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Africa Impact Evaluation InitiativeWorld Bank

MAKING THE GRADE: LITERACY AND NUMERACY

SKILLS ACROSS AFRICA

Africa Program for Education Impact Evaluation,

Dakar, SenegalDecember 15-19, 2008

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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 1st grade reader.

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• 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?

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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

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Making the Grade: InstrumentsReading PassageGood 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.

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Making the Grade: InstrumentsReading PassageREADING: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?

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Making the Grade: Oral Literacy-The Gambia

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Region 2 Region 3 Region 4 Region 6

Class 3

Class 5

Children have to read 45 wpm to understand..

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Making the Grade: InstrumentsNumeracy test1. 2 + 3 =2. 3 + 6 =7. 150 + 10 =8. 6 + 7 + 8 =19. 72 – 12 – 20 =20. 2 x 2 =27. 15 x 7 =28. 8 ÷ 2 = 37. 252 ÷ 7 =

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Student performance: NumeracySierra Leone

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

3+6

25+63

59+19+22

Class 3

Class 4

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Potential participants in Making the Grade

The Gambia APEIE June 2008 240 schools

Sierra Leone APEIE May 2008 300 plus schools

Kenya APEIE

GhanaAPEIE January

2009

MadagascarAPEIE September

2008350 schools

Niger APEIE

RwandaAPEIE January

2009300-350 schools

SenegalAPEIE September

2008260 schools

The GambiaEGRA January

2003

South AfricaEGRA January

2003

SenegalEGRA January

2003

KenyaEGRA January

2003

Liberia EGRA

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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