social networks and formal school structures for teacher communication and collaboration (e.g., communities of practice) promote or impede adoption. In this presentation we will seek to accomplish the following objectives: Present findings on the role that teacher social networks and formal school structures for communication and collaboration can play in supporting or impeding uptake of education interventions. Provide a framework for practitioners to enhance teacher peer interactions within and across schools to improve the effectiveness and sustainability of education change innovations. By better understanding the mechanisms of teacher peer interactions and learning in LMICs – such as teacher social networks and formal structures for teacher communication and collaboration - the international education community will be in a better position to leverage these assets to advance the diffusion and support of education innovations in LMICs.

The presentation summarizes findings from the Rapid Education Risk Analysis for Lebanon

In Tanzania, learning outcomes in early grades have remained stubbornly below expectations. Over a decade ago, the Tanzanian Institute for Education recognized that the curriculum for foundational learning needed to change. Textbooks were updated to reflect a more phonics-based strategy and the existing teacher workforce needed to be re-skilled. The Ministry of Education developed a framework for Continuous Professional Development for Practicing Teachers which focused on close-to-school delivery of new professional content. Unfortunately, the framework was not fully implemented, and instead large-scale face-to-face trainings remained the norm. Two USAID early learning programs at scale in Tanzania (one implemented from 2016 to 2021 and one that is currently ongoing) have focused on implementing the Ministry’s teacher professional development (TPD) framework to overcome three significant challenges: (i) ensuring that content did not get diluted by face-to-face cascade training; (ii) providing an incentive for teachers to apply content; (iii) ensuring that content could be adapted to context. Change is disruptive; old habits die hard – more so when there are financial incentives to retain the status quo. Moving from large scale ineffective face-to-face programs to a more holistic localized approach to TPD was met with protest and it has taken time to overcome the resistance from teachers. The first program adopted cluster-based delivery of training, with 4-5 schools in a cluster and local administrators or head teachers delivering the abbreviated training. Teachers no longer received per diems for attending centralized training. The cluster-based training was extended down to school-based communities of learning. These sessions provided an opportunity for teachers to share how they implemented new strategies in their classrooms – they provided contextualization to the content. However, not all schools or clusters had teachers who were able to adapt the content. The program introduced the idea of coaching, initially by Ward Education Officers (WEO) and then by head teachers, exemplary teachers, and eventually, peers. This allowed more experienced and knowledgeable colleagues to observe a teacher and provide feedback through a constructive dialogue. Because coaching is unfamiliar to the administrative structure in Tanzania it had to be included in the job descriptions of administrators and included in staff annual performance assessments. Despite initial resistance, this process has provided a clear incentive for teachers to apply the content that is administered in the training. Finally, to ensure training is not diluted in the translation through cascades, the follow-on USAID program introduced virtual delivery of key messages. To accommodate teachers with feature phone capabilities only, teachers access content through interactive voice instruction, calling a toll-free number and selecting to listen to a 2 minute “lesson”. With WEO support, over 90% of teachers complete a 5-lesson course. The course is aligned to content discussed at the Community of Learning and is reinforced through classroom observations. Using data collected at the beginning and end of each school year for the past two years, we show how this holistic approach to delivering professional development content has led to improved teaching practice and this in-turn has contributed to improved learning outcomes.

This study uses national Grade (G) 3 Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) data from 2013, when G3 students learned to read in Filipino and English rather than a mother tongue, and comparable data from 2019, when G3 students would have, according to policy, first learned to read in their mother tongue. The data were used to better understand the role of L1 complexity in L2 and L3 reading acquisition. Sample: 241 schools; 232 schools were the same in 2013 and 2019. Final sample used for analysis: 2,264 G3 students in 2019 and 2,267 G3 students in 2013. Children were assessed in Filipino (L2) and English (L3). Secondary analysis of the data set looked at reading performance and changes in reading performance according to language complexity.

Presentation at CIES in March 2024.

This presentation delivered at the CIES 2024 conference in Miami describes the bilingual reforms in Senegal and how they are supported through local language specialists (via the local organization ARED) and community engagement. For successful bilingualism, there are a number of challenges to be met in several areas. Reforming the curriculum to address the scope and sequence of national languages in the curriculum, with gradual introduction to French as a second language requires considerable shift in the status quo. Naturally, new textbooks and teaching materials need to be developed, but which languages? At present, 6 languages are taken into account in the reform promoted by the government, but there is a need we need to think more broadly about the gradual introduction of other languages, and their readiness to be used in formal instruction. Under the current reform program, RELIT—Renforcement de la Lecture Initiale pour Tous—is led by the government in collaboration with implementing partners supported by USAID. A detailed program of language mapping and community consultations has helped to lay the groundwork for community acceptance of national language instruction and identifying which language will be used in each school based on the majority language in the community. Preparing communities for such a significant change also involves community consultations and a large social and behavior change communications campaign. While these broad changes are critical to the larger ecosystem of school reform, ultimately teachers need to implement the reforms, and therefore a significant task is upskilling teachers in using these national languages for instruction. Some teachers also need to improve their skills in speaking and reading these languages, which have largely been oral languages until recently. Policy and curricular reforms therefore need to take into consideration teacher recruitment, teacher preparation and placement in schools. Such issues of curriculum, societal attitudes, and teacher training are relatively easily anticipated. However, there are a host of smaller details that only implementation of such a significant program can reveal. Should the curriculum include teaching cursive writing in national languages, which has always been the norm in French, even though no cursive forms yet exist for certain letters of the languages? For instruction in both national languages and French, should materials be developed in separate volumes, or do both languages appear side-by-side in textbooks and learning materials? What messages resonate with communities, who may resist national language instruction? And how best to bring teachers on board with such a monumental change? This presentation will discuss the processes and findings of multiple action research activities in the context of the RELIT program.

This presentation delivered at the CIES 2024 conference in Miami describes the bilingual reforms in Senegal and how they are supported through local language specialists (via the local organization ARED) and community engagement