Improving early grade reading and writing outcomes has implications more far-reaching than simply raising scores on national and international assessments. Reading is a fundamental tool for thinking and learning, which has an integrated and cumulative effect on comprehension in all subject areas. Providing students with a strong foundation in reading increases the likelihood of future academic and workforce success. By providing Palestinian teachers with additional strategies and resources to build essential primary students’ reading and writing skills, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) Early Grade Reading (EGR) Project supported the goal of the USAID mission in the West Bank/Gaza of “providing a new generation of Palestinians with quality education and competencies that would enable them to thrive in the global economy and empower them to participate actively in a well-governed society.” Specifically, EGR addressed USAID’s strategic Sub-objective 3.1.5 to improve “service delivery in the education sector through increased access to quality education, especially in marginalized areas of the West Bank; a higher quality of teaching, learning and education management practices; and improved quality and relevancy of the education system at all levels.” EGR also directly supports USAID’s global goal to improve early grade reading skills. In support of the overarching goals, EGR’s project goal was to facilitate change in classroom delivery of early grade reading and writing instruction through three inter-connected component areas including evidence-based standards and curriculum revisions, instructional improvements, and parental engagement activities designed to improve student reading and writing competencies in Kindergarten (KG)–Grade 2 in the West Bank. EGR offered a scalable model of early grade reading instruction in 104 West Bank public schools among 351 teachers who taught 9,679 students. EGR collected data through reviews of curricular and standards’ documents, studies in schools, and assessments of students’ reading competencies. The project developed book leveling criteria to ensure the age- and grade-level appropriateness of reading materials, which facilitated the development or procurement of over 100,000 books for schools. EGR provided the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MOEHE) with training modules in early grade reading and writing skills, a reading remediation manual, and a school-based professional development model. The project created innovative materials for parents to use to enhance their children’s reading skills. Despite its abbreviated timeframe, the project provided the MOEHE with a wealth of educational data, materials, and resources, including many interventions offered for the first time in the Palestinian educational system.

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) Early Grade Reading Project (EGR) cooperated closely with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MOEHE) to provide each student in EGR classrooms with age- and grade-level appropriate reading materials. In March 2018 EGR formed the Materials Development Technical Working Group (TWG) comprised of 10 members from four MOEHE General Directorates: General Education – Kindergarten (KG), Supervision and Educational Qualifications; National Institute of Education and Training (NIET); and Information Technology. The TWG methodically progressed through many stages before the complementary reading materials reached the classrooms: developing a book leveling instrument, inventorying the available books in the schools and in the market, leveling the available books, identifying the gaps, and finally developing and/or purchasing needed reading materials. By project end, EGR had developed or procured over 100,000 titles of leveled readers, decodable readers, big books, and read-aloud books to provide the 104 schools that EGR supports with complementary reading materials for KG-Grade 2 classrooms. EGR, in coordination with a TWG from the MOEHE, developed criteria to determine the grade-level appropriateness of the complementary reading materials. EGR considered two factors in determining a book’s appropriateness: level and readability. Both leveling and readability are necessary for determining the texts that students should be reading.

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) Early Grade Reading Project (EGR) cooperated closely with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MOEHE) to provide each student in EGR classrooms with age- and grade-level appropriate reading materials. In March 2018 EGR formed the Materials Development Technical Working Group (TWG) comprised of 10 members from four MOEHE General Directorates: General Education – Kindergarten (KG), Supervision and Educational Qualifications; National Institute of Education and Training (NIET); and Information Technology. The TWG methodically progressed through many stages before the complementary reading materials reached the classrooms: developing a book leveling instrument, inventorying the available books in the schools and in the market, leveling the available books, identifying the gaps, and finally developing and/or purchasing needed reading materials. By project end, EGR had developed or procured over 100,000 titles of leveled readers, decodable readers, big books, and read-aloud books to provide the 104 schools that EGR supports with complementary reading materials for KG-Grade 2 classrooms.

The Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MOEHE) conducted the first EGRA assessment in the West Bank in March 2014 among a nationally representative sample of Grade 2 students, followed by a benchmarking exercise in September 2014. In 2018, the Early Grade Reading (EGR) project conducted a project baseline using an adapted EGRA 1 and MELQO 2 3 . Following this assessment, the MOEHE expressed interest in revising the 2014 provisional Grade 2 benchmarks and developing Grade 1 benchmarks. EGR conducted a technical benchmarking workshop in November 2018.

EGR developed the EGR book leveling tool in cooperation with the personnel from the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MOEHE). In early March 2018, EGR formed the materials development technical working group (TWG) with the participation of ten members from four ministry departments: General Education – KG, Supervision and Qualifications, NIET, and Information Technology). (See Annex A: Materials Development Technical Working Group Members)

The purpose of this formative assessment is to contribute to the community outreach component of the EGR program by collecting and analysing information about target audiences, specifically their knowledge, attitudes and behavior. This information will contribute to the design of messages, techniques and tools that will resonate with the target audience. The assessment has collected information and identified current parent and family practices, explored the behaviors of reading in homes and communities in terms of resources available and activities organized, and engaged the targeted group in different aspects of the assessment to develop the correct recommendations enabling EGR to define and implement realistic and concrete community outreach activities.

This report is part of EGR’s contractual task C.5.1.2: Updated National Standards for Early Grade Reading and Writing Adopted. The review of standards with recommendations for future revisions defines the skills required for students to have a solid foundation in early grade reading and writing. EGR chose to combine the standards report with the curriculum review (C.5.1.3: Opportunities for Strengthening Early Grade Reading and Writing Instruction in the Grade 1-2 Curriculum Identified and C.5.1.4 – Kindergarten curriculum) because the MOEHE has only curricula rather than fully- developed standards. Reviewing the standards documents and curricula together provides a comprehensive picture of the status of KG-Grade 2 instruction in early grade reading and writing.

Arabic version

Since 2014, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MOEHE) has worked closely with USAID to advance educational initiatives. The results from two major early grade-reading assessments and a study conducted to measure the amount of classroom time allocated to foundational reading instruction indicate the critical need to increase and optimize the amount of instructional time during the school day. This policy brief documents the research process and findings which have led to the recommendation to increase and optimize instruction time allocated for MSA instruction.

Education interventions and decisions should be justified. This time-on-task study is an example of gathering evidence with applicable tools to inform subsequent activities. The study was designed to use direct observations, track the use of time, and conduct interviews to inform Arabic literacy instruction and decisions in the West Bank. The following research questions were generated to guide this line of inquiry conducted by the West Bank Early Grade Reading (EGR) team, in partnership with the MOEHE. • Research Question 1: How much time is allocated in the school day on the school calendar for Arabic instruction? • Research Question 2: How is instructional time used that is designated for Arabic? How much of the lesson focuses on reading/writing? What instructional approach is used? What activities are students involved in? What is their level of engagement? Research Question 3: Which effective literacy instructional pedagogical behaviors are seen? • Research Question 4: In addition to the Arabic lesson, how much time in the school day is the teacher instructing? Does this time focus on instruction in reading, writing, and/or language development? • Research Question 5: What are the barriers to instruction and time on task?