Jordan

This report presents the findings of the Jordan Early Grade Reading and Mathematics Initiative (RAMP) endline survey conducted at the end of the 2018–2019 school year (in May 2019).

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 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.

The Early Grade Reading Barometer is an interactive dashboard that lets you: - SEE an overview of how well students are reading, the percentage of struggling readers, and how comprehension is associated with reading fluency. - VIEW information about student performance on EGRA subtasks. See how outcomes vary by key student and school characteristics. - EXPLORE how different EGRA subtasks are related to one another. View graphic displays of these relationships. - CHOOSE a target oral reading fluency benchmark, and see information on how many students are meeting the targeted benchmark now and how the percentage of students meeting the benchmark value could change over time. - SEE how countries compare with each other with respect to student outcomes on EGRA assessments and progress towards meeting UN SDG Goal 4. - REVIEW the impact of interventions aimed at improving the fundamental reading skills of students. - COMPARE how the distributions for selected EGRA subtasks have changed or remained the same over time.

This report summarizes the findings of the 2018 Early Grade Reading and Mathematics Initiative (RAMP) Lot Quality Assurance Sampling Assessment, measuring impact between 2017 and 2018. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and UK Aid have funded RAMP as a national effort designed to improve the reading and mathematics skills and performance of students in Jordan from kindergarten 2 through grade 3 (K2–G3). This five-year program began on January 1, 2015, and is scheduled to end on December 31, 2019. Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah formally launched RAMP as part of the broader Ministry of Education (MoE) initiative to improve education. The Research Triangle Institute (RTI) International leads implementation with its partners: Queen Rania Teacher’s Academy, ChangeAgent for Arab Development and Education Reform, We Love Reading, The Kaizen Company, Mercy Corps, Dajani Consulting, and Prodigy Consulting. The RAMP team and the MOE conducted a Lot Quality Assurance Sampling (LQAS) assessment in November 2018. Approximately 200 assessors (most of whom were MOE supervisors) were trained to collect reading and mathematics performance data across all 42 field directorates in the kingdom. For this activity, an approach was used at the school level, which led to a final sample of more than 39,000 Grade 2 and Grade 3 students in 2,076 schools. Performance comparisons made on three key indicators (reading comprehension, oral reading fluency, and mathematics) provides illustrative evidence of the gains made by RAMP schools over one school year. Large gains were seen on reading comprehension with the percent of students reaching the comprehension benchmark, increasing from 43% in 2017 to 55% in 2018. Gains in terms of oral reading fluency increased from 13% in 2017 to 19% in 2018. The smallest gains were in terms of mathematics (where the percent of students reaching the benchmark improved only slightly from 28% in 2017 to 30% in 2018).

This report presents findings of a national survey of parents regarding enrollment in preprimary education (kindergarten) in Jordan. The findings are surprising because they suggest that the real enrollment rate is significantly higher than what government statistics indicate. The discrepancy seems to be due to a high level of kindergarten provision from private sector and civil society actors who are not licensed by the Ministry of Education.

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.

Jordan RAMP, funded by USAID and UKAID, is a nationwide initiative of the Jordanian Ministry of Education (MoE) designed to improve the reading and mathematics skills of students in kindergarten 2 through grade 3 (K2–G3). RAMP, which is being carried out over five years (2015 to 2019), expects to deliver improved reading and mathematics instruction to all public school students in Jordan in grades K2–G3—about 400,000 students. This CIES 2018 presentation, given by Aarnout Brombacher, Senior Technical Advisor on the RAMP initiative, shares findings from the midline study of the project, which was conducted at the end of the 2016–2017 academic year (May 2017). The study included the EGRA and EGMA assessments as well as a range of teacher and pupil questionnaires.

This CIES 2018 presentation is an overview of findings from classroom observations of teachers implementing the Jordan RAMP initiative problem-solving technique in teaching early grade mathematics. The presentation was given by Aarnout Brombacher, RTI's Senior Technical Advisor for the Jordan RAMP initiative.

The following article from the Jordan Times describes positive results of the USAID and DFID co-funded RAMP program implemented by RTI in Jordan.