1 Africa Impact Evaluation Initiative World Bank MAKING THE GRADE: LITERACY AND NUMERACY SKILLS ACROSS AFRICA Africa Program for Education Impact Evaluation, Dakar, Senegal December 15-19, 2008

2 Some results from learning assessments Kenya: EGRA literacy test for 2nd graders (2007)— –Students could identify, on average, 22.7 letters per minute. –In the US, a student reading 40 letters per minute at the end of kindergarten is considered to be “at risk.” Sierra Leone: In literacy testing (2008), students in 4th grade regularly could not read passages from a Sierra Leonean 1 st grade reader.

3 Simple tests of basic literacy and numeracy at an early stage in the schooling process are critical Address lack in knowledge of student performance early enough to address problem Comparable tests at early grades to provide a benchmark and assess the quality of learning Are children failing to learn basic literacy and numeracy skills in primary schools?

4 Making the Grade 1.Comparable assessments: Consistent data on student literacy and numeracy across a range of African countries to assess student achievement 2.Simple instruments: Clear, easily transferable materials 3.Implementation often along with or part of ongoing data collection or IE 4.Representative sample ideally

5 Making the Grade: Instruments Reading Passage Good Morning. My name is Lamin. I am seven years old. My brother is Musa. He is five years old. I also have a sister. Her name is Binta. We live in Basse. We go to school from Monday to Friday. We like to read. My father is a farmer. My mother sells fish at the market near the tree.

6 Making the Grade: Instruments Reading Passage READING: Total Words Read at 60 seconds: ______ Total Incorrect Words at 60 seconds: _______ Total Correct Words at 60 seconds: ______ Time to complete the ENTIRE paragraph: ___________ COMPREHENSION: Where does Lamin live? What is Lamin’s brother’s name? How many children are in Lamin’s family? What do Lamin and his brother and sister like to do? What does Lamin’s mother do?

7 Making the Grade: Oral Literacy-The Gambia Children have to read 45 wpm to understand..

8 Making the Grade: Instruments Numeracy test =  =  =  =  – 12 – 20 =  x 2 =  x 7 =  ÷ 2 =  ÷ 7 = 

9 Student performance: Numeracy Sierra Leone

10 Potential participants in Making the Grade The Gambia APEIEJune schools Sierra Leone APEIEMay plus schools Kenya APEIE Ghana APEIEJanuary 2009 Madagascar APEIESeptember schools Niger APEIE Rwanda APEIEJanuary schools Senegal APEIESeptember schools The Gambia EGRAJanuary 2003 South Africa EGRAJanuary 2003 Senegal EGRAJanuary 2003 Kenya EGRAJanuary 2003 Liberia EGRA

11 Next steps Confirm participation Expanding the set of countries with assessments to create a comparable benchmark of the state of learning in primary schools Use data to identify issues and think about solutions Potential solutions? –Remedial teaching (Balsakhi, India) –More or better school/classroom inputs –Changing the curriculum and/or teaching methods –Teacher training –Use of local language and transitioning into English/French