A newsletter produced for the RELIT project in 2024

This presentation delivered at the CIES 2024 conference describes key implementation strategies used in USAID/MOE Government to Government Component of RELIT Program.

An integral part of a decentralized education system hierarchy is the “middle tier” comprising subnational actors in charge of education delivery at the regional, provincial, state, district, municipality, city, or circuit and cluster levels. The general roles and responsibilities of the middle tier are described in research on district leadership in OECD countries. Their responsibilities range from planning, monitoring, and implementing reforms at the subnational and school levels, to ensuring school-based accountability through data and evidence, to innovating, supporting, and monitoring improvements in teaching and learning in schools through instructional leadership and fostering professional learning communities at the district and school levels. While rigorous academic evidence may be lacking on the ability of middle managers to bring about improvements in foundational literacy and learning outcomes at scale in LMICs, we have theoretical and programmatic evidence on (1) their role in instructional leadership, (2) the importance of building their capacity to drive teaching and learning, and (3) the importance of trust and support within the education system that fosters learning at scale. Thumbnail Credit: Pakistan Reading Program/IRC

This playlist was part of a knowledge sharing activity organized by the All Children Reading (ACR) Philippines project regarding countries' experiences re-opening schools on the occasion of the 4th education forum of the Department of Education. This forum is a platform to share updates of major on-going reform initiatives of the Department with development partners including USAID and a venue to inform, deliberate on and coordinate efforts and actions towards quality basic education. Staff of ACR-Philippines interviewed education stakeholders in the Kingdom of Cambodia, the Dominican Republic, Romania, the United Arab Emirates and United States about what happened when they reopened classrooms. Representatives spoke with us about their experiences, including the preparations they have made—what worked and what did not work. They also describe the challenges that they have encountered and how they managed these issues.

LARA developed a set of qualitative tools to learn about the successes and challenges related to the implementation of Journeys and to understand what changes staff and pupils had observed since Journeys started in the program schools. The qualitative tools include individual interviews and focus group discussion (FGD) guides with head teachers, teaching and non-teaching staff, change agents and students. There are two individual interviews, one for the teachers and another for the head teachers. The individual interview for teachers investigates the value the Journeys program has brought to the teachers personally, to the school and the classroom, for example changes in the way teachers relate and interact with pupils and changes in disciplinary practices at the school. The individual interview for head teachers on the other hand investigate what has gone well and what the head teachers are struggling with regarding the implementation of Journeys for School Staff and Journeys for Pupils (the Uganda Kids Unite [UKU] Program). There are three FGD guides; (i) FGD guide for teaching and non-teaching staff provides information about the changes (for example interactions among students, teacher attendance, extent of SRGBV) in the school as a result of Journeys, initiatives undertaken by the school to make the school safe and positive and how the initiatives improved the school and/or reduced violence; (ii) FGD guide for head Teachers and school change agents (SCA) that gathers feedback on the successes and challenges associated with the implementation of Journeys program for the school staff and Journeys program for pupils as well as improvements needed to for the continuity of the Journeys program in the schools; and (iii) FGD guide for students that focuses mainly on what pupils enjoyed most about the UKU program and the specific UKU activities they loved. It also asks about what pupils did not enjoy in the UKU meetings, initiatives that UKU teams developed to improve the school, what pupils learned through the UKU program and how the school and classroom have changed since Journeys began.

Ini adalah Modul Pengembangan Sekolah Komprehensif Tentang Peran Kepala Sekolah dan Pengawas. Ini mencakup, Pembelajaran Aktif, Program Budaya Baca, Manajemen Berbasis Sekolah, Pemantauan Sekolah, Rencana tindak lanjut. | This is a Comprehensive School Development Module About The Role of School Principals and Supervisors. It covers, Active Learning, Reading Culture Programs, School Based Management, School Monitoring, Follow up plans.

3 Corporal Punishment Posters from the USAID/Uganda Literacy Achievement and Retention Activity's (LARA) Social and Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) campaign in Uganda.

Indonesia 2014: The National Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) and Snapshot of School Management Effectiveness (SSME) Survey Instruments

Final, validated instruments used in the 2017 Tanzania National EGRA. The EGRA and SSME were made possible with funding from USAID. The EGMA component was made possible by funding from Global Affairs Canada. The Life Skills component was funded by UNICEF Tanzania.

USAID's Education Data for Decision Making (EdData II) was implemented over a 12 year period beginning in 2004. EdData II had at its core the goal of improving access to data for USAID Missions and host country ministries, to use for making informed policy decisions. The tools and research developed under EdData II whelped to inform the development of learning metrics under the Sustainable Development Goals (2015); provide evidence to support the design and monitor the implementation of USAID's 2011-2017 Education strategy, and provide actionable, high-quality data to inform policy and practice in around 35 countries. The report reflects on EdData II and the project's impact, providing a summary of the most salient and impactful project activities, and drawing key lessons from their development and implementation.