Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA)
Status of Early Grade Reading in Sub-Saharan Africa
Student literacy assessments contribute to identifying the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID’s) progress toward Goal 1: improving reading skills for 100 million children by 2015. Tracking progress toward this goal is challenging, and information regarding literacy assessments across sub-Saharan Africa has yet to be fully coordinated. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to advance knowledge of which select countries in sub-Saharan Africa have and have not conducted early grade reading assessments, while also providing information regarding where literacy issues remain critical and where improvement is underway. Twenty countries were selected because of USAID’s presence and continued interest in working to improve educational opportunities within these countries. The 20 countries are as follows: Benin, Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Djibouti, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.
Egypt Grade 3 Early Grade Reading 2nd National Assessment (English and Arabic Versions)
This report presents key findings of the 2nd national assessment of Grade 3 reading skills in primary schools of the Ministry of Education (MOE) in Egypt. This mid-line assessment reports early progress and student achievements after three years’ implementation of the MOE Early Grade Reading Program nationwide, albeit only one year at Grade 3 level. The MOE program, initiated in Grade 1 during the 2011/12 school year, added enhanced reading instruction to Grade 2 in 2012/13 and then to Grade 3 in 2013/14. This 2nd national assessment measures the improvement in Arabic reading proficiency of this first cohort of MOE students to receive successive years of improved reading instruction in Grades 1-3. The findings of this mid-line assessment provide timely results and empirical measures of the initial progress and reading outcomes of the MOE’s Reading Program since the national Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) baseline for Grade 3 in 2013.
Proposing Benchmarks and Targets for Early Grade Reading and Mathematics in Zambia
A National Policy Dialogue Workshop was held on July 1, 2015, followed immediately by a Benchmark Setting Workshop July 2–3, to address the question: "What is an acceptable level of reading and mathematics achievement for Zambian pupils in the early grades of primary school?”
National Assessment Survey of Learning Achievement at Grade 2: Results for Early Grade Reading in Zambia
This analysis report for the reading portion of the Grade 2 NAS presents the results for pupil performance on the EGRA in seven local languages, each of which also had a small set of subtasks in English. Additional information about schools, teachers, head teachers, and pupils’ socioeconomic background that was collected alongside the EGRA provides context for many of the results. For grade 2, a nationally representative sample of pupils was selected to take locally developed versions of the EGRA and the Early Grade Mathematics Assessment (EGMA), which together comprised the Grade 2 National Assessment Survey (NAS). Outcomes on the EGMA portion of the survey, sponsored by the British Department for International Development (DFID), are documented in a separate findings report.
Education Evaluation Services in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) The DRC 2015 Early Grade Reading Assessment, Early Grade Mathematics Assessment, and Snapshot of School Management Effectiveness—Report of Lessons Learned, Revised
This report focuses on practical lessons learned from the implementation of these assessments that may be helpful for further assessments in the DRC and elsewhere.
Education Evaluation Services in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) The DRC 2015 Early Grade Reading Assessment, Early Grade Mathematics Assessment, and Snapshot of School Management Effectiveness – Grade 3 Report of Findings
This study primarily provides USAID and the GDRC with information regarding the ability of Grade 3 children to read in three of the DRC’s national languages (Lingala, Kiswahili, and Tshiluba), those same pupils’ receptive and productive oral French skills, and Grade 5 children’s ability to read in French. Other elements of the study provide insight into the numeracy skills of Grade 3 children in one district in Katanga as well as the French reading and numeracy skills of Level 3 pupils in the Accelerated Learning Programs (ALPs). The study also provides background context and data related to key pupil, teacher, head teacher, and school variables that are hypothesized to be good predictors of pupil performance in early grade literacy and numeracy. This diagnostic information will help policymakers make data-informed decisions regarding remediation strategies that can improve the quality of instruction and pupil learning outcomes in early primary grades.
English and French versions are available for download.
Education Evaluation Services in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC): The DRC 2015 Early Grade Reading Assessment and Snapshot of School Management Effectiveness Grade 5 Report of Findings
This study primarily provides USAID and the GDRC with information regarding the ability of Grade 3 children to read in three of the DRC’s national languages (Lingala, Kiswahili, and Tshiluba), those same pupils’ receptive and productive oral French skills, and Grade 5 children’s ability to read in French. Other elements of the study provide insight into the numeracy skills of Grade 3 children in one district in Katanga as well as the French reading and numeracy skills of Level 3 pupils in the Accelerated Learning Programs (ALPs). The study also provides background context and data related to key pupil, teacher, head teacher, and school variables that are hypothesized to be good predictors of pupil performance in early grade literacy and numeracy. This diagnostic information will help policymakers make data-informed decisions regarding remediation strategies that can improve the quality of instruction and pupil learning outcomes in early primary grades.
English and French versions of the report are available for download.
School Quality Assessment for Education and WASH in Three UNICEF-Supported Regions
This is the inception report for the School Quality Assessment for Education and WASH in Three UNICEF-Supported Regions of Tanzania. The report outlines the approach to the study including the fundamental research questions and associated design to implementing the study.
Proposing Benchmarks for Early Grade Reading Skills in Liberia
Ministry of Education officials, district education officers, and a cross section of stakeholders attended this workshop over two days to begin Liberia’s first ever effort to define standards for student performance in key areas of reading skill development in grades 1, 2 and 3.
Proposing Benchmarks for Early Grade Reading and Mathematics in Ghana
The results of the 2013 national study on early grade reading and early grade mathematics provided the evidence base for developing benchmarks for reading and mathematics that are appropriate for the current Ghanaian context.