CIES 2018 Presentation, given by Ben Piper. This paper examines the influence of Mother Tongue (MT) as a medium of instruction in lower primary schools in 4 zones of Machakos County based on the PRIMR program. The relationship between MT implementation at the classroom level and its impact on pupil’s literacy outcomes are explored.

CIES 2018 Presentation, given by Ben Piper. To improve the quality of preprimary education in Kenya, the Ministry of implemented the Tayari program in collaboration with four county governments. The program works with government officers to train teachers and support them in the classroom on a daily basis. Teachers rely on Teachers’ Guides developed to guide them in their lessons and are encouraged to expand children’s learning through two core strategies: the use of materials and extended learning. This presentation details one way in which reading and mathematics can be intertwined on a project through consistent instructional messages in trainings, materials for teachers, and support visits.

CIES 2018 Presentation, given by Ben Piper. The Tusome national literacy program has been implemented in each of Kenya’s more than 22,000 public primary schools and 1500 low cost private schools in the slums since 2015. In addition to showing the comparisons between before and after Tusome’s implementation, this presentation will examine Tusome implementation data to reveal key characteristics of the scale-up framework that Tusome was designed to respond to. In particular, we share the extent of classroom utilization of the Tusome materials, the size of the classroom observational structures that Tusome tried to revitalize, and the responses of the community to the Tusome intervention. The findings suggest that Tusome had a substantial impact on literacy outcomes in both Kiswahili and English, in both Grade 1 and 2, in both public and low cost private settings, and in both urban and rural settings. This means that the program’s effect meant that nearly 1 million more children were able to be considered readers by the midterm intervention.

CIES 2018 Presentation, given by Ben Piper. The Kenyan Ministry of Education (MoE) in collaboration with RTI International and the county Governments of Laikipia, Nairobi, Siaya and Uasin Gishu have been piloting the Tayari Early Childhood Development and Education (ECDE) model since 2014. Built on a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT), RTI has been tracking a cohort of learners from both treatment 2 and control schools over the last two years: The baseline data was collected in January 2016; midline in October 2016, at the end of the academic school year; and endline a year later in October 2017. The overall effect of Tayari showed a larger effect at midline – after ten months of implementation – than was expected at end line, i.e. after two years of implementation. The gains in the Tayari group was about 50% higher than in the control group.

CIES 2018 Presentation, given by Rehemah Nabacwa. This evaluation looks at a large scale reading program in Uganda using a randomized control trial to look at the impact of the School Health and Reading (SHRP) program. This study combines a rigorous external evaluation methodology with the use of a range of 12 different language-specific literacy assessments applied in the 12 languages and communities supported by SHRP. We conclude that significant reading gains are possible in complex, large scale mother tongue reading programs, even within the complex language settings of Uganda. The findings point to language complexity as an important predictor of reading acquisition.

CIES 2018 Presentation, given by Peter Muyingo. Education programming worldwide is beginning to include dedicated activities to support a positive school culture. There is evidence, mostly from high income countries, that a positive school climate is associated with improved learning outcomes and attendance, and reduced violence prevalence. In this presentation we will discuss some of the challenges we faced in adapting a school climate survey from the United States for use in an impact study for a program in Uganda that has a dedicated focus on building a positive school climate. The school climate survey was adapted as one of a variety of instruments to be used in the impact evaluation of the USAID/Uganda funded Literacy Achievement and Retention Activity. This Activity, a working partnership with the Uganda Ministry of Education, focuses on improving early grade reading and retention in 28 districts and 2698 schools in Uganda.

CIES 2018 Presentation, given by Katherine Merseth and Manar Shukri. The Minister of Education has requested that USAID Early Grades Reading and mathematics Project (RAMP) assist the Ministry of Education (MoE) to assess the overall KG situation in Jordan and to develop recommendations for how the Government of Jordan can expand quality kindergarten (specifically, the second year of kindergarten, or KG2) to serve all 5year old children by 2025. In response to the need, RAMP is conducting a study of KG2 with the objective of enabling the MoE to equitably expand and improve KG2.

CIES 2018 Presentation, given by Jessica Mejia. In order to understand how literacy programs differ with respect to the amount of scripting in teachers’ guides, we studied teachers’ guide documents from 19 projects in 13 countries. We present the quantitative differences in the level of scripting in these projects. In addition, we selected four countries that had substantial differences in the level and type of scripting in their teachers’ guides. We observed classrooms in those contexts to determine what type of modifications teachers made to the lesson plan as written in the teachers’ guides. We also interviewed the teachers and asked them to describe the reasons for their modifications to the teachers’ guides.

CIES 2018 Presentation, given by Jessica Mejia. The gradual release of responsibility model has been a primary instructional approach in many early grade literacy programs, including the Tusome Early Grade Reading Activity in Kenya. The use of this model dominates literacy instruction for English and Kiswahili in grades one and two. It has been proven successful teaching the very basic skills of literacy at a national scale, rapidly improving learning outcomes in Kenya. The expansion of Tusome to grade 3 by the Kenyan Ministry of Education 2017 required a careful examination of whether and how a precise adherence to the gradual release model is appropriate for higher order skills such as vocabulary, comprehension strategies and writing in Grade 3. Instead, these skills and this grade level lend themselves to a less rigid hold on the gradual release model. When designing Tusome’s Grade 3 instructional materials, a combination of gradual release for the word study and grammar activities and direct instruction for the vocabulary, comprehension and writing activities was used. The leadership of Tusome worked closely with the Kenya Institute for Curriculum Development to develop this new set of teaching and learning materials for Grade 3 which will be implemented in the 2018 academic year. This presentation discusses the rationale for a reduction in the adherence to the gradual release model in the design of the Grade 3 materials.

CIES 2018 Presentation, given by Dunston Kwayumba. In many developing countries, subjects are taught and tested in the child’s second or third language. In Kenya, for example, all subjects are taught and examined in English, other than languages such as Kiswahili. Understanding how language skills transfer in language complex environments like Kenya is relatively under-researched using empirical methods. Using an explanatory mixed methods design, the proposed research study will use correlation analysis to examine the effect of literacy interventions on learning outcomes in other subjects. It will answer research questions on the effect of literacy intervention on learning outcomes in English, Kiswahili and other subjects taught at class 2 in Kenya. The study will also investigate the perceptions of head teachers, teachers and curriculum support officers on the specific aspects of intervention programs that could be attributed to the improved or lack of improvement in learning outcomes in the non-language subjects. This is a critical research topic given the number of countries that have been engaging in large scale literacy interventions without careful thought on whether the expected and pre-supposed impact on learning outcomes in other subjects is empirically evident. This is essential to creating and sustaining community buy-in into these literacy programs, as it is local communities that are often the most resistant to local language literacy programs given the unclear relationship with learning outcomes in these critical other subjects.