Children need a strong foundation in learning to succeed in their education and life. Yet, by the age of 10 years, nearly 9 out of 10 children in SSA cannot do basic mathematics. There is an urgent need to learn from success stories like the Nanhi Kali program in India to accelerate results in numeracy to ensure that every child is ready to succeed at school. This findings brief (one of six from the Numeracy at Scale study) discussed the key successes from the program to provide policy makers and development practitioners with evidence-based strategies for improving instruction and learning in numeracy

With a modern, robust new curriculum carefully prepared by local and international experts to meet the needs of Uzbekistan’s students, how would the Ministry of Preschool and School Education (MoPSE) ensure the effectiveness of textbooks and teacher guides in the classroom? The new teaching and learning materials (TLMs) created and customized by the USAID-funded Uzbekistan Education for Excellence Program in partnership with the MoPSE were developed through a multi-step, participatory process. Input from international experts and Uzbekistan primary teachers and academics grounded the modern methods and practices in the local context. To evaluate the use and value of these TLMs for students and educators, the Program led an extensive pilot initiative.

The Uzbekistan Education for Excellence Program led the development of a groundbreaking curriculum based on international best practices and contributions from local experts. The approach was rooted in a theory of change that identified long-term goals (outcomes) and the interconnecting outputs and conditions to achieve them. In collaboration with the Uzbekistan Ministry of Preschool and School Education (MoPSE), the Program developed education standards, scope and sequences, new textbooks and teacher guides, and continuous professional development training for educators in pilot schools among other activities and products. Throughout this process, the Program sought to test the theory of change, fill critical gaps in knowledge about the Uzbek educational system, and determine what kind of research would be most responsive to this breadth of interventions and the complex nature of classroom dynamics.

Children need a strong foundation in learning to succeed in their education and life. Yet, by the age of 10 years, nearly 9 out of 10 children in SSA cannot do basic mathematics. There is an urgent need to learn from success stories like the TAFITA program in Madagascar to accelerate results in numeracy to ensure that every child is ready to succeed at school. This short brief highlights some of the key successes from the program to provide policy makers and development practitioners with evidence-based strategies for improving instruction and learning in numeracy.

In May 2023, the MoE’s Examination and Test Managing Directorate (ETMD), with technical support from Jordan's RAMP initiative, funded by USAID and UKAID, conducted a final national survey over 8 years (2015-2023) to measure RAMP’s impact and the impacts of remedial programs addressing students’ learning loss during epidemic-related school closures. The study included 2,181 schools and approximately 244,389 G2 and G3 students, encompassing both Syrian and refugee camp schools. Using previous surveys as benchmarks, the study revealed substantial improvements in reading and mathematics skills for G2 and G3 students in 2023 compared to 2019 and 2021. Notably, G2 students in MoE traditional schools showed remarkable progress, with reading proficiency increasing from 10.7% in 2021 to 42.4%, while G3 students improved from 39.4% to 60.3%. Similar improvements were seen in Syrian refugee schools, with G2 students' reading proficiency rising from 7.2% in 2021 to 36.3% in Syrian day schools and from 4.1% to 15.8% in refugee camp schools. G3 students in Syrian day schools improved from 43.9% to 51.6%, and those in refugee camp schools increased from 15.9% to 29.6%. Notably, there was a decrease in students receiving zero scores in oral reading fluency (ORF) in MoE traditional schools, with G2 students dropping from 21.3% in 2021 to 4.2% in 2023. Similar improvements were observed in Syrian schools, as G2 students in Syrian day schools decreased from 26.1% to 7.7%, and those in refugee camp schools decreased from 69.4% to 22.2%. Regarding mathematics, improvements were noted in 2023: G2 from 6.1% to 13.7%, and G3 from 18.4% to 29.3%. However, there was no progress compared to 2019, with G2 at 13.7% (down from 18.7%) and G3 stable at 29.3% (up from 29.2%). The report emphasized recommendations, including supporting low-performing schools, implementing specialized programs to engage parents in supporting their children's learning, particularly in mathematics. It highlighted the need for teacher training in mathematics, increasing weekly mathematics lessons, and assigning specialized mathematics teachers for early grades. Further suggestions encompassed continuous capacity-building for teachers and supervisors, a focus on effective assessment methodologies, and fostering professional accountability. The report underscored the importance of practical, in-person teacher training and the necessity for ongoing monitoring and evaluation to drive improvements in early-grade education.

The USAID-FCDO Jordan Early Grades Reading & Mathematics Initiative (RAMP) started in 2015 with the goal to improve Kg-Gr.3 students reading and mathematics skills through improving curriculum system coherency, teacher professional development and coaching, increasing parental involvement, and improving standards, evaluation, monitoring, and accountability systems. The presentation is about how RAMP built a resilient MOE early grades system that could mitigate the learning loss caused after the school closure as a measure of the spread of COVID-19. It was notable the early grades school system was more resilient than the upper levels, administrators and teachers were more ready to cope with a new context where children reading and mathematics skills were varying widely: the MOE was able to rapidly implement a national survey (EGRA/EGMA) to measure learning losses and design a remedial program; teachers were able to use diagnostic assessment tools and identified individual students actual learning needs; teachers were familiar with differentiated instruction and remedial strategies for vulnerable children; and a system was already in place to regularly coach teachers in under-served schools/areas.

While there has been substantial investment in early-grade reading in low- and middle-income country contexts (LMICs) in the last 15 years, and a concomitant increase in evidence around what works to improve reading outcomes, there has been much more limited investment in early-grades mathematics. As a result, the body of evidence on what works to improve mathematics teaching and learning in LMICs is more limited. This study has identified six government- and program-led interventions in LMICs that have evidence of impact on students’ numeracy outcomes and are working at scale, to understand how and why they are effective and consolidate that evidence for the international education community. In order to examine the target programs, the study team has developed a suite of instruments designed to examine the programs and to identify common elements that these successful numeracy may have in common. The goal in designing these instruments was to be able to examine a range of potential factors, based on the evidence that we have on mathematics teaching and learning from research in high-income country contexts, as well as the limited research evidence we have from LMICs. This suite of instruments includes: (1) a quantitative classroom observation instrument, based on multiple frameworks for high-quality math instruction, including work by The Danielson Group (2019), The University of Michigan’s High Leverage Teaching practices, and a cross-institutional working group of math education experts working in LMICs (co-author, 2019); (2) a student cognitive interview instrument intended to provide insight into students’ development of higher order, conceptual understanding of basic mathematics concepts; (3) a qualitative classroom observation instrument and accompanying lesson-based teacher interview; (4) a survey of teachers’ Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching, based on work by Deborah Ball (2011). Focusing primarily on the quantitative classroom observation and student cognitive interview instruments, this paper will present the theoretical foundations of the instrument and the processes for developing, piloting, and adapting the instruments for different country and program contexts. Preliminary findings and lessons learned from utilizing the tools for data collection across country contexts will also be shared. Given the need to expand the body of evidence around what works to improve math teaching and learning, these instruments represent potentially valuable resources for research in this area – and the authors look forward to discussing the potential for use and further development/adaptation.

The Mathematics Knowledge for Teaching (MKT) is a short survey (23 items) that measures primary grade teacher knowledge by a) math domains and b) pedagogical and content knowledge. Math domain included Number Sense, Operations, Geometry, and Measurement. Pedagogical knowledge was measured by problems that measured teacher understanding of Developmental Progression, Scaffolding, and Content knowledge. In this presentation, we will discuss the process of developing the MKT survey, highlight exemplary results from the Kyrgyz Republic, and then discuss the various uses of this survey. The MKT survey build from previous work in measurement of teachers’ MKT in the United States and other countries (Ball et.al., 2008; Cole, 2012). Our goal was to create an instrument that focused on the early primary grade and was easily adaptable to multiple contexts. To do this, we created an initial instrument, conducted cognitive interviews with math and learning experts form several countries, and then conducted a pilot in the Kyrgyz Republic and Nepal. In Kyrgyz Republic, the MKT test was administered to 323 primary grade teachers in 30 pilot schools as a pre-post training survey as part of the USAID Okuu Keremet! The survey was administered online in two languages. Analysis of pre-post test showed that the survey was effective in detecting changes in teacher knowledge across all math domains and pedagogical and content knowledge areas. In Nepal, we conducted cognitive interviews with teachers, providing additional insights into how teachers were thinking about early math knowledge. Finally, we conclude with the different potential uses for this survey, such as diagnosing and measuring changes in teacher knowledge over time and using it as professional development tool to develop teacher knowledge. We will discuss implications for the use of this tool for the wider development audience.

This presentation focused on learning through play-based pedagogies in Kenya, Rwanda and Ghana. Some key findings discussed are: (1) Teachers in general support the concept of play and employing play-based teaching in the classroom, but far fewer are okay with students directing their own learning. (2) In practice, teachers spend the most time explaining/lecturing and monitoring the class. (3) At midline, significant changes were detected in some aspects of teacher practice in Kenya and Ghana, but overall, the frequency of play-based approaches is low.

While there is growing evidence of the impact of learning through play (LtP) on student outcomes in high-income countries, there is little research linking LtP to learning outcomes in low-and middle-income contexts in primary schools. This presentation focuses on the midline evaluation findings from an education improvement initiative that is seeking to expand playful pedagogies into primary schools in five low and middle-income countries (LMICs). In this presentation, we examine the different approaches taken by projects to support teachers to test, adapt, and adopt LtP in their classroom. We link these findings to classroom observation data on the frequency with which teachers employ more collaborative, interactive, creative, exploratory, and student-driven play-based approaches. We also discuss the impacts of these activities on student outcomes (EGRA, EGMA and SEL).