This MEL Framework for Technology-Supported Remote Training seeks to help education program implementers, governments, and program evaluators more effectively design, implement, and learn lessons from remote training activities. It places special consideration on the unique characteristics of technology-supported interventions in the global South. The framework presents minimum standards for the evaluation of technology-supported remote training, which, in turn, facilitates the development of an actionable evidence base for replication and scale-up. Rather than “just another theoretical framework” developed from a purely academic angle, or a framework stemming from a one-off training effort, this framework is based on guiding questions and proposed indicators that have been carefully investigated, tested, and used in five RTI monitoring and research efforts across the global South: Kyrgyz Republic, Liberia, Malawi, the Philippines, and Uganda (Pouezevara et al. 2021). Furthermore, the framework has been reviewed for clarity, practicality, and relevance by several RTI project teams across Africa and Asia.

This report describes findings and lessons learned from an online teacher training course in the Philippines. "Becoming a Learning Detective" is a 5-day online course that focuses on the design and use of formative assessment to improve literacy and numeracy outcomes in Kindergarten to Grade 3 (K–3) classrooms. The emphasis is on classroom-based assessment strategies that are embedded within daily teaching and learning experiences, involving an active partnership between teacher and students. The course brings together asynchronous and synchronous elements, as well as whole group, small group, and individual learning experiences. The course was implemented for the first time among a small cohort of participants across 17 regions in the Philippines. Findings and recommendations of this initial training are being applied toward strengthening the course prior to offering it at a larger scale in the Philippines.

Led by the Basic Education Coalition (BEC), the Governments' Organizational Responses to COVID-19 - Igniting Interest and Institutional Capacity in EdTech study sought to understand what governments, specifically Ministries of Education (MoE), had to do organizationally to implement these programs, such as forging new partnerships, organizing and capacity building of personnel, developing or revising distance learning policies, and so on. The information shared in this report stems from a global survey implemented across 12 countries in Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and South America with 23 responses from key MoE staff, including several department directors. In doing so, the study fills a knowledge gap for the international basic education sector and provides valuable insights to inform future education systems' capacity building programming. Insights and learnings surfaced from this study provide critical data on MoE capacity, technology investment, and other emerging structural shifts and strategies to support large-scale Education Technology (EdTech) programming and digital transformation of key activities.

RTI’s Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, Learning, and Adapting (MERLA) Community of Practice is proud to launch a free course geared towards the international development community. The course is designed for individuals of all practices (monitoring and evaluation, project management, business development, policy planning) and is intended to provide a foundation for MERLA basics. The five modules cover topics including fundamentals of program design, developing a project logic model (e.g. Theory of Change, Results Framework, etc), designing performance indicators, developing data collection instruments, and much more! No certificate is provided. The course is licensed under Creative Commons CC-BY-SA.

This tool was created to support projects who are considering delivering educational content remotely. The decision tree supports multiple aspects of instructional design and accessibility to suggest specific authoring tools and delivery platforms.

This topic brief was prepared by Liezl F. Dunuan, under a subcontract issued to the Foundation for Information Technology in Education (FIT-ED), Philippines. It is based on document review and interviews with officials and staff of the DepEd’s regional and division offices in the Cordillera Administrative Region and Baguio City, DICT, DOST-Science Education Institute, the United Nations Development Programme Philippines office, two private telecommunications companies (Globe and Smart), two private EdTech service providers, and two non-profit organizations working in EdTech. Relevant policy documents were also reviewed. Carmen Strigel (RTI International) contributed to the international policy analysis section.

Despite successes in improving access to primary education, the Malawi education system has struggled to produce high levels of learning. The country has consistently ranked at or near the bottom in regional learning assessments, and an Early Grade Reading Assessment conducted in 2010 showed that 76 percent of Standard 2 learners could not identify any letters. To address the low reading performance, The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) partnered with the Government of Malawi to pilot several projects aimed at improving reading performance. The lessons from these pilot projects led to the development of a National Reading Strategy (NRS) and a National Reading Program (NRP). With support from USAID, the NRP’s goal is to improve the reading skills of all students in Chichewa and English in the first four years of primary school. It does this through reforms to the curriculum, teacher professional development and coaching, development and distribution of teaching and learning materials, continuous assessment and remediation, and targeted support for learners. USAID supports the NRP by providing finance and technical assistance through several activities including MERIT: Malawi Early Grade Reading Improvement Activity (MERIT), Yesani Ophunzira (YESA), Strengthening Early Grade Reading in Malawi (SEGREM) and Reading for All Malawi (REFAM). This is the recording of the #vCIES 2020 conference session, which includes representatives from the MoEST and NRP implementation partners discussing their roles in supporting the NRP and sharing lessons around their approach, achievements, and challenges as they collaborate to get all children learning. The combined experiences of the partners will be useful for other projects, organizations, and governments who are looking to make a wide-scale change in their education systems.

This topic brief is based on information from interviews with officials and staff of the DepEd Information and Communications Technology Service, BLD, NEAP, and DOST-SEI; head of the education programs of private companies; and faculty members from three higher education institutions in the Philippines engaged in teacher professional development. Relevant policy documents were also reviewed. This brief was prepared by Monalisa T. Sasing, under a subcontract issued to FIT-ED, Philippines. It was edited by Sarah Pouezevara (RTI) prior to publication.

RTI International and its partner AMIDEAST supported the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MOEHE) in the implementation of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)/West Bank Early Grade Reading (EGR) project. The EGR program goal was to facilitate change in classroom delivery of early grade reading and writing instruction through an integrated process of instruction and assessment designed to improve student reading and writing competencies in Kindergarten (KG)–Grade 2 in the West Bank. EGR worked to equip the coaches, teachers, and principals with the tools and strategies that would enable them to provide effective reading and writing instruction that results in changing classroom delivery of early grade reading and writing instruction. The EGR coaching model outlined the support provided to teachers to implement new instructional strategies that were introduced in EGR training sessions to strengthen students’ reading and writing skills. A good coach helps teachers grow professionally and develop their skills. EGR views coaching as an interactive process that supports teachers to set goals, strengthen classroom practices, and provide encouragement to overcome challenges and celebrate successes. As an interactive process, coaching goes beyond training teachers; it involves continuously checking in with the teachers to ensure they have the support and guidance needed to be successful in the classroom. EGR’s coaching model includes classroom observations followed by delivery of descriptive feedback, teacher-to-teacher collaboration through participation in teacher learning circles, and access to a variety of online resources.

Cultivating Dynamic Educators: Case Studies in Teacher Behavior Change in Africa and Asia responds to growing recognition by international education professionals, policy makers, and funding partners of the need for qualified teachers and interest in the subject of teacher professional development (also referred to as “teacher behavior change”). The book responds to important questions that are fundamental to improving teaching quality by influencing teaching practice. These questions include: How do we provide high-quality training at scale? How do we ensure that training transfers to change in practice? What methods are most cost-effective? How do we know what works? The book includes case studies from seven countries--Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Malawi, Nigeria, Philippines and Zambia--describing different approaches to teacher behavior change and illustrates how specific implementation choices were made for each context. Individual chapters document lessons learned as well as methodologies used for discerning lessons. The key conclusion is that no single effort is enough on its own; teacher behavior change requires a system-wide view and concerted, coordinated inputs from a range of stakeholders.