Esta es una guía informativa para maestros sobre Fondos del Conocimiento y su aplicación en el aula. Los Fondos del Conocimiento hacen referencia al cúmulo de habilidades, experiencias y conocimientos de los estudiantes adquiridos en la vida cotidiana. En esta guía se enfatiza que este tipo de referentes son significativos, pues ayudan a los maestros para aprender sobre sus estudiantes y sus hogares, para reconocer fundamentos particulares de conocimiento aplicables en un entorno escolar. Esta guía fue elaborada por el equipo técnico del Centro de Investigaciones Educativas de la Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, socio implementador de Educación Básica de Calidad para la Transición (Basic Education Quality and Transitions - BEQT, por sus siglas en inglés).

La educación básica en Guatemala enfrenta retos significativos, incluyendo altas tasas de deserción escolar y habilidades básicas insuficientemente desarrolladas. Estos problemas se acentúan en los grupos vulnerables como son los estudiantes de áreas rurales, niñas y personas con discapacidad. La pandemia de COVID-19 ha exacerbado aún más estos desafíos al exponer las carencias en recursos y acceso tecnológico. Mediante un acuerdo con USAID, RTI International colabora con diversas instituciones locales, como Fundación de la Caficultura para el Desarrollo Rural (Funcafé), Universidad del Valle Guatemala (UVG), Fundación Sergio Paiz Andrade (Funsepa) y Wayfree implementando el proyecto Educación Básica de Calidad para la Transición (Basic Education Quality and Transitions -BEQT) para mejorar la adquisición de destrezas básicas de lectoescritura, matemáticas y habilidades socioemocionales, y promover la transición de estudiantes de primaria al ciclo básico. Educación Básica de Calidad para la Transición se enfoca en estudiantes de cuarto a sexto de primaria y primero básico en doce municipios priorizados de los departamentos de: Huehuetenango, San Marcos, Quiché, y Baja Verapaz. Para identificar las barreras de transición educativa desde los actores clave locales, RTI y Funcafé llevaron a cabo un estudio cualitativo en seis de los doce municipios de intervención del proyecto, enfocándose en aquellos con altos índices de inasistencia escolar, migrantes retornados y población indígena. Se realizaron 46 entrevistas y 25 grupos focales con diversos actores clave, desde jóvenes y padres hasta directores de escuelas e institutos.

This presentation focuses on the development of eLearning modules for continuous teacher professional development (TPD) in Uzbekistan, specifically targeting English language instruction in grades 1-11. Uzbekistan Excellence for Education Program adapted and designed e-Learning modules to replace previous video and face-to-face TPD methods used in previous years. The newly created eLearning modules effectively addressed previous challenges, as the original EFL videos and PowerPoints were designed for synchronous sessions and lacked compatibility for independent, asynchronous use. To overcome these limitations, the new modules were designed using best practices in instructional design, incorporating checkpoints and quizzes to enhance user engagement. Additionally, video observation worksheets were created to facilitate self-reflection and peer observation of teaching practices, utilizing the new Teacher Learning Materials (TLMs). Several key tasks were completed in the design and implementation of the in-service TPD approach. Final edits were made to the videos and worksheets to ensure quality and relevance before uploading them to the digital learning platform. Close collaboration with Avloni led to obtaining necessary approvals and requirements to create the EFL e-learning course URL (www.ebilim.uz) and integrate it into the Avloni platform. Usability testing was conducted to identify and address login and navigation issues that teachers may encounter while accessing and completing the course. The achievements of the project include the development of comprehensive eLearning modules for EFL Grades 1-11, ensuring alignment with student standards, scope and sequence, and effective pedagogical approaches. These modules incorporate interactive and engaging content, including video tutorials and additional resources, all available on the Digital Platform. While the EFL e-learning course was made accessible to all teachers through the Avloni platform, challenges arose due to the platform's lack of support for international technical standards known as Shareable Content Reference Model (SCORM), the industry standard for e-learning interoperability. As a solution, the Program decided to host the EFL e-learning course on the RTI Moodle platform, with Avloni providing a link for access on its own platform. This ensures seamless access to the course and its valuable content and resources. In conclusion, the development and implementation of eLearning modules for continuous TPD in Uzbekistan have achieved significant milestones. These modules offer comprehensive instructional materials, aligning with student standards and effective pedagogical approaches. Collaboration with Avloni has been vital in creating engaging and interactive content. Though challenges related to the LMS platform were encountered, a viable solution was found to ensure teachers can access the course seamlessly. The project's outcomes contribute to enhancing TPD opportunities and supporting the professional growth of English language teachers in Uzbekistan.

The USDA-funded “McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program (FFE)” implemented by Mercy Corps (MC) in partnership with Research Triangle Institute (RTI) and the Borlaug Institute (BI) is a five-year project that is aimed at improving the literacy of school-age children and increasing the use of health, nutrition, and dietary practices among 100,000 students in primary grades 1-4 of 416 target schools and 100 public libraries in the Kyrgyz Republic. In May 2022, the USDA McGovern-Dole program conducted an Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) in target 50 schools. According to this assessment, about 30% of surveyed schools never hold extracurricular literacy activities with parents. Sixteen percent of interviewed students reported that they never read with someone at home. To address this critical issue, the USDA McGovern-Dole program is working with public libraries that are the centers for the development of literate modern citizens. The program builds their capacity and help them host events and activities that promote student literacy and a culture of family reading. Additionally, the program supports public libraries by providing them reading materials, books developed by local authors and illustrators, and methodological guidelines. The books are age- and reading level-appropriate. The methodological guidelines include community engagement strategies such as collaborating with parents, teachers, and community organizations to raise awareness about the importance of reading. The guidelines also cover organizing reading events, summer reading camps, book fairs, and literary festivals to celebrate reading and literacy. The project delivered about 80,000 Kyrgyz and Russian books to 100 target public libraries. Public Libraries are centers for the development of literate modern citizens. And to strengthen the capacity of the schools and public librarians, the program conducted summer camps in 64 target schools and 100 public libraries. More than 1,700 early grade students participated in the reading summer camps.

Over 91% of the total student population worldwide has been affected due to school closures caused by COVID-19, according to UNESCO. How can the system ensure education of the country that every student has equal access to quality education during the crisis? Important role of teachers. Help students cope with and understand the uncertainty caused by the pandemic. Encourage students to continue learning despite the closure of schools. This guide is for teachers. Support to students needs to continue while physical attendance at schools is completely or partially prohibited. Able to engage their students in various distance learning methods.

Taken together, the case studies in this Report highlight the core components of an effective performance and accountability framework – a comprehensive system to optimize individual and system-wide performance through establishing outcome goals, tracking, and incentivizing progress against them The case studies show that effectiveness is not determined by implementing a set of individual policies, tools, and structures, but rather how they are collectively used to drive a culture that empowers its people to achieve a system’s ambitious agenda. The components of a performance and accountability framework that are featured in these case studies include: • System leadership that prioritizes a culture of high-performance around targets. • Outcome focused targets and supporting indicators that are well understood and communicated throughout the system, to define and quantify a system’s aspiration. • Quantitative data which is available and regularly shared across a system to gauge system performance, and to identify areas for additional focus or support. • Targeted and tailored support for system actors to help them improve performance, including a focus on specialized support for underperformers, driven by an understanding of data and evidence. • Performance routines and reporting with key system actors focused on reviewing progress, problem solving, and decision making to unlock barriers to improvement. • System engagement and site-visits/fieldwork that surfaces key challenges and opportunities to drive improvement. • Public engagement that keeps the public up to date on progress. Some of these components may require adaptation to different parts of the system. For example, targets may feature in performance agreements for senior leadership roles, but not for frontline staff who may be engaged in a more indirect way around targets (for example, communication of the reform with a focus on enhancing practice and improved outcomes). Similarly, formal performance routines that focus on a broader strategic reform are effective at driving a performance culture at senior levels, but not so for frontline staff who are rightly focused on teaching practice in their classroom. To be effective, embedding a performance and accountability culture across a system requires a nuanced and tailored application of these components to frontline staff, middle management, and senior levels.

Uzbekistan is on an upward trajectory of digital transformation. Its Digital Uzbekistan 2030 Strategy includes ambitious policy goals to modernize and increase the competitiveness of a range of sectors, from telecommunications to healthcare and public services. For example, in the education sector, Uzbekistan has already achieved 100% coverage of high-speed Internet connections in preschool institutions and facilitated trainings for tens of thousands of students in technology-oriented skills. The USAID-funded Uzbekistan Education for Excellence Program supported the Government of Uzbekistan to accelerate digital transformation in education. In partnership with Florida State University (FSU) and the Ministry of Preschool and School Education (MoPSE) Republican Education Center (REC), RTI led two initiatives to support students and teachers with access to essential and supplementary resources.

This early grade reading material is made possible through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the Nigeria Reading and Access Research Activity (EdData Task Order Number 26, EHC-E-00-04-00004-00) implemented by RTI International. It was tested in a controlled experiment that demonstrated effectiveness of the approach on improving reading skills.There is a corresponding pupil book and a collection of read alouds with related activities.

DepEd ICTS requested support from the USAID/All Children Reading Philippines activity for evaluating the recently-launched DepEd Commons online resource portal to ensure that it could live up to its potential as a key strategy for giving all Filipino learners access to educational resources. In response to this request, RTI in collaboration with the DepEd ICTS EdTech Unit, designed a process for reviewing the DepEd Commons to identify evidence-based recommendations for a fully sustainable and impactful DepEd Commons. Although we use the term ‘evaluation’, this is a formative exercise, recognizing that the platform is in a nascent stage and would benefit most from forward-looking and actionable recommendations for living up to its potential, not a backward-looking judgment of implementation quality or completeness at a certain point in time. In line with the approach stated above—that the evaluation of the DepEd Commons would be a formative exercise designed to provide actionable recommendations for improvement, given the early stage of development of the platform—we chose a SWOT analysis methodology to frame the exercise. SWOT analyses are conducted to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The study team carried out key informant interviews with stakeholders from the implementing department in DepEd and in other departments with similar systems; a quantitative analysis of platform statistics containing usage data; and a self-administered survey focusing on usage and usability of the platform.

This report presents case studies of five remote training activities conducted by USAID-funded and RTI-implemented programs: the Advancing Basic Education Project (ABC+) in the Philippines, the Malawi Early Grade Reading Improvement Activity (MERIT), Read Liberia, Okuu Keremet! in the Kyrgyz Republic, and the Uganda Literacy Achievement and Retention Activity (LARA). The case studies seek to apply a more process-based and learning-oriented approach, drawing from the MEL-Tech Framework, to understand technology-supported remote teacher training introduced in response to COVID-19.