East and Southern Africa
Does technology improve reading outcomes? Comparing the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of ICT interventions for early grade reading in Kenya
Article published in the International Journal of Educational Development, Volume 49, July 2016, Pages 204–214. Published abstract: Education policymakers are investing in information and communications technology (ICT) without a research base on how ICT improves outcomes. There is limited research on the effects of different types of ICT investments on outcomes. The Kenya Primary Math and Reading (PRIMR) study implemented a randomized controlled trial comparing the effects and cost of three interventions – e-readers for students, tablets for teachers, and the base PRIMR program with tablets for instructional supervisors. The results show that the ICT investments do not improve literacy outcomes significantly more than the base non-ICT instructional program. Our findings show that cost considerations should be paramount in selecting ICT investments in the education sector.
Malawi Reading Intervention: EGRA Impact Evaluation Report
In 2010, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), in collaboration with the Malawi Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST), developed a project to improve primary education and implementation of the National Primary Curriculum. The Malawi Teacher Professional Development Support (MTPDS) project, as it is known, included five major results areas related to improving teaching policy, teacher performance, early grade literacy, primary teaching and learning materials, and monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems. While many of the inputs designed to support these objectives took place on a national scale, a specific reading improvement program was designed and delivered in two districts in order to determine its effectiveness on a small scale. This report describes the impact of the intervention, evaluated based on a rigorous three-year randomized control trial (RCT) design.
Malawi National Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) - Final report
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Malawi Teacher Professional Development Support (MTPDS) project is a three-year activity supporting the professional development of teachers in Malawi and implementation of the National Primary Curriculum (NPC) with the goal of improving early grade reading and performance of learners. This report presents the results from a nationally representative study of primary school learners’ early grade reading skills in the Chichewa language, undertaken near the beginning of the school year, in November 2012. It is the third in a series of national samples designed to identify overall skills and gaps in order to inform national-level policies and strategies and determine the influence of policies and projects to address reading over time.
Proposing Benchmarks for Early Grade Reading in Malawi
A two day workshop on November 12 and 13, 2014 brought together 26 education stakeholders, including representatives of the Department for Inspection and Advisory Services, The Department of Basic Education, the Department for Teacher Education and Development, the Malawi Institute for Education, Domasi College of Education, Teacher Training Colleges, and the Centre for Education, Research and Training. Staff from the USAID Malawi Early Grade Reading Activity also participated as did representatives of USAID/Malawi.
Gap Analysis: Education Information and Education Policy and Planning in Mozambique Final Report
The purpose of this paper is to assess Mozambique’s education data and information systems’ ability to help formulate education sector plans and policies. Emphasis is put on existing policy over the last decade or so, with some attention to more recent trends. Thus emphasis is put on basic education, because basic education was the focus of policy attention in the most recent decade or two.
Tusome English Teacher’s Guide, Class 2 Tusome Early Literacy Programme, Kenya
Day-by-day teacher’s guide (180 pages, low-resolution PDF). Companion to Kiswahili Kitabu cha Mwanafunzi, 2 [Kiswahili Pupil’s Book, 2]. Prepared with funding from the USAID and DFID Tusome Early Grade Reading Activity, implemented by MoEST with technical assistance from RTI International, 2014–2018. Tusome is a national-scale program for improving the reading skills of learners in grades 1 and 2.
USAID/Uganda School Health and Reading Program: The Status of Early Grade Reading and Support to Primary School Teachers to Teach Reading in Uganda: Cluster 2 Baseline Report
This report summarizes the findings from a baseline assessment that was conducted in February and March, 2014 to determine the current status of reading achievement in the “Cluster 2” schools in which the Program will be working, as well as achievement in control1 schools that will be used as a basis for comparison in assessing the effectiveness of the interventions.
USAID/Uganda School Health and Reading Program: Early Grade Reading Assessment Results
This brief discusses the results from the EGRAs conducted as of January 2016 in Uganda under the School Health and Reading Program (SHRP). Results to date indicate that in virtually every language, increases in reading skills beyond those found in controls schools are taking place – and that teachers are changing the way they are teaching reading.
Uganda School Health and Reading Program Early Grade Reading Assessment Cluster 3 Follow Up 1
This brief discusses Cluster 3 schools where Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) data were collected from 112 randomly selected program and control schools without the program in 9 districts in Uganda1 in October, 2015 from 1,504 program learners and 1,432 control learners at the end of P1 and the findings compared to baseline data collected at the beginning of P1 in February, 2015 from 1,599 program and 1,574 control learners.
USAID/Uganda School Health and Reading Program: The Status of Early Grade Reading and Support to Primary School Teachers to Teach Reading in Uganda: Cluster 3 Baseline Report
This report summarizes the findings from a baseline assessment that was conducted in February and March, 2015 to determine the current status of reading achievement in the “Cluster 3” schools in which the Program is currently working, as well as achievement in control1 schools that will be used as a basis for comparison in assessing the effectiveness of the interventions going forward.