RTI International and its partner AMIDEAST supported the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MOEHE) in the implementation of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)/West Bank Early Grade Reading (EGR) project. The EGR program goal was to facilitate change in classroom delivery of early grade reading and writing instruction through an integrated process of instruction and assessment designed to improve student reading and writing competencies in Kindergarten (KG)–Grade 2 in the West Bank. EGR worked to equip the coaches, teachers, and principals with the tools and strategies that would enable them to provide effective reading and writing instruction that results in changing classroom delivery of early grade reading and writing instruction. The EGR coaching model outlined the support provided to teachers to implement new instructional strategies that were introduced in EGR training sessions to strengthen students’ reading and writing skills. A good coach helps teachers grow professionally and develop their skills. EGR views coaching as an interactive process that supports teachers to set goals, strengthen classroom practices, and provide encouragement to overcome challenges and celebrate successes. As an interactive process, coaching goes beyond training teachers; it involves continuously checking in with the teachers to ensure they have the support and guidance needed to be successful in the classroom. EGR’s coaching model includes classroom observations followed by delivery of descriptive feedback, teacher-to-teacher collaboration through participation in teacher learning circles, and access to a variety of online resources.

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) Early Grade Reading Project (EGR) cooperated closely with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MOEHE) to provide each student in EGR classrooms with age- and grade-level appropriate reading materials. In March 2018 EGR formed the Materials Development Technical Working Group (TWG) comprised of 10 members from four MOEHE General Directorates: General Education – Kindergarten (KG), Supervision and Educational Qualifications; National Institute of Education and Training (NIET); and Information Technology. The TWG methodically progressed through many stages before the complementary reading materials reached the classrooms: developing a book leveling instrument, inventorying the available books in the schools and in the market, leveling the available books, identifying the gaps, and finally developing and/or purchasing needed reading materials. By project end, EGR had developed or procured over 100,000 titles of leveled readers, decodable readers, big books, and read-aloud books to provide the 104 schools that EGR supports with complementary reading materials for KG-Grade 2 classrooms. EGR, in coordination with a TWG from the MOEHE, developed criteria to determine the grade-level appropriateness of the complementary reading materials. EGR considered two factors in determining a book’s appropriateness: level and readability. Both leveling and readability are necessary for determining the texts that students should be reading.

In cooperation with the MOEHE Training Technical Working Group (TWG), EGR developed training modules in the five basic reading skills: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension as well as a comprehensive module in writing skills. The project initially planned to introduce one module at each training session conducted throughout the academic year. However, when EGR learned that the project would close prematurely due to legislative restrictions and funding issues, project staff compressed the trainings on the five basic skills into four over a period of four months. The shortened timeframe did not allow EGR to offer training in the four basic writing skills, but the project developed one comprehensive writing module, which was provided to the coaches in January 2019. EGR supplemented the training modules with additional instructional resources. Project specialists developed three instructional videos to reinforce the strategies introduced in the training modules. Additional activities to support the five basic reading skills were compiled in one resource book. EGR provided four interactive posters for teachers to use in their classrooms and a variety of complementary reading materials. The project’s goal was to equip coaches and teachers with the tools needed to implement a quality early grade reading program.

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) Early Grade Reading Project (EGR) cooperated closely with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MOEHE) to provide each student in EGR classrooms with age- and grade-level appropriate reading materials. In March 2018 EGR formed the Materials Development Technical Working Group (TWG) comprised of 10 members from four MOEHE General Directorates: General Education – Kindergarten (KG), Supervision and Educational Qualifications; National Institute of Education and Training (NIET); and Information Technology. The TWG methodically progressed through many stages before the complementary reading materials reached the classrooms: developing a book leveling instrument, inventorying the available books in the schools and in the market, leveling the available books, identifying the gaps, and finally developing and/or purchasing needed reading materials. By project end, EGR had developed or procured over 100,000 titles of leveled readers, decodable readers, big books, and read-aloud books to provide the 104 schools that EGR supports with complementary reading materials for KG-Grade 2 classrooms.

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) Early Grade Reading (EGR) Project in the West Bank completed its first year successfully with the completion of assessments and surveys, curriculum and standards reviews, and instructional materials in preparation for Year 2 implementation in schools. EGR worked closely with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MOEHE) to ensure their partnership in project activities. EGR administered two important assessments: a Time on Task (TOT) study, which determined the amount of time classroom teachers spent on reading and writing instruction, and the project baseline assessment, which provided a snapshot of the strengths and weaknesses of the students in the EGR-supported schools. The team also conducted a comprehensive review of the MOEHE’s standards and curricular documents related to early grade reading and writing to inform the development of the training materials and the complementary reading materials. By the end of the first year, EGR had established to support the MOEHE to implement a high-quality reading and writing program in 104 EGR-supported primary schools.

In partnership with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MOEHE), RTI International administered a baseline assessment of early grade reading skills in April and May 2018. The goal of the baseline assessment was to provide the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) West Bank Early Grade Reading (EGR) activity with a deeper understanding of the pre-literacy, reading, and writing abilities of kindergarten (KG), grade 1 (G1), and grade 2 (G2) students in the formal language of primary school instruction, Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). The baseline assessment also established the values of program performance indicators before the implementation of the EGR intervention, which will subsequently be compared to future values collected at midline and endline timepoints to evaluate the effectiveness of the program. The baseline assessment was conducted with 293 KG students, 1,492 G1 students, and 1,465 G2 students randomly selected and equally divided between girls and boys. The assessment measured the students’ pre-literacy and early grade reading ability and writing skills, including letter sound knowledge, word recognition, oral reading fluency (ORF), listening comprehension, reading comprehension, and writing.

The Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MOEHE) conducted the first EGRA assessment in the West Bank in March 2014 among a nationally representative sample of Grade 2 students, followed by a benchmarking exercise in September 2014. In 2018, the Early Grade Reading (EGR) project conducted a project baseline using an adapted EGRA 1 and MELQO 2 3 . Following this assessment, the MOEHE expressed interest in revising the 2014 provisional Grade 2 benchmarks and developing Grade 1 benchmarks. EGR conducted a technical benchmarking workshop in November 2018.

EGR developed the EGR book leveling tool in cooperation with the personnel from the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MOEHE). In early March 2018, EGR formed the materials development technical working group (TWG) with the participation of ten members from four ministry departments: General Education – KG, Supervision and Qualifications, NIET, and Information Technology). (See Annex A: Materials Development Technical Working Group Members)

The purpose of this formative assessment is to contribute to the community outreach component of the EGR program by collecting and analysing information about target audiences, specifically their knowledge, attitudes and behavior. This information will contribute to the design of messages, techniques and tools that will resonate with the target audience. The assessment has collected information and identified current parent and family practices, explored the behaviors of reading in homes and communities in terms of resources available and activities organized, and engaged the targeted group in different aspects of the assessment to develop the correct recommendations enabling EGR to define and implement realistic and concrete community outreach activities.

This report is part of EGR’s contractual task C.5.1.2: Updated National Standards for Early Grade Reading and Writing Adopted. The review of standards with recommendations for future revisions defines the skills required for students to have a solid foundation in early grade reading and writing. EGR chose to combine the standards report with the curriculum review (C.5.1.3: Opportunities for Strengthening Early Grade Reading and Writing Instruction in the Grade 1-2 Curriculum Identified and C.5.1.4 – Kindergarten curriculum) because the MOEHE has only curricula rather than fully- developed standards. Reviewing the standards documents and curricula together provides a comprehensive picture of the status of KG-Grade 2 instruction in early grade reading and writing.