OVERVIEW

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has been helping the Afghan government to increase children’s access to basic education since 2002.

The Early Grade Reading Survey project will acquire data and information on student reading ability in primary and community-based education schools, providing key information for the Ministry of Education and the international donor community to reform and improve early grade reading instruction.

The data collected through this study is intended to fuel broader discussion about challenges in early grade reading and to shape the Afghan Ministry of Education’s efforts to improve early grade reading outcomes.

ACTIVITIES

• Make early grade reading materials available in local languages identified by the Ministry of Education
• Carry out a national assessment of second- and fourth-grade students’ ability to read and understand letters, familiar words and connected text, disaggregated by region, type of school, language and gender.
• Conduct a study of school safety and management effectiveness and hold national policy and dissemination workshops on the findings
• Assess the Ministry of Education’s capacity to implement early grade reading and public-private partnerships that can support a national reading improvement program

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• Database established for early-grade reading materials; 787 titles have been entered into the database. The database specifies the reading materials by language and grades. The 787 titles were selected from a total of 1399 titles that were reviewed.
• Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) conducted in Pashto and Dari languages in grades 2 and 4, sampling 1,265 schools and 15,610 students; submitted the draft report to Afghan Ministry of Education and other stakeholders for feedback and comments. The final report will be completed and disseminated soon.
• Data collected from Ministry of Education and seven provincial education directorates (PEDs) to assess the institutional capacity of the ministry in delivering quality education, particularly in early-grade reading; data also will be collected from three additional PEDs with data analysis to follow.
• Conducted six Public Private Partnership (PPP) conferences (two in Kabul and four in provinces) and 195 questionnaires were completed to determine the opportunities for the PPP’s to support national reading program; data analysis is in progress.