Morocco

The acquisition and use of so-called “soft skills”, including problem solving, resilience, and self-regulation have been associated with better performance at school and in the workplace [1], [2]. Problem-solving is defined as the ability to acquire or use prior knowledge in order to solve new problems. Strengthening this skill is a concern to educators and employers as the 21st century labor market is increasingly unpredictable and requires skills that go beyond mastering and executing familiar processes. Students need to identify and solve problems that they have never encountered before, formulate a solution plan specific to that problem, and execute the plan. Thus far, the body of research that has measured these relationships relies on traditional self-reporting measurement questionnaires. This methodology is prone to bias since youth may respond in a way they know is desirable, rather than the way they actually behave [3]. Stealth assessment attempts to gather more authentic measurement of skills by asking children to demonstrate them in a structured environment where data collection is unobtrusive [4]. Digital games can be used for stealth assessment, with data on decisions and strategies collected in the application during game play. Since 2017, RTI has been developing games that target a range of soft skills by simulating real-world tasks in a virtual environment. The game designed to measure problem-solving skills gathers metrics on task completion, time management, accepting instruction, problem identification, solution identification, and self-regulation. This paper describes the multi-year process of development and testing of this game, the results obtained from pilots in the Philippines and Morocco, and the implications for strengthening problem-solving skills among youth worldwide. Cite this paper: Pouezevara, S., Powers, S. Strigel, C., McKnight, K. (2019). Assessing soft skills in youth through digital games. ICERI2019 Proceedings. 12th Annual International Conference on Education, Research and Innovation (ICERI), Seville, Spain. p. 3057-3066. https://doi.org/10.21125/iceri.2019.0774

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 is Part 4 of a four-part comprehensive evaluation of the public textbook procurement system in Morocco. This final section of the Strengthening the Textbook Production Chain in Morocco series addresses the issue of how to ensure a long-term, sustainable system of textbook financing for all students in government schools. It also explores options available to the Ministry of Education of Morocco, based on examples from countries that have responded to the same challenges.

This is Part 3 of a four-part comprehensive evaluation of the public textbook procurement system in Morocco. It is an overview of the challenges and opportunities of school-based digital teaching and learning, intended to provide a framework for policymakers in Morocco who are considering further investments in information and communication technology (ICT) for learning in government schools. Specifically, it addresses the area of digital textbooks. The overview poses questions that policymakers should ask and provides examples of how other countries have responded to such questions.

This is Part 2 of a four-part comprehensive evaluation of the public textbook procurement system in Morocco. It documents the Ministry of Education's textbook procurement system processes and presents the results of a survey of supplemental early reading materials in Arabic available in the Moroccan market. It also offers recommendations on how to increase the use of supplemental reading materials in the classroom.

This is Part 1 of a four-part comprehensive evaluation of the public textbook procurement system in Morocco. It offers recommendations on how to improve textbook quality, how to strengthen the procurement system --including budgeting and financing--, and developing a policy for digital textbooks.

MENA countries are facing significant challenges in providing access to quality education for children in the early grades. However, it is important to note that the situation in the MENA region is not so different from that in other regions of the Global South: quality and learning are not being achieved. In MENA countries, achievement in math is not only associated with the effectiveness of teaching and learning, but also with providing an equitable system of education for all children. This paper presents the state of mathematics education in the MENA region and suggests means to improve it according to the pertinent cultural and social context.

This presentation, delivered at the MENA region All Children Reading workshop in Rabat, provides an overview of results to date in the region and introduces the early grade reading barometer.

EdData II, which began in late 2004, provides survey expertise to help national and local governments as well as the donor community to assess their education status. Project advisors collaborate with USAID Missions and Bureaus, other donors, and host-country stakeholders to find innovative and cost-effective ways to gather and analyze education data. One task order under EdData II, called "Learning Outcomes Research and Assessment Related Projects (2009-2013) supported the conduct of early grade basic skills in reading and math. Experiences with the various assessments were documented in an EdData II publication: "Learning Outcomes Research and Assessment-Related Project: Final Report (October 2013). The final "Learning Outcomes" report covered initial country reactions to the assessments and their findings. The purpose of this review was to collect data on how results had been disseminated and used long after the initial release of the report.

Assessments of student learning in the primary grades, such as the Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) and Early Grade Mathematics Assessment (EGMA), offer an opportunity to determine whether children are developing the fundamental skills upon which all other literacy and mathematical skills build, and, if not, where efforts might be best directed. To answer these questions about learning and the factors influencing it in Morocco, a study was carried out in a sample of schools in the Doukkala Abda region. The study investigated early grade reading and math skills and the learning environments that support them. It was completed as part of the Education Data for Decision Making (EdData II) project, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), in partnership with USAID/Morocco and with the national and regional (AREF Doukkala Abda) levels of Morocco’s Ministry of Education (MOE). Student assessment and school survey protocols developed under the EdData II project were tailored to the Moroccan context during an adaptation workshop with national and regional MOE staff. Reading and math assessments (EGRA/EGMA) were administered to a total of 773 grade 2 and grade 3 students randomly selected from within 40 schools. The 40 participating schools had been randomly selected from within the 1400 schools located in the Doukkala Abda region. In addition to student assessments, researchers interviewed Headteachers, teachers, students, and parents; conducted classroom and school inventories; and observed reading and math lessons. The fieldwork was carried out by MOE data collection teams under the supervision of RTI’s partner ETM in May 2011.