Strengthening Early Grade Reading (EGR) in Mozambique

Programa ApaL

Mozambique

Residents: ~25 million

Official language: Portuguese

Local languages: 20 languages

HDI: 178 out of 187 in 2014

Independence: in 1975

Civil War: from 1977 to 1992

Education

Primary education is free and compulsory

Rapid expansion, 390% in a decade

Decentralization exists on paper

Teacher absenteeism: 30%

Students absenteeism: 50%

Reading in grade 1-3

• 2 hours Portuguese per day

• 2% of students in grades 2 and 3 has desired fluency level

• Ineffective pedagogy; choral repetition, talk and chalk

• 40% of students in grade 2 do not understand oral

Portuguese instructions

• No access to effective reading material

USAID Aprender a Ler

2014 2015

Provinces Nampula and Zambézia

Districts 6 districts

Schools 122 533

2nd, 3rd grade students 45.469 110.664

Teachers 849 1.980

School directors 61 533

Pedagogical directors 182 655

Involvement of local education institutes

Planning, implementation, monitoring, and coordination

of activities with DPEC, SDEJT, IFP, UP

Important for:

– Improving attitude and punctuality in schools.

– Implementation of new teaching and management strategies.

– Ensuring sustainability of program activities.

– Use of existing specialists.

Quality of teaching

Quantity of teaching

Better reading results for students

in 2nd and 3rd grade

Quality of Teaching

Reading Reinforcement Program • Reading coaches in schools

• Teacher training

• Teaching and learning materials

• Formative assessment structure

Effective literacy instruction

Phonics

Fluency

Vocabu-lary

Compre-hension

Phonemic awareness

Teaching and Learning materials

• Scripted lesson plans for whole year

• Decodable books for students

• Read alouds for teachers

• Alphabet banner and

vocabulary cards

• Letter pocket, letter

cards and word cards

Simple view of reading

Decoding Language

comprehension Reading

comprehension

Demo video of some materials used

Reading Coach and Lead Trainers

Pedagogical director or cycle coordinator

Classroom coaching INSET sessions

Tasks of Reading Coach

1. Clasroom observation

– Use observation tool linked to ApaL lessons

– Model activities ´in the moment´

– Coaching conversation afterwards

2. Assist with continuous assessment

3. Facilitate daily use of TLA´s by the teachers

1. Classroom Observation

Modeling

1. Reading coach observes a class from the back.

2. Raises hand when critical teaching strategy needs

improvement.

3. Teacher allows intervention.

4. Reading coach models the correct strategy

5. Teacher repeats correctly.

6. Reading coach returns to the back.

Other coaching tools

2. Assist with Continuous Assessment

Spelling test

Integrated in lesson plans

Classroom administered

Teacher and reading coach analyse and make

plan of action

Fluency assessment

Twice per year

Based on ASER model

Teacher and reading coach analyse and make

plan of action

Four levels of fluency

1. Letters

2. Words

3. Sentences

4. Stories

Goals

• 2nd grade – word level

• 3rd grade – sentence level

Fluency Assessment

Registro de Avaliação da Fluência

Training model

Training of

Trainers

Training of

Reading Coach

Teachers of 2nd

and 3rd grade

Training of

Lead Trainers

INSET sessions

Pedagogical support

Increase Quantity of Reading

Training and coaching of school directors

• Training for school directors in improved management techniques

• Training of ZIP coordinators in coaching techniques

• Distribution of management tools

Quantity of Teaching

1. Attendance and punctuality of teachers and students.

2. Effective learning

time.

School director is a model

Five routines of an effective school director

1. Daily assembly of students

2. School

bells mark

start of

lessons

3. Strategies for dealing with

absenteeism.

4. Use of

management tools 5. Register and

promote daily use of

TLA’s

Training Model

Training of

Trainers

Training of school

directors

Training of ZIP

coordinators

INSET sessions and school support visits.

Rapid assessment tool and school support visits

1: Supervision

based on evidence

2: Analysis and

presentation of data

3: Technical support

Indicators assessed

Reading

Coaching

Continuous Assessment

Use of TLA’s

Fluency test

• Connected text

Management

• Attitude and punctuality

of teachers, students and

school directors

• Use of management tools

• Management of TLA’s

Data collection with Magpi

• Use of smartphone to

collect data

• Data send to central server

• Rapid analysis facilitates

quick response with school

support visits

3

3.5

5

7

13

15

20

22

26

27

37

54

59

60

School support visits

School support based on data from RSA.

Detailed guide to orientate SDEJT about what support

is needed for the type of challenge that has been

observed.

School support happens in the month after the RSA.

Collection of data by smartphone

Monthly report sheet

Quarterly RSA

Web-based

data

Capacity building component

• In 2013 and 2014 ApaL has build capacity of MINED

and other counterparts.

• 2015 training and monitoring activities are being

transferred to government with support from ApaL

– Regular ToT to prepare for field activities

– Coaching from ApaL staff during implementation by MINED

and others

– Weekly and monthly review sessions with district and provincial

education offices

– Quarterly discussion with central government to discuss

improvements and seek advise in how to sustain activities

Transfering activities to local stakeholders

Training Institute Formação Professores

Pedagogical University

Expert Reading Coaches

ZIP (Regional) Coordinators

Regular coaching

and analysis

District Education Office (SDEJT)

Provincial Education Office (DPEC)

Ministry of Education (MINED)

Monitoring and

Evaluation

(RAT + EGRA)

SDEJT

DPEC

MINED

Material

Development

MINED

Local expers from University

Way forward in 2015

• Involvement from central MINED

• Finalizing material based on RSA results and

feedback MINED

• Increase involvement from other partners

– Pedagogical University

• IBTCI endline survey in September 2015

Video of a child reading 45 wpm

IMPACT

Results

Results over the past two years Baseline, Sept 2013 and Sept 2014 results in EGRA

Dosage/exposure

Challenges

Implementation approach Capitalize on and strengthen local capacity

Institutionalization (policies, accountability, classroom practices, and management tools)

ApaL’s uniqueness?

Conclusion?

Upcoming?

Reading fluency (120 word story, cwpm) in Mozambique

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

Baseline Midline 1 Midline 2

Control Medium Full

Control = 1.4 extra cwpm improvement

Medium = 4 extra cwpm improvement

Full = 4.75 extra cwpm improvement

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16


Control Medium Full


Medium = 10.2 cwpm improvement

Full = 12.7 cwpm improvement

Grade 2 Grade 3

Students were given a 120-word story and asked to read aloud within one minute.

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35


Control Medium Full

Control = 12 extra clpm improvement

Medium = 14.8 extra clpm improvement

Full = 17.9 extra clpm improvement

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35


Control Medium Full

Control = 13.2 extra clpm improvement

Medium = 22.3 extra clpm improvement

Full = 23.4 extra clpm improvement

Letter recognition (10 rows of letters, clpm) in Mozambique

Grade 2 Grade 3

Students were asked to sound out as many letters (from a chart showing 10 rows of 10 random

letters) within one minute.

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9


Control Medium Full


Medium = 0.7 extra cwpm improvement


0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9


Control Medium Full


Medium = 4.4 extra cwpm improvement


Familiar word reading (cwpm, 30 max) in Mozambique

Grade 2 Grade 3

Students were asked to sound out as many words as possible (list of 30) within one minute.

Estimate of instructional time during the school year

in Mozambique

National curriculum allocates 2 x 45 minutes daily on Portuguese

language learning for grades 2 and 3 students

ApaL intervention affects 1 x 45 minutes of the language

instruction in all ApaL schools

A school year in Mozambique has 180 days of schooling

Dosage/Exposure by Intervention (per year)

Students: 6 months x 4.5 weeks x 3.75 hours (45 minutes daily) = 101.25 hours

(one project year)

Teachers: 18 coach sessions + 34 training hours = 52 hours of intensive

interaction (one project year)

Biweekly class observation and feedback discussion

Training sessions only happens on weekends (Saturdays)

Materials used: 80% of students with ApaL have the reading materials with them while

only 10% of students from the “control” do (on a random school visit/check)

Students were encouraged to take home ApaL developed reading materials (no accurate usage/time data outside school)

Estimate of instructional time lost due to

absenteeism and late start

Time lost ApaL “Control”

% SD or PD are absent on a given day 21% 25%

% teachers are absent on a given day 31% 34%

Late start on a school day (on average in

minutes)

32 minutes 52 minutes

% of students are absent on a given day 55% 62%

For any given child in grade 2 or 3, we estimate that there could be 70% of

allocated language instructional time lost over a school year due to the child’s

absent days, his/her teacher’s absence, late classes, and/or SD absence.

3rd Grade EGRA Results by Sex Girl

Boy

Co

rrect

Lett

ers

or

Wo

rds

per

Min

ute

Letters/m

Treatment

Letters/m

“Control”

Text

Words/m

“Control”

Text

Words/m

Treatment

Familiar

Words/m

“Control”

Familiar

words/m

Treatment

15.5%

30.2%

21.9%

51.2%

20.1%

50.7%

ApaL program has closed more than half

of the gender gap in EGRA results (clpm

and cwpm). Girls are improving EGRA

results significantly more than boys are.

Summary

Teacher training happens on Saturdays

Coaches are local school supervisors and pedagogical

directors

Guide and tools are products of joint partnership with

MoES and local education teams

School management aims at monitoring and evaluating, and

school management practices that are already written in

MoES’ rule books or policies

School Rapid Assessment for formative purpose

Mobile technology for data collection

9.54 dollars and 11.2 dollars per child for medium and full

intervention respectively

Results sharing with school management, teachers, and local

communities

Significant improvement in full and medium treatment

after a full academic year of intervention

The improvement results are attributable to the school

management and teacher training and coaching with

preliminary data evidence

Summary continued…

Summary continued…

Working through existing structures and mechanism is a sustainable

approach and can produce significant results

Outstanding challenge:

closer tie and work with MINED at national, provincial, district

levels to increase accountability and address problem of

absenteeism and late start of school day

continued work to address gap between boys and girls. Calls for

a study to understand the source of the gap

Strengthening Early Grade Reading (EGR) in Mozambique

Education

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