The Liberia Teacher Training Program II (LTTP II) is a partnership between FHI 360 and RTI International to provide support to the central Ministry of Education (MOE). The overarching goal of LTTP II is to enhance pupils' learning in general, and reading proficiency in particular; establish a functional teacher professional development (PD) system; and strengthen the MOE’s capacity to manage such a system. The LTTP II was originally designed to work in nine counties: Grand Gedeh, Grand Kru, Lofa, Maryland, Montserrado, Nimba, River Cess, River Gee, and Sinoe. In 2011 and 2012, because of changes in USAID policies, the number of counties was reduced to five (i.e., Bong, Lofa, Margibi, Montserrado, and Nimba), which USAID identifies as a development corridor, containing a majority of the Liberian population. The LTTP II intervention drew on the EGRA Plus model to introduce similarly structured reading and math programs in grades 1, 2, and 3 to approximately 1,020 schools in four counties (i.e., Bong, Lofa, Montserrado, and Nimba) in a phased approach. Cohort 1, the first to receive support, had 792 schools. During the middle of the 2011/2012 school year, the reading program was introduced in all three grades in these schools. During the middle of the 2012/2013 school year, the mathematics program was introduced in all three grades. Cohort 2, consisting of approximately 330 schools, began participating in the program’s reading and mathematics interventions during the 2013/2014 school year and continued during the 2014/2015 school year. Some changes, although not significant, were made to the intervention approach for supporting the Cohort 2 schools. Schools in the four LTTP II counties were randomly assigned to the Cohort 1 and Cohort 2 groupings. These schools were then grouped in clusters of 12 schools based on geographic proximity, which would allow the program to deliver the interventions more efficiently Cohort 1: Schools from the four target counties included in Cohort 1 served as the treatment group for the midterm assessment. These schools stopped receiving LTTP II support after the midterm assessment, but they participated in the endline assessment, as a way to determine whether the gains that were achieved during the treatment were sustained. Cohort 2: Schools included in Cohort 2 in the same four counties began to receive treatment after the midterm assessment—thus, during the final two years of the program. Cohort 2 schools served as a control to which the Cohort 1 results were compared. The performance of Cohort 2 schools were to be compared to that of Cohort 1. The biggest challenge that the program faced regarding the implementation in Cohort 2 schools was the school closings because of the Ebola crisis. Schools were closed between September 2014 and February 2015. Even after the official reopening date, with the gradual actual opening of schools that required LTTP II to wait until schools were safe to open, it took several months to distribute books to schools and to train teachers which in turn severely affected the implementation of the treatment. External Cohort: A randomly selected sample of schools outside the four target counties served as another comparator, especially after Cohort 2 began receiving treatment alongside Cohort 1. Except for a small number of schools associated with the RTTIs, schools outside the four target counties did not participate in the program during the lifetime of LTTP II. This data file contains the 2011 EGRA baseline.

The Ethiopia TEACH II activity aimed to strengthen the provision of equitable basic education services by implementing alternative basic education for children and youth, functional literacy for adults and improving the capacity of Woreda Education Offices (WEO) to manage non-formal educational programs. The activity operated in eight regions and provided instruction in four languages. The target population of the study were Level II learners from selected woredas in the SNNP, Tigray, Amhara, Benishangul, Oromia, Afar, Gambella, and Somali regions where PACT-Ethiopia and its partners operated. Students were randomly selected to measure basic literacy skills targeted at the Grade 2 level using EGRA assessments in eight different languages. The EGRA assessment sub-tasks measuring basic literacy skills were incremental in their complexity. Each sub-task was presented to the child on a one–to-one basis. Questionnaires were also administered to understand the background of the students. This data file contains the project's endline EGRA.

Aprender a Ler (ApaL) is a four-year USAID-funded program designed to improve student reading outcomes in grades 2 and 3 in selected schools in Nampula and Zambézia Provinces in Mozambique. Managed by World Education, Inc. (WEI), ApaL works closely with the Ministry of Education in Mozambique (MINED) to improve the quality and increase the quantity of reading instruction. The program includes teacher training, coaching and support in improved reading instruction methods, and school management training, coaching and support for school directors. ApaL began with delivery of the program in 35 Zonas de Influencia Pedagogica (ZIPs) in six districts along the economic corridors of the provinces of Nampula and Zambézia. ZIPs are formed by one “head” school and a cluster of five, ten or more schools. The “head” school of a ZIP is usually better organized than the surrounding schools and is tasked with reporting to the district and receiving and distributing teaching material and resources that are sent by the MINED. The “head” of the ZIP schools also serve as an example and a magnet for training and improvement of the surrounding schools. Based on experience during initial implementation, expansion to approximately five hundred schools in the area was anticipated, and in 2015, ApaL expanded to 538 schools. USAID selected these provinces because at the time of program design, they contained 42 percent of the school age population of Mozambique. At the beginning of the 2013 school year, 180 schools clustered around the 35 ZIPs in the two provinces were randomly assigned by the IE to three groups – 60 schools to Full treatment, 60 to Medium treatment, and 60 to a no-treatment or Control group. There have been four stages of reading assessment: (1) Baseline data collection and analysis at the beginning of the 2013 school year prior to program implementation; (2) Midline 1, near the end of the 2013 school year, after two or three months of implementation; (3) Midline 2, after a full year of implementation, 2014; and (4) the 2015 endline study.

Education for Marginalized Children in Kenya (EMACK) is an initiative of the Ministry of Education (MOE) and the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) and is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The original EMACK project was initiated in 2006 to increase quality educational opportunities for pre-primary, primary, and lower secondary school children who had been historically marginalized by cultural practices and poverty in Coast Province (CP), North Eastern Province (NEP), and informal settlements of Nairobi. From 2006 to 2012, as a part of the EMACK project, AKF developed and implemented a package of interventions focused on learner engagement and achievement at the classroom level in order to improve learning outcomes and learner transitions from pre-primary to lower secondary school. By 2012, EMACK had reached 767 informal and formal schools in 23 districts across Nairobi, CP, and NEP, benefitting nearly 425,000 people, including 400,000 children (215,426 boys and 183,706 girls), 4,000 teachers, and 11,000 orphans and vulnerable children. In 2012 EMACK refocused its interventions towards building improved readiness of children (before and as they enter primary school) and ensuring schools, especially the lower primary standards (standards 1 through 3) are ready to support children’s learning and development. This refocus, EMACK II, complements the USAID education strategy (April 2011 – 2015) and has been developed by AKF in collaboration with USAID. The overall goal of the re-aligned EMACK II (Oct 2012-Sept 2014) program is to “enhance equitable access and improve learning outcomes in Kiswahili, English and Mathematics for children in primary grades 1, 2 & 3. To achieve the re-aligned EMACK II goal, AKF identified the following four revised strategic objectives (SOs): 1. Improved teaching and learning in Kiswahili, English and mathematics in primary grades1, 2 and 3 in target areas of CP, NEP and the informal settlements of Nairobi directly benefiting over 269,000 children attending 800 schools (formal and informal). 2. Improved effectiveness, efficiency and accountability of school management, and improved parents’ and communities’ participation to support reading outcomes in primary grades1, 2 and 3 in CP, NEP and the informal settlements of Nairobi in 800 schools (formal and informal). 3. Strengthened MOE delivery systems at the cluster and district levels to enhance learning outcomes in Kiswahili, English and mathematics in primary grades1, 2 and 3 at the national level, in 8 counties [4 in CP, 1 in Nairobi, and 3 in NEP], and in 28 districts [14 in CP, 2 in Nairobi, and 12 in NEP]. 4. Increased equitable access to education for 120,000 children in crisis and conflict environments in specific areas of CP, NEP, and the informal settlements of Nairobi. AKF plans to achieve these through improving the quality of teaching and learning in the classroom, establishing a cadre of trained trainers, and education officials as well as increasing the engagement and participation of the parents and communities so they become more accountable, effective and efficient in providing sustained support to the lower primary (grades 1, 2 and 3) education.

The overall aim of the USAID/SA basic education program is to improve primary grade reading outcomes by building teacher effectiveness and strengthening classroom and school management. This is being accomplished through support to innovative, local interventions that have a demonstrated capacity for scale-up. The main USAID/SA program is the School Capacity and Innovation Program (SCIP), which also leverages significant private sector resources, amplifying the impact of USAID’s investment in the South African education system. SCIP is co-funded by The ELMA Foundation and J.P. Morgan and designed in collaboration with the South African Department of Basic Education. SCIP supports local South African models or interventions that work directly with teachers and school management teams in innovative ways in order to improve their practice as instructional leaders and managers. SCIP is aligned to the USAID Global Education Strategy (2011–2015) which supports interventions to improve learning outcomes with a focus on primary grade reading as a measure of performance. In addition to seeking initiatives that demonstrate innovation and impact, sustainability and scalability are key components of the SCIP program. The Strengthening Teaching of Early Language and Literacy (STELLAR) Program improves the language and literacy skills of Grade R children from disadvantaged communities in South Africa by training and supporting Grade R teachers. Grade R (also called the Reception Year) is the year of schooling before Grade 1.

The Malawi Early Grade Reading Activity (MEGRA) is a multifaceted educational development approach intended to enable sustained literacy among children, promote a literate community, and help the country increase economic growth and reduce poverty. The USAID/Malawi funded program was implemented starting August of 2013, by RTI (Research Triangle Institute) International. The MEGRA educational program was implemented alongside a Feed the Future project called Integrating Nutrition in Value Chains (INVC) and a Global Health Initiative project called Support for Service Delivery Integration (SSDI), both of which were also expected to affect the success of learners in school. Through this interconnected strategy, USAID/Malawi aimed to have a greater impact on outcomes of interest (such as learning reading scores) than would otherwise be possible through one project alone. The key elements of the MEGRA reading intervention involved: • Conduct teacher training, including practicums • Provide scripted lesson plans to teachers • Provide in-service teacher support and mentoring (or coaching) • Provide rewards for high-performing teachers and schools • Develop and distribute books, story cards, letter cards, and bookshelves • Organize reading fairs and other events to engage parents, caregivers, and the community in learner learning • Invite parents to participate in their learners’ classrooms and/or become engaged in extracurricular activities • Ensure a supportive policy environment by attending the Basic Education Technical Working Group and writing Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) to gain necessary Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology(MoEST) support and buy-in • Facilitate the extension of school instructional time In order to test possible complementary or multiplier effects of the MEGRA reading intervention and the INVC and SSDI activities, all three interventions were implemented in and evaluated for four distinct treatment levels: • Treatment Level 1: Three focus districts (Balaka, Machinga, and Lilongwe Rural) that provide an opportunity to evaluate the impact of a fully-integrated development approach with multiple activities across sectors, including MEGRA, INVC, and SSDI, on early grade reading outcomes. • Treatment Level 2: The district (Salima) where MEGRA overlaps with only the SSDI intervention. This serves as a test ground for the hypothesis that synergies between education and health initiatives catalyze changes that are greater than the sum of their parts. • Treatment Level 3: The district (Ntcheu) where MEGRA overlaps with only the INVC intervention. This serves as a test ground for the development hypothesis that synergies between education and agricultural livelihood and nutrition initiatives catalyze changes that are greater than the sum of their parts. • Treatment Level 4: Five districts (Blantyre Rural, Mzimba North, Ntchisi, Thyolo, and Zomba Rural) that only receive the MEGRA initiative. These districts are used to test the MEGRA theory of change that education support leads to improved literacy and general education outcomes. MEGRA was implemented at the zonal level, at baseline in 2013, where zones were randomly selected in each of the four levels to implement the MEGRA intervention (taking into account areas where INVC and SSDI were already working). However, since INVC and SSDI were not randomly assigned at baseline, the evaluation can only be able to determine whether EGRA is better than no EGRA and whether EGRA plus INVC and SSDI is better than no treatment. While MEGRA expected to include both treatment and comparison schools in each district at each level, at baseline, it was unable to because the SSDI and INVC activities were already underway. As such, the program found that in the Level 2 district, Salima, it was impossible to select comparison zones that were not already contaminated with the SSDI intervention because SSDI was already work

The USAID-funded project, Let’s Learn to Read and Write, rendered in Haitian Creole as “An n aprann li ak ekri (Ann ALE), is a four-year early grade reading and writing (EGR/W) project that is based on evidence generated under the two-year USAID applied research activity Tout Timoun Ap Li (ToTAL) or, in English, “All Children Reading.” Ann ALE supports an expanded effort to achieve a more coordinated, effective and sustainable EGR/W program for an estimated 68,600 children in grades 1-4 in 550 schools in three corridors (Cul-de-Sac, St. Marc and Nord) in Haiti. The project will be co-led by the Haiti’s Ministry of Education, the Ministère de l'Éducation Nationale et de la Formation Professionnelle (MENFP). To accomplish its goals in Haiti’s multi-faceted educational system, Ann ALE will vigorously promote a collaborative approach to build successful partnerships able to overcome longstanding barriers to positive change. For this reason, Ann ALE will help to strengthen the MENFP’s capacity to engage a wide range of public and non-public EGR/W stakeholders to improve reading results in Haitian Creole and French. All interventions will be co-designed and co-implemented with the MENFP to ensure their institutionalization and sustainability.

The study evaluated the extent to which the Itegure Gusoma (Get Ready to Read) programme improved pre-primary Nursery 3 (N3) classroom instruction, improved the pre-reading skills of N3 students and improved the literacy-related knowledge, attitudes and practices of teachers and parents of N3 students. It also determined the impact of Itegure Gusoma after one year of implementation on reading outcomes of students in Primary 1 and Primary 2 compared with students who did not participate in Itegure Gusoma.

The USAID Opportunities for Equitable Access to Quality Basic Education (OPEQ) activity was a school-based intervention implemented by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in partnership with the DRC’s Ministry of Education and focusing on early grade reading and math skills. The IRC integrated into OPEQ its social-emotional skills building curriculum which has resulted from the IRC’s education research and experience in conflict and crisis-affected areas. The OPEQ activity had four components: (1) informing national level in-service teacher-training policy and systems, (2) community mobilization and engagement, (3) alternative education and vocational training for out-of-school youth, and (4) Learning in a Healing Classroom (LHC), an in-service teacher professional development and integrated curricular program. The impact evaluation of OPEQ’s LHC activity employed a 3-year cluster-randomized trial, measuring the impact of LHC in treatment schools to wait-list control schools. The intervention was assigned to two cohorts defined by geographic location and timing of implementation. The Katanga 4 cohort had schools that received one year and two years of LHC located in Katanga province. The Kivu+ cohort had schools that received one year of the LHC intervention located in South Kivu and some parts of Katanga province. At each school in the sample, field researchers surveyed 81 students randomly selected from the student enrollment register. For the baseline and midline phases, students in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grades were tested. For the endline phase, students in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades were tested.

A USAID-supported, nationally representative EGRA conducted in Nepal in 2014 found that 34 percent of second graders and 19 percent of third graders could not read a single world of Nepali. Moreover, the assessment showed significant regional disparities, as well as larger deficiencies among students who spoke a language other than Nepali at home. USAID’s EGRP in Nepal is being implemented by RTI International and supports the MoEST and its CLAs—the Curriculum Development Center, Department of Education, Education Review Office, National Center for Educational Development, and Non-Formal Education Center—to develop and test an early grade reading program that is effective, replicable, cost-efficient, and sustainable. The EGRP has two principal goals: 1) To improve early grade reading performance of students in Grades 1-3; and 2) To build the GoN’s capacity to deliver an early grade reading program that can be replicated nationwide. This Data asset contains all data collected to assess the impact of the program.