CIES 2018 Presentation, given by Ben Piper. To improve the quality of preprimary education in Kenya, the Ministry of implemented the Tayari program in collaboration with four county governments. The program works with government officers to train teachers and support them in the classroom on a daily basis. Teachers rely on Teachers’ Guides developed to guide them in their lessons and are encouraged to expand children’s learning through two core strategies: the use of materials and extended learning. This presentation details one way in which reading and mathematics can be intertwined on a project through consistent instructional messages in trainings, materials for teachers, and support visits.

CIES 2018 Presentation, given by Ben Piper. The Tusome national literacy program has been implemented in each of Kenya’s more than 22,000 public primary schools and 1500 low cost private schools in the slums since 2015. In addition to showing the comparisons between before and after Tusome’s implementation, this presentation will examine Tusome implementation data to reveal key characteristics of the scale-up framework that Tusome was designed to respond to. In particular, we share the extent of classroom utilization of the Tusome materials, the size of the classroom observational structures that Tusome tried to revitalize, and the responses of the community to the Tusome intervention. The findings suggest that Tusome had a substantial impact on literacy outcomes in both Kiswahili and English, in both Grade 1 and 2, in both public and low cost private settings, and in both urban and rural settings. This means that the program’s effect meant that nearly 1 million more children were able to be considered readers by the midterm intervention.

CIES 2018 Presentation, given by Ben Piper. The Kenyan Ministry of Education (MoE) in collaboration with RTI International and the county Governments of Laikipia, Nairobi, Siaya and Uasin Gishu have been piloting the Tayari Early Childhood Development and Education (ECDE) model since 2014. Built on a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT), RTI has been tracking a cohort of learners from both treatment 2 and control schools over the last two years: The baseline data was collected in January 2016; midline in October 2016, at the end of the academic school year; and endline a year later in October 2017. The overall effect of Tayari showed a larger effect at midline – after ten months of implementation – than was expected at end line, i.e. after two years of implementation. The gains in the Tayari group was about 50% higher than in the control group.

CIES 2018 Presentation, given by Sam Ngaruiya. This study explores the role of the Tayari program in promoting a viable and quality ECDE system that county governments in Kenya can sustainably deliver. Tayari is a three year pilot implemented by the national Ministry of Education and four county governments. The program is designed to help the government develop a cost effective and scalable ECDE model. The pilot program is implemented in public schools and ECDE centers in low resource settings. Utilizing data from a qualitative study conducted in 4 pilot and 3 non-pilot counties’ decision-making, the presentation outlines three key aspects of sustainability: the extent to which collaborative implementation has improved ownership and resource allocation and how the Tayari instructional approach has impacted on process quality and teacher retention in the program. The findings and discussion are critical in helping county governments prioritize investment in a quality and sustainable ECDE model for improved school readiness.

CIES 2018 Presentation, given by Sam Ngaruiya. The Ministry of Education (MoE) with technical support from RTI International are collaborating with four county governments to pilot the Tayari ECDE programme. The objective of Tayari is to develop a cost- effective, scalable, low-cost and quality ECDE model. To maximize the impact of Tayari, the MoE intends to scale-up Tayari. However, the ability to take-up and sustain Tayari rests on the counties’ capacity to ensure a viable ECDE system and meet the critical cost of the model. The ability of the counties to take on a Tayari-type programme requires ample institutional, systemic, organizational and fiscal capacity of the counties to take-up and sustain the model. MoE statistics show that, whereas, access has improved, the quality is affected by non-provision of curriculum-aligned instructional materials in the counties and unclear policy in hiring and continuous professional development of the ECDE officers and teachers. Equally, there are policies at the national level that can be used as guidelines for implementation and management of ECD, but there are still some gaps in policy guidelines for implementation; a study mapping the four Tayari counties and three additional counties found increased investment in ECD infrastructure by the governments This presentation explores how the umbrella policy from the MOE as well as evidence from the Tayari pilot programme’s longitudinal study has informed practice within the four Tayari counties, enabling them to be more responsive to the dynamic policy environment. It also showcases initiatives put in place by the counties to sustain the Tayari implementation in pilot counties.

CIES 2018 Presentation, given by Rehemah Nabacwa. This evaluation looks at a large scale reading program in Uganda using a randomized control trial to look at the impact of the School Health and Reading (SHRP) program. This study combines a rigorous external evaluation methodology with the use of a range of 12 different language-specific literacy assessments applied in the 12 languages and communities supported by SHRP. We conclude that significant reading gains are possible in complex, large scale mother tongue reading programs, even within the complex language settings of Uganda. The findings point to language complexity as an important predictor of reading acquisition.

CIES 2018 Presentation, given by Peter Muyingo. Education programming worldwide is beginning to include dedicated activities to support a positive school culture. There is evidence, mostly from high income countries, that a positive school climate is associated with improved learning outcomes and attendance, and reduced violence prevalence. In this presentation we will discuss some of the challenges we faced in adapting a school climate survey from the United States for use in an impact study for a program in Uganda that has a dedicated focus on building a positive school climate. The school climate survey was adapted as one of a variety of instruments to be used in the impact evaluation of the USAID/Uganda funded Literacy Achievement and Retention Activity. This Activity, a working partnership with the Uganda Ministry of Education, focuses on improving early grade reading and retention in 28 districts and 2698 schools in Uganda.

CIES 2018 Presentation, given by Katherine Merseth and Manar Shukri. The Minister of Education has requested that USAID Early Grades Reading and mathematics Project (RAMP) assist the Ministry of Education (MoE) to assess the overall KG situation in Jordan and to develop recommendations for how the Government of Jordan can expand quality kindergarten (specifically, the second year of kindergarten, or KG2) to serve all 5year old children by 2025. In response to the need, RAMP is conducting a study of KG2 with the objective of enabling the MoE to equitably expand and improve KG2.

CIES 2018 Presentation, given by Jessica Mejia. In order to understand how literacy programs differ with respect to the amount of scripting in teachers’ guides, we studied teachers’ guide documents from 19 projects in 13 countries. We present the quantitative differences in the level of scripting in these projects. In addition, we selected four countries that had substantial differences in the level and type of scripting in their teachers’ guides. We observed classrooms in those contexts to determine what type of modifications teachers made to the lesson plan as written in the teachers’ guides. We also interviewed the teachers and asked them to describe the reasons for their modifications to the teachers’ guides.

CIES 2018 Presentation, given by Jessica Mejia. The gradual release of responsibility model has been a primary instructional approach in many early grade literacy programs, including the Tusome Early Grade Reading Activity in Kenya. The use of this model dominates literacy instruction for English and Kiswahili in grades one and two. It has been proven successful teaching the very basic skills of literacy at a national scale, rapidly improving learning outcomes in Kenya. The expansion of Tusome to grade 3 by the Kenyan Ministry of Education 2017 required a careful examination of whether and how a precise adherence to the gradual release model is appropriate for higher order skills such as vocabulary, comprehension strategies and writing in Grade 3. Instead, these skills and this grade level lend themselves to a less rigid hold on the gradual release model. When designing Tusome’s Grade 3 instructional materials, a combination of gradual release for the word study and grammar activities and direct instruction for the vocabulary, comprehension and writing activities was used. The leadership of Tusome worked closely with the Kenya Institute for Curriculum Development to develop this new set of teaching and learning materials for Grade 3 which will be implemented in the 2018 academic year. This presentation discusses the rationale for a reduction in the adherence to the gradual release model in the design of the Grade 3 materials.