This first phase of this Teacher Guide Uptake Study (TGUS I) examines teachers’ use of TGs and application of student-centered teaching strategies to provide targeted feedback for the revision of the TGs. The second phase of the TGUS will continue to examine the adoption of the new ICT and EFL teaching materials as part of the pilot process. PURPOSE- The purpose of this first phase study is to determine what changes and adaptations, in terms of content, classroom instruction, and design, should be made to ICT and EFL TGs.

This report presents the findings of a deep dive impact evaluation of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Uzbekistan Education for Excellence Program (The Program), which was initiated on December 9, 2019, and originally scheduled to end on December 8, 2023, then extended through March 31, 2024. The Program is implemented by a consortium of partners including RTI International (RTI) as the consortium lead and Florida State University and Mississippi State University as partners. For this report, the Program used a comparative analysis of Early Grade Reading and Mathematics Assessments (EGRA and EGMA, respectively) administered at baseline in 2021 and at endline in 2023. The Program evaluation focused on students in grades 2 and 4. In November and December of the 2021-22 school year, the baseline EGRA and EGMA were administered to students who completed grades 2 and 4 and had been in grades 3 and 5 for three months. The endline assessments were administered to students in grades 2 and 4 in May of 2023, a few weeks prior to the end of that school year. This meant that students at endline were being assessed after having completed 68 fewer days of schooling than those who were assessed at baseline.

The Uzbekistan Education for Excellence Program (the Program) is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by the Ministry of Public Education (MoPE) in partnership with the RTI International Consortium, including Florida State University and Mississippi State University. Between May and October 2021, the Program conducted the Status of Instruction Study—Phase 2 (SIS2) to answer the following research questions: -- What resources do teachers use, and how much time do they invest in lesson planning? -- What resources are available at the school and in the classroom to support instruction in the subject areas under study? -- What instructional techniques are commonly used by Uzbek teachers for questioning, student engagement, student grouping, and student formative assessment and performance feedback? -- Do teachers engage in school-based community of practice activities? What opportunities and support are currently available to teachers

The Uzbekistan Education for Excellence Program funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), conducted the Teacher Support System Study (TSSS) to examine the existing teacher support system in Uzbekistan and identify teacher support challenges and opportunities. The Program is implemented by the RTI International Consortium, which includes Florida State University and Mississippi State University.

The Uzbekistan Education for Excellence Program (the Program), funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), designed the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Teacher Guide Uptake Study (TGUS) to determine teachers’ uptake of new teacher guides (TGs), teachers’ application of student-centered strategies, and the appropriateness of the design of the TGs themselves. The Program used the results and ensuing recommendations to inform the development and finalization of its teacher professional development efforts and TGs, respectively.

The Uzbekistan Education for Excellence Program is a 4-year program (December 9, 2019–December 8, 2023) funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by the RTI International Consortium in collaboration with the Uzbekistan Ministry of Public Education. The Program conducted baseline Early Grade Reading and Mathematics Assessments (EGRA and EGMA, respectively) in November and December 2021. The purpose of the baseline was to measure the pre-intervention levels of mathematics and Uzbek language reading achievement for students at the end of grade 2 and grade 4.

One week sample of the 2nd grade teacher's guide and embedded student textbook for Uzbekistan under the UEEP project.

This information and communication technology (ICT) assessment measured the competency of 1,244 grade 9, 10, and 11 students from the beginning to the end of the 2022–2023 school year in two regions. This longitudinal study measured the impact of student learning outcomes over the course of a year. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Uzbekistan Education for Excellence Program conducted a baseline assessment at the beginning of the school year in September 2022 and an endline assessment at the end of the school year in May 2023. These assessments included a knowledge examination of the content of newly introduced ICT standards and textbooks. The examination was based on standards and proficiency was defined as 78%, 79%, and 77% correct responses in the assessment for grades 9, 10, and 11 respectively by the subject matter specialists in ICT. Additionally, to better measure the progress during the early years of implementation of the new curriculum, the Program also set intermediate proficiency levels at 50%, 40%, and 40% for grades 9, 10, and 11 respectively.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Uzbekistan Education for Excellence Program, implemented by RTI International, conducted the Teaching and Learning Material (TLM) Uptake Study to inform immediate- and medium-term revisions to the TLMs developed by both the Program and the Ministry of Preschool and School Education (MoPSE). This desk review forms part of the TLM Uptake Study. Under the desk review, we evaluated the quality of the teacher guides (TGs) and student textbooks (STBs) developed for the Uzbek Language Arts (ULA) and Mathematics courses for grades 1–4 during the piloting of these materials in schools.

In November 2018, the Republic of Uzbekistan Ministry of Preschool and School Education (MoPSE) announced its Information Technology Nation initiative, which is aimed at producing graduates with the ability to work in cyber security, software development and testing, network administration, graphic design, animation, and game design. To achieve these outcomes, the public education system began addressing a series of critical constraints, including access to information and communication technology (ICT) hardware and broadband access at the school level, time allocated to ICT classes, and outdated standards and curriculum for ICT education, which should better reflect assessments of ICT skills and current labor market and university demands.