Children with a strong foundation in oral language and emergent literacy skills have a much greater chance of becoming successful readers, and success in reading in early primary grades can predict success in later years of schooling. Read this brief to learn about how Read Liberia partnered with the MOE to improve KG students' emergent literacy skills!

This presentation was delivered as part of the 2022 Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) conference as part of a panel describing the Education Futures research activity undertaken by the Philippines Department of Education, with support from USAID/Philippines through the All Children Reading-Philippines program managed by RTI International. Under this activity, leaders in DepEd are engaging in a range of courses and workshops to learn and apply futures thinking methodologies for reimagining how education can be delivered differently to address recurring shortcomings. The authors are Maricel Fernandez (Research Officer, RTI International) and Mark Sy (Manager of EdTech Unit, Department of Education).

Play has the potential to transform the global learning crisis. In infancy and early childhood, play builds a strong foundation for later learning by improving brain development and growth (Goldstein, 2012). In education systems that lack capacity to support children effectively, play brings its own powerful engine to drive learning—the joyful, engaged intrinsic motivation of children themselves (Zosh et al., 2017). In this way, play contributes to the holistic development of children, helping to prepare them for the challenges of the current and future world. Accordingly, there is an urgent need to improve measurement of playful learning, to be able to add to the evidence base on what the benefits of play are, how playful learning takes place, and how it can be promoted at home and at school across the lifespan. This presentation focuses on a renewed conceptualization of playful learning and describes an innovative approach to measuring how settings contribute to playful learning for children ages 0 to 12, supported by the Lego Foundation. The settings we examine include homes, classrooms and ECD centers. Following Tseng and Seideman (2007), we view settings as consisting of social interactions (i.e. between teachers or caregivers and children) and the organization of resources (e.g. learning materials, games). First, we will present our conceptual framework which identifies six constructs to guide our measurement strategy. The constructs, such as ‘support for exploration’, represent the ways in which a setting supports playful learning. Next, we will present our contextualization framework which guides how we are adapting and modifying the measurement tools to different contexts. The tool consists of a protocol to observe adult-child interactions and survey measures conducted with teachers, caregivers and primary school pupils. As part of the development process for these measurement tools, observation and survey measures will go through a three-phase development process in Kenya, Ghana, Colombia, and Jordan. The Build phase involved collecting qualitative data from teachers, caregivers and students to understand their perception of playful learning and how it is supported at home and at school. Next, an Adapt phase took place where the initial versions of the measurement tools underwent cognitive interviewing, field adaptation, and a small pilot to adjust and extend the items in the tool. The third Test phase is a full pilot of the instruments, and the data will undergo rigorous psychometric analyses to review the validity and reliability of the tools in the four country contexts. We will use the results to adjust the instruments and to finalize the conceptual framework and contextualization strategies. The final toolkit will be publicly available towards the end of 2022 with supporting materials for contextualization, piloting, training and analysis. The toolkit will be available on a public platform designed to promote sharing of data collected using the tool and to collaborate to continually improve approaches to measuring support for playful learning.

A personal resource given to children with a summary of HIV and SRGBV prevention messages. This a daily reference material for children with a pledge to stay safe and support their peers prevent HIV and violence at home, community and schools.

This a graphic and easy to understand summary of the Ministry of Education and Sports Reporting, Tracking, Referral and Response (RTRR) Guidelines. This briefer was produced under the Uganda Literacy Achievement and Retention Activity (LARA) and in collaboration with United States Agency for International Development and The Republic of Uganda Ministry of Education and Sports.

Community Change Agents (CCA) Register is a tool used by community change agents to register community members attending Journeys community dialogue meeting to prevent violence and protect children in their communities. The register has a section where all cases of child abuse are recorded and referred to the sub county for attention

This report presents a cross-country analysis of three qualitative case studies completed in Jordan, Uganda, and Bangladesh in late 2019. It reflects a snapshot of information about the refugee experience of early childhood services, based on interviews, focus group discussions, site visits and policy document review. The crosscountry analysis investigates individual and group stories and experiences to synthesize common themes with the goal of identifying recommendations to improve the provision of early childhood services for young refugee children and their families.

This qualitative case study describes the experiences of young refugee children and their families accessing early childhood development (ECD) services in Uganda in late 2019. The study team collected data through key informant interviews with representatives of the Ugandan government, national non-governmental organizations, humanitarian agencies and service providers. Focus group discussions were held with refugee families living in Bidi Bidi and Nakivale settlements. The study team supplemented key informant interviews and focus group with policy document review. Analysis is presented along the lines of policy and practice, with a focus on the respective roles of the government and international agencies in delivering ECD services to refugee families.

This qualitative case study describes the experiences of young refugee children and their families accessing early childhood development (ECD) services in Bangladesh in late 2019. The study team collected data through key informant interviews with representatives of the Bangladesh government, national non-governmental organizations, humanitarian agencies and service providers. Focus group discussions were held with refugee families living in both older and newer (post-2017 influx) camps near Cox's Bazar. The study team supplemented key informant interviews and focus group with policy document review. Analysis is presented along the lines of policy and practice, with a focus on the respective roles of the government and international agencies in delivering ECD services to refugee families.

This qualitative case study describes the experiences of young refugee children and their families accessing early childhood development (ECD) services in Jordan in late 2019. The study team collected data through key informant interviews with representatives of the Jordanian government, national non-governmental organizations, humanitarian agencies and service providers. Focus group discussions were held with refugee families living in the host community in Amman, as well as families in Za'atari and Azraq refugee camps. The study team supplemented key informant interviews and focus group with policy document review. Analysis is presented along the lines of policy and practice, with a focus on the respective roles of the government and international agencies in delivering ECD services to refugee families.