A teacher instructional guide for grade 1 teachers in Liberia.

A learning resource for kindergarten teachers in Liberia.

A teacher instructional guide for kindergarten teachers in Liberia.

This publication covers topic such as reading and arts.

On January 18, 2022, the USAID’s Bureau for Asia collaborated with RTI International to reflect on the journey of early grade reading around the globe. The first presenter, Rosalina J. Villaneza, gave an introduction of national-scale early grade literacy assessments in the Philippines. The second presenter, Pilar Robledo, discussed the advent of USAID early grade reading programs, using the EGR Barometer to explore the impact of these programs. The final presenter, Luis Crouch, reflected on research and experience of early grade reading programs, suggesting the next steps on this journey to improve early grade literacy worldwide. View the recording below.

Este manual es el producto de una colaboración en curso entre una gran comunidad de académicos, profesionales, funcionarios gubernamentales y profesionales del desarrollo educativo, para promover la causa de una temprana evaluación y adquisición de la lectura entre los niños de la escuela primaria en países de bajos ingresos.

The El Salvador Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) was conducted in 2018 in late June and early July 2018 (toward the end of the El Salvador school year, which runs from January to October). The objective was to provide the Government of El Salvador with information on the reading performance of public school students in second and third grades. The sample was designed to represent government schools at the national level with a minimum enrollment of six students in each of the second and third grades and all of the second and third grade students in these grades. EGRA is an individually administered oral assessment of foundational reading skills; in Spanish, the skills tested include letter sound identification, familiar word reading, and oral reading fluency, among others. Closing early learning deficits in contexts like El Salvador is critical to improving economic development. According to a World Bank review of the causes of dropout in Central America, skills gaps that are not corrected through additional support and remediation compound over time. Students with weak foundational skills are more likely to struggle and become disinterested as content becomes more complex. As students age, they also face rising direct and opportunity costs and increased risk of teenage pregnancy and violence. Together these factors are associated with higher levels of grade repetition and school dropout. Analyzing El Salvador household survey data, the same report indicated that 40% of youth who had left school cited lack of interest while 25% reported economic causes as the main reasons for dropping out of school. Among girls, personal reasons, including pregnancy and caring for younger siblings, are the highest reported cause at 32%. The EGRA results indicate that 49% of second graders and 40% of third graders are reading at or below a rate of one correct word per second. Students performing at this level for oral reading fluency are identified as “At Risk” for developing later reading difficulties, and potentially school failure. This means that additional remediation steps, such as intensive instruction and frequent progress monitoring, are needed to increase the chances that these students catch up with their peers. Early skills gaps are associated with higher levels of grade repetition and in contexts like El Salvador, where primary completion is not universal, school dropout. On nearly every component of the assessment, boys, students in rural schools, students from lower-income groups, and students with some form of self-reported disability all scored lower than their more advantaged peers. Income disparities were especially noteworthy: Students in the lowest income group were more than three times as likely to score zero on the oral reading fluency passage relative to students in the highest income group (20% versus 6%).

Presentation delivered at CIES.This study attempts to determine whether or not the complexity of the L1 should be a factor in interpreting reading achievement in multilingual contexts, as well as in planning early grade reading teaching and learning materials and curricula in settings with complex languages.

This final report describes the progress made from October 1, 2015 - December 31, 2018 under the Tanzania National Early Grade Reading Assessment activity. USAID/Tanzania contracted RTI International to conduct two rounds of student assessments in early grade reading.

The research involved a review of the existing literature on the contextual factors affecting reading outcomes and analysis of existing LARA and SHRP datasets. The analyses included demographic factors, such as socioeconomic status, but the focus was mainly on predictors of learning outcomes that could be potentially incorporated into future education programming.