The Gambia Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) & Interventions All Children Reading by 2015: From Assessment to Action Washington, DC April 12-14, 2010 By: Burama L. J. Jammeh Director of Curriculum Research, Evaluation, and Development Ministry of Basic & Secondary Education The Gambia

OUTLINE OF THE PRESENTATION Introduction to The Gambia The Background Interventions to Curb Reading Inabilities in Schools Results (comparison between 1 st & 2 nd EGRA) Challenges/Obstacles Way Forward Conclusion: Areas for Which Support is Needed

Population 1.7 million No. of Lower Basic Schools (Conventional) = 447; No of Teachers = 6,444 No. of Lower Basic Schools (Madrassah) = 191 Lower Basic School enrolment (Conventional only) = 187,699 Lower Basic School Enrolment (Inc Madrassah) = 220,931

THE BACKGROUND & INTERVENTIONS Background Anecdotal evidence that school children, even at higher grades cannot read Confirmed by the 2007 EGRA with the help of World Bank and RTI The results provides baseline data as well as basis to employ appropriate intervening strategies to curb reading inabilities Interventions to Curb Reading inabilities in Schools Setting up of a Management Task Force (leadership commitment) Documentary Review to identify gaps in Schools’ and teacher training college’s instructional materials Best Practices in teaching reading as Identified from all school types in Gambia (public, mission, private and international schools. Material Development on Teaching Reading including schemes of work & specific lesson plans covering all aspects of EGRA protocols

INTERVENTIONS Contd. Nationwide teacher training (all Grades 1, 2, & 3 teachers, head teachers, deputies, senior teachers & Cluster Monitors) involving 3000 participants trained in August – September 2007 Further training on Jolly Phonics with the help of Jolly Learning Company in United Kingdom who provided international trainers and donated few materialswww.jollylearning.co.uk Monitoring and supervision of the teaching and learning processes Ownership at the school level Second nationwide EGRA conducted in July 2009 to Assess Impact of the Interventions (The report available in Final Draft) Improvements established for all EGRA indicators but more needs to be done (see the table in the next).

RESULTS: Comparison of 2007 & 2009 EGRA ItemsIndicators MeanModeMeanMode 1Correct finger placement Knowledge of text direction N° of correct letters per minute Correct number of sounds identify Sum of correct sound identified N° of correct words per minute Correct non-words per minute N° of correct words (reading passage) Correct answers to comprehension Listening comprehension Spelling 1 write "shop" correctly Spelling 2 (write "tea" correctly) Appropriate spacing of words Appropriate text direction Use of capital letters at the beginning of sentence Correct punctuation (full stop)

CHALLENGES/OBSTACLES Even though improvements have been registered the reading levels remain comparatively lows Comprehension is more problematic Production of sounds by teachers themselves as well as their pedagogic skills Teachers are without formative assessment skills for the enhanced teaching of reading The interventions did not cover the Madrassah sector which has 14% of the school age population The required materials and pedagogic skills of teachers to implement the policy on instruction in national language (Grades 1 – 3).

WAY FORWARD Capacity building of teachers to enable them to conduct their own assessment at classroom level in order to help individual child’s learning-to- read difficulties. A more focussed interventions on sentence construction and comprehension Enhance the teaching and learning of letter sounds and reading as a whole by increased use of radio cassette players and other electronic devices Since Madrassah institutions are increasingly becoming essential in the provision of basic education, both English and Arabic EGRA tools, training materials and facilities are need for them as well.

WAY FORWARD Contd. Enhanced emphasis on EGRA at The Gambia teacher training college to ensure that all teachers graduating from the college are grounded in phonics and the teaching of reading in general Provision of reading books to children to read at home National Campaigns on reading with a view to involving parents Library facilities in Schools to encourage reading

CONCLUSION : Areas for which support is needed Introduction of teachers to formative assessment skills as essential component of teaching reading All schools to be provided with the relevant materials to enhance the teaching of Phonics and all other aspects of reading Provision of decoding & reading books to children and enhanced school libraries Expanding EGRA to Madrassah institutions A more focussed exploration of the potentials of the use of the five national language to reinforce the teaching of reading Exchange programme (electronic & visits) to gain more experience from on various EGRA intervention strategies We hope to learn from other experiences at this meeting.

THANK YOU