In an optimally efficient education system, all children enroll and complete the primary cycle in a one year to one grade ratio, acquiring basic reading, math and critical thinking skills along the way. Unfortunately, in many LMICs, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, many children entering primary school are met with limited instructional materials and under-equipped teachers (UNESCO, 2014), which can lead to education systems that are inefficient and characterized by low primary school completion rates, high grade-specific gross enrolment rates, and under-reported repetition rates, particularly in the early grades. This presentation reports the findings from a nationally representative study of over-enrollment and repetition in primary 1 in Uganda. The following research questions are addressed: 1) What is the enrolment pattern and the age distribution of pupils enrolled in primary 1, according to school records, teachers, and parents/guardians; 2) What is the repetition rate in primary 1, according to school records, teachers, and parents/guardians; 3) What is the relationship between repetition and age of enrolment in primary 1; 4) What is the enrolment rate in pre-primary education and its relationship with primary 1 repetition; 5) What are parents’/guardians’ attitudes and expectations about pre-primary education and repetition in primary 1. Data from enrollment, classroom, and administrative records on age and repetition were gathered from 120 schools. Caregivers and teachers of 1,440 randomly selected primary 1 students were also interviewed about student age, repetition in primary 1, and past enrollment in pre-primary education programs. Information from caregiver and teacher interviews was compared with data from enrollment, classroom, and school administrative records on the age of primary 1 students and repetition in primary 1. We also analyzed the relationship between participation in pre-primary education programs and student repetition in primary 1 through an odds-ratio logistic regression. Findings show that reports by caregivers and teachers of under-age and over-age pupil enrollment and repetition in Primary 1 were much higher than official reports. Additionally, pupils with no pre-primary education were 3.8 times more likely to repeat Primary 1, even controlling for gender, age at enrollment, and SES. Finally, almost 30 percent of caregivers enrolled their children in Primary 1 early, expecting repetition. Research and policy implications include the need to understand and challenge official repetition rates, to examine the effect of pre-primary on education system efficiency, and to investigate the effectiveness of automatic promotion policies.

Executive functions are a cognitive skill set that underlie our goal-directed, planning, and problem solving behavior, and include the components of working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility. EF skills undergo the majority of development during the pre-primary years of a child’s life and have been shown to contribute to academic success. However, most of our knowledge about children’s EF skills have been based on research with children living in high-income countries. This presentation reports on findings from the administration of an EF assessment with children from a West African country. Students entering Primary 1 grade for the first time from Kindergarten class were sampled. All students were administered four pre-literacy tasks and a set of questions measuring socio-economic status. Half of the sample also received EF touch games, including two training modules, two tasks measuring inhibitory control and 1 task measuring working memory. The presentation will focus on the findings of the use of EF Touch with this sample of children from a West African country. First, a brief description of the process of adapting and revising the tools for use in Liberia is reported. Second, a descriptive analysis is presented in order to describe the feasibility of using EF Touch with young children in this context. Third, children’s performance on the three tasks is summarized and correlations among the scores on the three tasks is reported and discussed. Fourth, a model exploring the unique contributions of simple reaction time and demographic characteristics is presented. Finally, the overall contribution to the field of early childhood assessment and executive function measurement in LMICs is discussed.

Presentation by Carmen Strigel, Director, Technology for Education and Training, RTI International. Delivered at the RTI Panel Discussion "Vision and Hearing Screening in LMICs: Challenges and Opportunities" held Wed, September 26, 2018 in Washington, D.C. For related resources, see also the topic "Assessments" using the "by Topic" link in the menu above.

Presentation by Kristen Layton, Director, Strategy, Innovation and Learning Unit, Perkins International. Delivered at the RTI Panel Discussion "Vision and Hearing Screening in LMICs: Challenges and Opportunities" held Wed, September 26, 2018 in Washington, D.C. For related resources, see also the topic "Assessments" using the "by Topic" link in the menu above.

CIES 2018 Presentation, given by Tara Weatherholt. A current challenge in the equitable access to quality pre-primary education for young children is the current lack of relevant and reliable data on pre-primary education to inform improvement of the education sector in developing country contexts. In 2015, the global Measuring Early Learning and Quality Outcomes (MELQO) initiative was formed by UNICEF, UNESCO, the World Bank, and the Brookings Institution to focus on facilitating feasible, accurate, and useful measurement of young pupils’ development at the start of primary school as well as the quality of pre-primary learning environments, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. The first nationally representative school readiness study utilizing the MELQO suite of instruments was recently completed in Tanzania. This presentation will report on the quality of pre-primary education environments in both Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar, as found through the national MELQO study conducted in early 2017, and how this may inform sector improvement.

CIES 2018 Presentation, given by Scholastica Tiguryera. While in-service training is an essential component of early grade reading (EGR) projects, it only addresses the current force of teachers and is usually a one-time, resource intensive undertaking. In these efforts, pre-service teacher education is often not addressed overlooking the next generation of teachers who will also need to know how to teach the new reading curriculum. This presentation will discuss how the Uganda Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) has worked with two USAID-funded EGR projects (School Health and Reading Program [SHRP] and Literacy Achievement and Retention Activity [LARA]), a government-run EGR project funded by the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), Kyambogo University, and other local partners to develop an addendum to the Primary Teacher Education Curriculum to ensure the early grade reading initiatives introduced by the projects are incorporated into the pre-service teacher training program.

CIES 2018 Presentation, given by Yasmin Sitabkhan. The purpose of this presentation is to explore the applicability of the direct instruction (DI) model (also known as the “I do, We do, You do” model) for early grades mathematics instruction in low-income contexts through data gathered on two projects, the Tayari Early Childhood Project in Kenya and the Liberia Teacher Training Project (LTTP2). The results from the two studies point to the effectiveness of the gradual release of responsibility model for early mathematics instruction. The model as it is, with an explicit I do, we do, and you do” section for each concept, does not align with best practices in early mathematics instruction. However, the workshop model, which essentially is a “we do, you do” model, may foster more productive instruction that encourages critical thinking and problem-solving behavior.

CIES 2018 Presentation, given by Ben Piper. While there has been recent evidence pointing to the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of pre-primary interventions, there remains little known about how those interventions might work at medium or national scale, nor whether the theoretical impacts of the programs increase, decrease or remain steady over time, nor whether the gains persist into primary school. The endline results from two years of Tayari’s intervention provide longitudinal data on nearly 2500 children who have been evaluated across a range of early learning skills (literacy, numeracy, socio-emotional) at three data points, including their first year of Grade 1. The results presented will explain how Tayari program impacts change over these three data points and determine whether Tayari’s impact persists into Grade 1.

CIES 2018 Presentation, given by Ben Piper. Tusome is supporting the Ministry’s systems to increase the utilization of monitoring data, and to expand the accountability structures of the government using the data provided by the national literacy program. Of particular interest is the classroom observation data collected by government-paid coaches, in Kenya these officers are called Curriculum Support Officers (CSOs). The data presented in this panel shows how the instructional support structures in Kenya have worked over time, with particular interest in the availability and usage of classroom support data.

CIES 2018 Presentation, given by Ben Piper. This paper examines the influence of Mother Tongue (MT) as a medium of instruction in lower primary schools in 4 zones of Machakos County based on the PRIMR program. The relationship between MT implementation at the classroom level and its impact on pupil’s literacy outcomes are explored.