The USAID/Uganda School Health and Reading Program (SHRP) works through existing Ministry systems to provide reading instruction in 12 local languages and English to over 3,000 primary schools. A major focus of the program has been on increasing the use of evidence to inform programs and improve performance. This CIES 2019 presentation highlights examples of program support to the Ministry to take the lead in information generation to increase “buy in” of results and, ultimately, action.

In this CIES 2019 presentation, Rachel Jordan presents how Tangerine Tutor is used to conduct and improve upon classroom observations in the USAID Uganda School Health and Reading Program.

This study sought to identify the factors in the organizational culture and environment of a small sample primary schools in Malawi and Uganda that make them more (or less) conducive to children’s social and emotional development. The research team postulated that social and emotional learning are not products of the implementation of an “SEL” curriculum, but rather are inherently dependent on and result from the nature of the school climate.

RTI conducted a small pilot study in Malawi and Uganda to identify the factors in the organizational culture and environment of primary schools that make them more (or less) conducive to children’s social and emotional development. The research team postulated that social and emotional learning are not products of the implementation of an “SEL” curriculum, but rather are inherently dependent on and result from the nature of the school climate.

This panel shared presentations from Uganda government officials and development partners which are collaboratively engaged in the efforts to improve and assess EGR in Uganda’s primary schools. Panel participants will discuss the process of gradually scaling up program activities to reach the majority of the nation’s schools by working with and through government structures. The Uganda MoES which has led the process from the begin will discuss how it has worked with donors and other development partners to mobilize resources and technical assistance by incorporating EGR in the ministry’s overall strategic plans. The Uganda National Examinations Board and the Uwezo Uganda initiative will discuss how they have been able to scale up assessment of Ugandan children’s reading skills through government ownership and civil society engagement in conducting early grade reading assessments. The GPE, SHRP, and LARA projects will share how they have worked through government structures at both the national and district levels to develop instructional materials in 12 local languages plus English and improve EGR instruction and learning in schools in a sustainable way. The panel will illustrate that attaining measurable improvements in reading scores at scale takes considerably more time and effort than smaller scale and pilot programs because interventions at scale require working through government structures and personnel, requiring systems strengthening and capacity building while also implementing program activities. This requires enormous effort and constant collaboration among government and development partners with sustainability as the ultimate objective.

In an optimally efficient education system, all children enroll and complete the primary cycle in a one year to one grade ratio, acquiring basic reading, math and critical thinking skills along the way. Unfortunately, in many LMICs, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, many children entering primary school are met with limited instructional materials and under-equipped teachers (UNESCO, 2014), which can lead to education systems that are inefficient and characterized by low primary school completion rates, high grade-specific gross enrolment rates, and under-reported repetition rates, particularly in the early grades. This presentation reports the findings from a nationally representative study of over-enrollment and repetition in primary 1 in Uganda. The following research questions are addressed: 1) What is the enrolment pattern and the age distribution of pupils enrolled in primary 1, according to school records, teachers, and parents/guardians; 2) What is the repetition rate in primary 1, according to school records, teachers, and parents/guardians; 3) What is the relationship between repetition and age of enrolment in primary 1; 4) What is the enrolment rate in pre-primary education and its relationship with primary 1 repetition; 5) What are parents’/guardians’ attitudes and expectations about pre-primary education and repetition in primary 1. Data from enrollment, classroom, and administrative records on age and repetition were gathered from 120 schools. Caregivers and teachers of 1,440 randomly selected primary 1 students were also interviewed about student age, repetition in primary 1, and past enrollment in pre-primary education programs. Information from caregiver and teacher interviews was compared with data from enrollment, classroom, and school administrative records on the age of primary 1 students and repetition in primary 1. We also analyzed the relationship between participation in pre-primary education programs and student repetition in primary 1 through an odds-ratio logistic regression. Findings show that reports by caregivers and teachers of under-age and over-age pupil enrollment and repetition in Primary 1 were much higher than official reports. Additionally, pupils with no pre-primary education were 3.8 times more likely to repeat Primary 1, even controlling for gender, age at enrollment, and SES. Finally, almost 30 percent of caregivers enrolled their children in Primary 1 early, expecting repetition. Research and policy implications include the need to understand and challenge official repetition rates, to examine the effect of pre-primary on education system efficiency, and to investigate the effectiveness of automatic promotion policies.

The USAID/Uganda Literacy Achievement and Retention Activity (LARA) undertook an assessment of an eight-week social and behavior change communication (SBCC) pilot campaign in the Ssekanyonyi Coordinating Center, Mityana district. The purpose of the communication campaign was to improve parent’s engagement in their children’s reading practice at home. To evaluate the campaign’s impact, DLC Consult collected data for the baseline survey in June 2017 and for the endline survey in August 2017. The survey team interviewed 906 parents at baseline and 936 parents at endline.

Survey of Student Perceptions of School Climate; developed by RTI under the Uganda LARA project in May 16 2018

Survey of Student Social and Emotional Competencies and Agency; developed by RTI under the Uganda LARA project in May 2018

This brief presents Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) data from a randomized control trial conducted in conjunction with the USAID/Uganda School Health and Reading Program (SHRP). SHRP supports reading in 3,700 government schools working through the systems that support these schools and was the catalyst for reform efforts which now cover 80% of Uganda's government primary schools. The assessment collected baseline data at the beginning of Primary 1 for 12 language cohorts and follow up at the end of every school year. These data collected in October, 2017 track progress at the school level (and differences between program and control schools) until the end of Primary 4, Primary 5 or Primary 6 (depending on the year the language was phased into the program). Learning for Uganda and beyond • Registering significant programmatic gains in reading achievement takes time. In the case of Uganda, this is partially attributable to the low baseline levels of reading (94% of learners across the 12 languages could read no words in English at the beginning of P1) and other systemic challenges within Ugandan schools not uncommon in other settings including teacher and learner absenteeism. • When learners learn to read in a local language, the gains realized in the local language are transferred to learning to read in English Major messages - When children learn to read (decode) in their local language, they are able to transfer this skill to decoding English. However, more work needs to be done to improve English comprehension. - Although SHRP has been able to move more learners to higher reading levels and they are on their way to becoming fluent readers, there are still too many learners not acquiring foundation skills. - It takes more time to move children from the foundation threshold than anticipated but when you move them from that level, the gains take off as can be seen from P3 onwards. - Reading gains in large scale interventions working through government structures take time due to systemic and contextual challenges.