The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), together with the Ministry of Public Education of the Republic of Uzbekistan, launched the Uzbekistan Education for Excellence Program. One of the objectives of the Program was to create student textbooks, workbooks, and teacher guides on teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) to be used as the main teaching material in local schools of Uzbekistan.The Program involved international experts in the process of creating the books to ensure Uzbek boys and girls have access to the best learning and teaching materials, which will lead to stronger student performance and the long-term success of the Uzbek children. Cambridge University Press laid the foundation for the development of the books, Florida State University experts supported the creation of the student standards, and the local Product Review Group of seven experts from Uzbekistan helped with the cultural customization of these teaching and learning materials to make them appropriate for Uzbek society. In the 2021–2022 academic year the Program piloted the new books in two regions. Local teachers were provided with professional development trainings from foreign and local trainers on how to effectively use these teaching materials, and over 600,000 school students have already enjoyed learning from the new textbooks. Starting in the 2022–2023 academic year, the Ministry of Public Education printed and distributed books for all schools in the Republic of Uzbekistan

This success story highlights a English as a foreign language teacher's experience piloting the new ELF textbooks launched by the Ministry of Public Education, with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID. As a master training, she recognized that some teachers needed time to switch from their unusual approach and adjust their teaching to use the new materials, and she wanted to support them in this process. As part of her preparation to become a master trainer, she met with English as a foreign language experts from the Uzbekistan Education for Excellence Program to discuss each section of the new textbooks, workbooks, and teacher guides and explore all the new supplementary materials available to teachers, including video and audio files, word cards, and a test generator. She found that the new content and the approach to teaching English were drastically different from those she had used in the past. She found the teacher guide easy to follow and noted that the steps included in the guide helped her to implement each lesson.

This success story highlights the experience of a ICT master teacher trainer who participated in the piloting of new ICT teaching and learning materials in Uzbekistan. Improving the quality of ICT teaching in Uzbekistan was critical to achieve student learning and the new teaching methods and materials are helping shift teaching from theory to practice. Shifting teacher practices will take time as teachers initially found using a teacher guide to prepare their lessons difficult. Because the content and the methods were new to them, preparing for each lesson took extra time and energy. Previously, it was unusual for teachers to have students work on practical project-based assignments during class time. By piloting the new materials, teachers are observing increasing students interest and practical skills. As a result, the new methods will have enormous impact on students’ learning.

The Ministry of Public Education (MPE) with the support of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Uzbekistan Ministry of Public Education, initiated a reform to enhance ICT education to produce graduates with computer and programming skills that will contribute to youth employability. Under the USAID-funded Uzbekistan Education for Excellence Program, the Republican Education Center and Abdulla Avloni Institute collaborated with RTI International and Mississippi State University to update Uzbekistan’s ICT educational standards and goals, scopes and sequences, teacher guides, student textbooks, student evaluations, and teacher professional development. The Program and MPE piloted an ICT program for grades 5–11.

This success story highlight the experience of one Uzbek Language Arts teacher in supporting the development of new reading materials for grades 1-4 learners. When she started working on the student textbooks and teacher guides, she found transforming Uzbekistan's approach to reading in local language challenging and rewarding, especially with the tremendous support of the international and local experts, who helped the writers to ensure international best practices guided the content and teaching methods. The result of their hard work, lead to the creation of books that inspire children to learn and develop a love of the Uzbek language.

This success story highlights the experience of a early grade math teacher and textbook writer. She outlines the development of age-appropriate requirements and standards for students first and then, once those are set, write teacher guides and student textbooks. Before starting work on the teacher guide, the Program developed the topic scopes and sequences. The teacher guides were then designed to give teachers clear instructions on the lessons. With help of the teacher guides, the teachers will know how to begin the lesson, how to connect the topics, how to continue, what problems or unexpected questions may occur, and how to guide and assist students. Additionally, they incorporated more practical examples and problem-solving tools.

The United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID’s) Uzbekistan Education for Excellence Program is supporting the Ministry of Public Education to update its English as a Foreign Language (EFL) curriculum through the procurement, adaptation, and piloting of Cambridge University Press teacher guides, student textbooks, and student workbooks in two regions—Sirdaryo and Namangan. Thanks to teachers’ active engagement and participation in this piloting of EFL materials, the Program will be able to finalize the teacher guides for national rollout during the 2022/2023 school year.

This success story outlines the co-creation process for the Uzbekistan Education for Excellence Program in From February 2020. RTI held a collaborative, interactive Co-Development Workshop to 1) affirm the shared vision for the Program, 2) clarify the Program’s overall mandate and scope, and 3) produce outlines of planned activities with associated implementation strategies, resource needs, and roles and responsibilities.

The Government of Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Public Education embarked on an ambitious set of education reforms within the general secondary education system that covers grades 1 to 11. Among these reforms are the development of high-quality Student Standards that will give a solid foundation for all other curriculum products and instruction. In partnership with the Ministry of Public Education, the U.S. Agency for International Development-funded Uzbekistan Education for Excellence Program conducted the Product Review Orientation Workshop for Student Standards to prepare approximately 50 educators from across Uzbekistan to undertake a formal review of the new Student Standards for Uzbek Language Arts and Mathematics grades 1–4 and Information and Communications Technology grades 1–11 produced by the Program

In Year 2 (October 2020–September 2021), the Program designed and implemented a Status of Instruction Study (SIS) to shed light on teachers’ knowledge, attitudes and beliefs, skills, and behaviors; the resources available at the school level and for the targeted subjects; and how these resources are used. The Program also designed a Teacher Support System Study (TSSS) to examine the existing teacher support system and identify teacher support challenges and opportunities. The TSSS results will be used to create a Program TPD approach. The TSSS data collection process was integrated into the second phase of the SIS data collection process, which occurred in mid-2021. This was done because both studies targeted the same respondents: teachers, school directors, and methodologists. The TSSS, like the SIS, was originally intended to include in-person interviews. However, because of the prolonged difficulties caused by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, data collection was done remotely. This report presents the TSSS methodology and findings from online surveys administered to more than 4,100 teachers, 183 school directors, and 131 methodologists from all regions of Uzbekistan, including the Republic of Karakalpakstan and Tashkent City.