Has reading achievement increased as a result of the USAID/Uganda School Health and Reading Program interventions? Early Grade Reading Assessment data collected for 4 Cluster 1 languages (Ateso, Leblango, Luganda and Runyankore-Rukiga) and English at the beginning of Primary 1 compared to end of Primary 3 show increases in fundamental reading skills, higher than increases found in control schools. By the end of P3, learners in Program Schools are reading more words than learners in control schools and are closer to becoming fluent readers in both Local Language and English.

Has reading achievement increased as a result of the USAID/Uganda School Health and Reading Program interventions? Early Grade Reading Assessment data collected for 4 Cluster 1 languages (Ateso, Leblango, Luganda and Runyankore-Rukiga) and English show increases in fundamental reading skills, significantly higher than increases found in control schools. By the end of P2, learners in Program Schools could read more words and understand more of what they read than learners in control schools – this was true in all 4 Local Languages. Program learners could also read more words in English than learners in control schools.

To what extent did the Uganda School Health and Reading Program interventions1 improve early grade reading and the teaching of early grade reading in USAID/Uganda-supported primary schools over the course of the 2013 academic year? To answer this question, in October 2013, Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) data were collected as a follow up to the February/March, 2013 Baseline data collection efforts. Basic oral reading skills were assessed in the local language (i.e., Ateso, Leblango, Luganda, or Runyankore- Synopsis of findings: • Emergent literacy skills (listening comprehension and segmenting words into syllables) have increased in both treatment and control schools. • The ability to identify letter sounds has increased • Oral reading fluency has increased among Luganda and Runyunkore Rukiga speaking learners but there was no significant difference between treatment and control. • Teachers are changing their behavior in the classroom: • Support to teachers to improve reading is increasing

This report summarizes the findings from a baseline assessment that was conducted in February and March, 2013 to determine the current status of reading achievement in the schools in which the School Health and Reading Program will be working, as well as achievement in “control” schools that will be used as a basis for comparison in assessing the effectiveness of the interventions.

Briefer: Final Early Grade Reading Assessment Results from the USAID/Uganda School Health and Reading Program. This briefer compares English and local language reading fluency and comprehension among program and control learners from Primary 1 to Primary 4 (when the program ended) and beyond to Primary 5. It also goes back and compares Primary 2 results for later cohorts. Major findings: • By the end of Primary (P4), program learners were more than twice as likely to be reading 60 or more words per minute in English than learners from control schools. • P4 Program learners were also able to answer almost twice as many comprehension questions correctly in English than control learners. • Program results are proving to be sustainable. P2 learners in subsequent cohorts registered reading gains similar to those found in the initial cohort, and control schools brought into the program also registered gains. Furthermore, these gains are being maintained into P5 (though the program ended in P4)

The traditional face-to-face (FTF) survey method cannot accommodate the privacy needed to mitigate the effect of social-desirability bias, particularly with the most sensitive topics such as corporal punishment and sexual violence, nor does it provide a means to elicit authentic responses. Indeed, an assessor asking a respondent questions about their experiences of violence will contribute to the stress of taking such a survey. However, audio computer-assisted self-interview (ACASI) does hold promise in addressing this issue with survey administration. This brief provides an overview of ACASI, discusses a 2019 large-scale study that compared the ACASI and FTF administration methods, and provides data for discussion regarding ACASI’s viability as a more effective method of survey administration when collecting data on experiences of SRGBV.

Programs to promote social and emotional learning (SEL) risk making assumptions about the global relevance of core competences. Because scholarship is lacking about SEL in many parts of the world, new approaches are needed to contextualize the goals of SEL programs in a realistic time frame. Previous work in anthropology and developmental psychology can help us predict which competences are likely to be valued, given the sociodemographic characteristics of a society. In rural environments where subsistence agriculture is common, for example, communities are likely to value social responsibility, respect, and obedience. Attention should look beyond the needs of the here and now, however, to speculate what competences today’s children will require in the future. Looking at the current variation of competences within a society—for example, the values that teachers, but not parents, place on confidence and curiosity—can help identify immediate pathways for developing new competences. In all of these considerations, the goals of an SEL program must be negotiated with the communities themselves in order to ensure relevance, effectiveness, and acceptance. The hope is that such considerations can help prevent global homogenization of SEL programs, instead ensuring that they genuinely meet the needs of the communities they aim to serve.

The central role that the school and classroom environment or ‘school climate’ plays in social and emotional learning (SEL) is well documented, albeit mostly from US-based studies. RTI International sought to understand how schools in Malawi and Uganda organized themselves to provide positive and supportive places for children to learn and to develop socially and emotionally. The narratives captured in this study help explain how teacher behaviors and school culture serve to nurture social and emotional (SE) skills. Teachers, students, parents, and school management committee (SMC) members discussed the importance of teacher encouragement, friendliness and approachability, appreciation, understanding of and listening to student viewpoints, and modeling of cooperative teacher–teacher interactions to support SEL. School qualities identified as important for SEL included cooperation, student clubs and sports, a violence-free environment, freedom of expression, and commitment to equality. The findings yield insights into what schools can do to develop a culture of SEL, in and outside the classroom.

The primary objective of the study is to evaluate the success of the Journeys intervention in improving school climate; shifting gender attitudes toward more gender equality; strengthening student’s SEL; and reducing the prevalence and extent that pupils experience bullying, corporal punishment, and sexual violence. A second objective of this study is to evaluate how progress on the intermediary variables of school climate, gender attitudes, and violence impacts improvements in attendance and reading outcomes.

Action pack/brief from National Learning Symposium on Creating a Safe and Positive Learning Environment held in Kampala, Uganda on September 19 - 20, 2019.