Education
New Tool to Assess Literacy
A free electronic tool is now available to quickly and accurately measure the reading progress of young children in the developing world. An adaptation of USAID’s paper-based Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA), the new tool called eEGRA runs in Microsoft’s Excel spreadsheet software, available free on most computers. The new tool was demonstrated for international literacy experts and policymakers March 13th, at the Washington offices of Education Development Center (EDC) which developed eEGRA.
eEGRA puts valid, reliable reading results into the hands of teachers. Photo Credit: Rojessa Tiamson-Saceda
One of the benefits of eEGRA is that results are available immediately after a student has completed a test, instantly providing the classroom teacher or headmaster with a snapshot of the student’s reading progress. By comparison, data from the paper test can take six months to analyze, and because it is developed at the national or district level, is rarely seen or used by teachers.
In addition, the electronic test automates time calculations and restricts data entry mistakes by eliminating the need to interpret hand-written scores. It also standardizes the delivery of test instructions via audio playback, ensuring all students receive the same information. Because it is in electronic format, eEGRA uses less paper and comes with the capability to back up and save data.
“We are already finding that eEGRA is revolutionizing how we assess the reading skills of young children,” said EDC Vice President Nancy Devine. “It allows teachers to identify whether students have developed key skills for their grade level, and this in turn allows them to identify what remediation efforts, if any, are required. eEGRA directly links assessment and classroom practice.”
First conceptualized in 2009, eEGRA was developed for an Excel platform in the spring of 2010, and then field tested in the Philippines. That field study established that eEGRA scores learners as accurately as its paper-based counterpart and the use of a laptop does not inhibit testing. eEGRA was first presented at USAID’s M4Ed4Dev conference in August 2010 and has been available free and in open-source format since that time. To date, it has been used by development partners to assess student learning in three countries, in three languages.
“We continue to refine the tool with new features and improved performance,” said EDC’s Helen Boyle. “Our ultimate goal is to put reliable, valid reading assessments into the hands of teachers around the globe, enabling them to deliver more effective instruction to their students.”
Click here to learn more or download and begin using the free assessment tool.
Launch of Pakistan’s National Reading Program
This week in Pakistan, I joined Ambassador Cameron Munter, Senior Minister Pir Mazhar-Ul-Haq of the Government of Sindh Education and Literacy Department and local leaders in launching a National Reading Program.
The program will help improve reading and math skills for nearly seven million children, mobilize communities to strengthen school management and support the development of three and a half million new readers. That means improving educational assessments so that schools and parents can clearly track student progress. And it means strengthening teach professional development, so that teachers have the opportunity to grow, share their experiences and learn about new approaches.
This support will help Pakistan accelerate progress towards full primary enrollment, which it would not achieve until 2050 at its current pact. Today, seven million Pakistani children including four million girls are not enrolled. And in Sindh, only 40 percent of children who have completed primary school can read a simple sentence in their native language.
Administrator Shah at the launch of the National Reading Program in Karachi, Pakistan with students from the Government Girls Primary/Secondary School in Sultanabad. Photo Credit: USAID/Pakistan
The program would not have been possible without Pakistan’s groundbreaking effort to establish a National Education Policy, which provides a roadmap for ensuring every child receives a quality education. In 2010, Pakistan’s Constitution made education compulsory and required the government to provide education without cost to parents. The provincial governments have also made fundamental reforms key to this effort, including providing scholarships for girls to attend middle school and sending teachers where they are needed most, even if it isn’t where they’d like to go.
We’ve also made key changes in our approach to education. Instead of measuring success by the number of children we help enroll or the number of teachers we train, we’re going to measure it by the number of children who can read and add by the time they leave school. And instead of measuring success based on anecdotes, we’re going to work with the government to ensure sophisticated monitoring and evaluation mechanisms that hold all of us accountable.
We’ve also launched All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge in Development to generate breakthroughs in childhood literacy, whether they are mobile apps that help measure student progress or affordable e-reads that bring the world’s libraries to mudbrick schools and rural villages. Before long, these cutting-edge proposals will help transform the way children learn from Pakistan to Ghana.
Building on a long-standing history of cooperation between our two peoples, we’re committed to helping the students of Pakistan, and easing their path as they become the world’s next generation of scientists, teachers, engineers and entrepreneurs.
Youth Shine at 5th Annual Clinton Global Initiative University
This past weekend I joined over 1,000 college students from 80 countries, and over 75 youth organizations, at the 5th annual Clinton Global Initiative University (CGIU) held this year at George Washington University. For many, the highlight might have been Usher summing up his sentiment about why his foundation focuses on youth empowerment by singing Whitney Houston’s “I believe the Children are our Future” (while sharing the stage with President Clinton and Secretary Albright); or the closing conversation between Jon Stewart and President Clinton.
Dr. Nicole Goldin of USAID with youth at George Washington University while attending the 5th Annual Clinton Global Initiative University this weekend. Photo Credit: USAID
For me however, it was connecting and interacting with the participants – some I learned already have a USAID connection. Like the members of the CGI annual meeting in New York every September, all participants must make a commitment to action in order to attend – and many of these student personal stories and commitments are extraordinary.
During the opening plenary panel, along with President Clinton, Secretary Albright, and Usher, an amazing young Afghan woman named Sadiqa Saleem inspired the crowd with her personal journey from refugee camps, to the US and back home to educate the girls and young women of Afghanistan. “We need a coalition of fathers [like hers] to fight for the education of their daughters….” Along with her follow-women founder, they went from educating 36 girls in an abandoned building, to creating and running the Oruj Learning Center which teaches nearly 3400 girls in 6 primary schools, as well as executes other womens’ education and youth leadership programs.
After the panel, I spoke with Sadiqa and she told me she worked as Manager of the professional development center under the USAID Afghanistan Higher Education Program – and that’s where she got the ideas and increased skills to enable her to establish her colleges.
Photo of the Week
The Empowerment through Literacy Education Access Project (E-LEAP) helps adult Maasai women learn basic Swahili literacy skills, which allows them to have greater access to essential skills. Currently funded through our Education Sector, this program partners with Mwedo (Maasai women development organization) and began in 2007 with 150 Maasai women. Currently, E-LEAP has empowered over 2000 Maasai women. The program extends beyond basic Swahili literacy skills and trains the women in business skills, HIV education, and land rights. Photo credit: Megan Johnson/USAID
Picture of the Week: Tanzania
Two Maasai women read the graduation ceremony agenda in Swahili in the Longido district of Tanzania. Photo Credit: Megan Johnson/USAID
In Tanzania, The Empowerment through Literacy Education Access Project (E-LEAP) helps adult Maasai women learn basic Swahili literacy skills, which allows them to have greater access to essential skills. Currently funded through our Education Sector, led by Tom LeBlanc, this program partners with Mwedo (Maasai women development organization) and began in 2007 with 150 Maasai women. Currently, E-LEAP has empowered over 2000 Maasai women. The program extends beyond basic Swahili literacy skills and trains the women in business skills, HIV education, and land rights.
Indigenous Internship Program Trains Peru’s Young Adults
Darwin Mori Barbaran was born one of 10 to a school teacher and a jewelry artisan deep in the Peruvian jungle. When he was a child, both of his parents died in tragic accidents. He was forced to confront the grim realities of the hinterlands at a young age –the tough physical labor life there would require as well as the paltry opportunities for those who stay in the campo. As a result, he decided to do all he could to break out of the recurring cycle of poverty.
Darwin Mori Barbaran, a recent college graduate, is currently working in USAID/Peru’s Alternative Development Office. Photo credit: Martin Castaneda, USAID/Peru
A life as a farmer, logger, weaver or a carpenter was really not interesting to him. Unlike many of his peers, he was grappling with profound questions, such as how societies develop, how governments can be more efficient with lesser resources, and how to create and sustainably run environmentally-friendly, legal businesses.
One bright, sunny afternoon, Mori’s life was forever changed by an announcement on the radio. Listening to his favorite station that broadcasts in the Shipibo indigenous language, he heard that the Peruvian government created a scholarship program for indigenous students from the Amazon to attend public universities in the capital city.
Initially, he was nervous. He would have to speak Spanish and dress in a different fashion. He would live in the chaotic city of Lima. But ultimately, he decided to pursue the scholarship. After a rigorous application process and a tense waiting period, the good news arrived: he had been accepted.
As predicted, Mori faced serious obstacles upon arriving in Lima. He was forced to share a room with four roommates, often times having to schedule sleeping in shifts, so the two mattresses would suffice for all. He picked up two jobs: one at the university library working as the bag check clerk, and the other making necklaces and another popular kind of jewelry called shakiras – a skill he learned from his mother. While some were able to take summer classes and get ahead in their studies, Mori could not, as the S/. 250 (approximately $85) per class was simply out of his budget. After nine years of struggling against the odds, and after many academic ups-and-downs, Mori graduated with a B.A. in Economics.
Recently, he began working at USAID/Peru under the mission’s Afro-Peruvian and Indigenous Internship Program. This program, founded in 2009, works to increase the number of quality professional and educational opportunities available to Peru’s Afro-Peruvian and indigenous populations. The effort aims to train recent graduates who could become their country’s next generation of leaders by providing hands-on development experience and an understanding of the U.S. Government. (more…)
Improving Teachers’ Pay, Investing in the Future
The end of 2010 was marked by teachers’ strikes in Kyrgyzstan, as the nation’s educators took to the streets to protest their miserable wages. The average monthly salary was $75 despite the fact that, by Kyrgyz law, the minimum teacher’s salary should be no less than the average national salary of $144 per month. International assessments have shown that low teacher pay and low motivation correspond with poor student achievement. It became clear to the Kyrgyz government that drastic measures were needed to increase the status and salary of teachers in order to improve the quality of education.
The Ministry of Education and Science asked USAID for help. USAID had already been supporting the Ministry to improve teaching practices and reform how schools are financed and managed. Together, they devised a new model for paying teachers. The model increases teachers’ salaries to be in line with legislation, introduces performance incentives to attract young teachers and motivates all teachers to produce results. New salaries consist of three parts: a base salary for teaching and out-of-classroom work, which includes lesson preparation; pay adjustments for rural and mountainous regions; and bonuses of up to 10% to be paid based on performance. On average, monthly salaries now range from $150-$185.
The new remuneration system started in May 2011. It has already found broad support across the country and especially amongst teachers, who returned to their schools even before the system was formally launched. “Since the day the Government’s Decree on the new teacher remuneration was published, three young teachers have come to me asking to work at our school,” said the Aralsky school principal in Chui region with satisfaction. It is hoped that higher wages will bring back former teachers, many of whom are homemakers, work in the bazaars or have left Kyrgyzstan. There remains a critical shortage of teachers – 3,160 more are needed this school year just to fill the current classrooms. (more…)
International Education Week: Partnering to Improve World Literacy
Arne Duncan is the U.S. Secretary of Education
Today, the global community faces an economic crisis that has many people around the world feeling tenuous about the future. World leaders are grappling with how to handle rising debt and shrinking funds. Yet despite this uncertainty, one thing is certain: education is still the light shining on our path that shows us the way forward. Education, now more than ever, is critical to eliminating gender inequity, reducing starvation, sustaining our planet, and restoring world peace.
As countries improve the education of their citizens, they experience huge multiplier effects: better health, growing economies, and reduced poverty. The data show us that a child born to an educated mother is two times more likely to survive to age 5 . . . that educated mothers are fifty percent more likely to immunize their children and three times less likely to contract HIV/AIDS. Every year that a child spends in school increases his or her future productivity by 10-30%.
When we think of how much a country gains in terms of goods and services by investing in 6, 12, or even 14 years of education for its workforce, how can we all not make that investment?
As part of this investment, I am pleased to announce today that the U.S. Department of Education will be joining USAID, World Vision and AustraliaAID in the All Children Reading initiative as well. As a new partner, we will collaborate with the founding partners as they work to dramatically improve world literacy. We are joining this work because we also believe that enhancing the education of all people, both at home and abroad, is a path to solving our world’s economic, social, and health problems.
The All Children Reading Challenge’s focus on improving literacy could not come at a better time. If education is the answer, then literacy is the foundation upon which we must build our countries’ well being. Not only are reading and writing critical to learning all other subjects, but literacy is what enables people to enjoy the full benefits of citizenship. Literacy opens doors to better living conditions, improved health, and expanded opportunities. It empowers people to build more secure futures for their families.
To get serious about literacy, we have to realize that the challenges of achieving an educated citizenry cut across geographical and political boundaries. Educators everywhere, including in the U.S., are concerned about the growing achievement gaps that exist for the poorest of our children, including those with learning disabilities and speakers of other languages.
Working together and collaborating to solve our common problems is critical. In our global economy, the tired old “survival of the fittest” philosophy that pits countries against one another no longer applies. Instead, we have to recognize that the battle is not between our countries, but with complacency.
I look forward to seeing what innovative programs and practices come out of this All Children Reading Challenge. I couldn’t be happier to see these organizations make an investment in the literacy of the children of the world, and I am hopeful that we in the U.S. will learn some innovative strategies that can make a difference for us here.
International Education Week: Early Education Sets Young Nicaraguans on the Path the Academic Success
Identifying problems in early-grade reading is crucial for development in parts of the world where the stakes are high for kids that get behind the learning curve at a young age.
Nicaragua is one country that has identified early-reading as a major area for improvement and made widespread efforts to address it. The ministry of education there has incorporated EGRA into its national assessment system, and has begun training all first-grade teachers in its implementation, and is developing tools for assisting teachers in the provision of remedial programs for students that fall behind.
Despite gender equality in access to schooling in Nicaragua, boys have higher drop-out rates than girls. Because of economic reasons, especially in rural areas, the chances of a dropout returning to school are minimal. Photo Credit: USAID
Identifying problems in reading and promoting early grade reading is crucial for development in parts of the world where the stakes are high for kids that get behind the learning curve early. While reading is one of many skills that young students must master to thrive today, it is the foundation of all other learning activities in the classroom. It also is increasingly understood as a science, not something that kids simply learn “naturally,” particularly if their homes are devoid of reading opportunities. USAID has made this one of its central concerns through its new Global Education Strategy (2011 – 2015), and is building on prior work that has aimed to set the standards for learning as well as useful measures for assessing it. (more…)
International Education Week: USAID and Peace Corps Expand Reach in Global Education
To mark both agencies’ 50th anniversaries, USAID and the Peace Corps signed the Global Education Framework (GEF) agreement to encourage and enhance collaboration in global education activities.
GEF gives both agencies a flexible way to implement joint education initiatives at the local, national, regional, and global levels in basic education, higher education, youth development, and workforce development.
Tuve Floden, a Peace Corps volunteer in Benin, teaches schoolchildren English. Photo Credit: Peace Corps
“The partnership builds on the work of Peace Corps volunteers who have been leaders in education and youth projects for 50 years,” said Peace Corps Director Aaron S. Williams. “We will utilize the agreement to support efforts to enhance the contributions our volunteers are making around the world with local communities at the grassroots level every day.”
The agreement allows USAID missions around the world and bureaus and offices in Washington to contribute funds that support education initiatives being implemented by the Peace Corps and its volunteers. Since the agreement’s inception, USAID has provided nearly $1.8 million in support of seven activities (see box). The collaboration under this agreement has been aimed at providing resources for the Peace Corps to enhance its technical training of volunteers and their host country counterparts.
USAID and the Peace Corps have three global framework agreements that allow this type of collaboration. The USAID/Peace Corps Small Project Assistance Agreement was implemented in 1983; and in July 2011, the agencies signed the Global Food Security Agreement.
The agreement creates a framework under which interested offices and field staff from both agencies can design a wide range of education, gender, and youth programs. For example, USAID support is enabling the development of new training modules for volunteers and staff positions to support common areas of interest such as promoting literacy and reading.
“The Global Education Framework Agreement demonstrates how we are effectively and efficiently programming every development dollar to deliver meaningful results in education,” says USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah. “By working together, we strengthen our organizations to better assist the countries and people we serve.”
The first strategic goal outlined in the new USAID Education Strategy—improving early grade reading—also reflects a Peace Corps focus area in education. Additionally, the three primary crosscutting issues in the strategy—youth programming, gender equality, and learners with disabilities—are all key programming areas for the Peace Corps.
“This important collaboration helps USAID meet its education goals while helping support Peace Corps and its local partners to reach greater numbers of learners both in and out of school,” says Richard Whelden, director of USAID’s Education Office and a returned Peace Corps volunteer who served in Chad from 1974 to 1978. “We also recognize that today’s volunteers are increasingly connected and bring valuable knowledge and other tech-savvy skills and expertise to the communities where they are serving.”
Over 200,000 Americans have served as Peace Corps volunteers since 1961, working in 139 counties to promote world peace and friendship. Currently, there are 8,655 Peace Corps volunteers serving in 76 countries worldwide. Approximately 40 percent of all volunteers today are assigned in either education or youth sectors, and over 60 percent of all volunteers report working with youth in their primary assignments.
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