ANNUAL REPORT YEAR 2 Year 2: October 1, 2017 to September 30, 2018
LECTURE POUR TOUS
Submitted: October 31, 2018
Contract Number: AID-OAA-I-14-00055/AID-685-TO-16-
00003
Activity Start and End Date: October 26, 2016 to July 10, 2021
Total Award Amount: $71,097,573.00
Contract Officer’s Representative: Kadiatou Cisse Abbassi
Submitted by: Chemonics International
Sacre Coeur Pyrotechnie Lot No. 73, Cite Keur Gorgui
Tel: 221 78585 66 51
Email: [email protected]
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ANNUAL REPORT YEAR 2
1. Top left: 1: CGE Keur Madiabel 1: During an Early Grade Reading Summer camp (photo-LPT) 2. Bottom left: Workshop on the technical validation of LPT’s Year 3 Annual Work Plan (photo-LPT) 3. Top right: A woman and her baby attend a community forum sponsored by LPT (photo-LPT) 4. Bottom right: LPT’s MEL Specialist explaining the advantage of the Tangerine software (photo-LPT)
Contracted under AID-OAA-I-14-00055/AID-685-TO-16-00003
Lecture Pour Tous
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ACRONYMS ACR All Children Reading ADSE Approche Déconcentrée de Suivi Educatif AFD Agence Française de Developpement AME Association Mères d’Elèves AMELP Activity Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Plan APE Association Parents d’Elèves ARED Associates in Research & Education Development CAP Cellule d’Animation Pédagogique CAQ Contrat d’Amélioration de la Qualité CBO Community Based Organizations CDP Contrat de Performance CEB Curriculum d’Education de Base CGE Comité de Gestion d’Ecole CI Cours Initial CLAD Centre de Linguistique Appliquée de Dakar CLSP Community Literacy Support Plan CNRE Centre national des ressources éducationnelles CODEC Collectif des directeurs d’école COP Chief of Party COR Contract Officer Representative COSYDEP Comité des ONG et Syndicats pour la Défense de l’Education Publique CP Cours Préparatoire CRFPE Centre Régionaux de Formation des Personnels de l’Enfance DALN Direction de l'Alphabétisation et des Langues Nationales DCOP Deputy Chief of Party DEE Direction de l’Enseignement Elémentaire DFC Direction de la Formation de la Communication DPRE Direction de la Planification et de la Réforme de l'Education DQA Data Quality Assessment DRH Département des ressources humaines DRTS Direction Radio Télévision Scolaire EGR Early Grade Reading EGRA Early Grade Reading Assessment EMiLe Enseignement Multi-Langue FAA Fixed-Award Amount FAST Field Accounting Support Team FASTEF Faculté des Sciences et Technologies de l'Education et de la Formation FENAPES Fédération Nationale des Parents d’Elèves au Sénégal FILDAK International Book and Didactic Materials Fair FIDAK International Fair of Dakar FSLH Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humaines G2G Government to Government HICD Human Institutional Capacity Development
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IA Inspection d’Académie ICT Information and Communication Technology IEF Inspection de l’Education et de la Formation IFADEM Initiative Francophone pour la Formation à Distance des Maitres IFAN l'Institut Fondamental d'Afrique Noire IGEF Inspection Générale de l’Education et de la Formation INEADE Institut National d’Etude et d’Action pour le Développement de l’Education JICA Japan International Cooperation Agency KAP Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices KOICA Korean International Cooperation Agency LEMA Local Education Monitoring Approach LI Langue première LPT Lecture Pour Tous LQAS Lot Quality Assurance Sampling M&E Monitoring & Evaluation MEL Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning MEN Ministère de l’Education Nationale MOU Memorandum of Understanding MPSAS Association pour le Progrès Social des Aveugles du Sénégal M-TEW Mobile Teaching EveryWhere NAC New Africa Consulting NGO Non-Government Organization PAEF Projet d’Appui à l’Education des Filles PAEM Projet d'Appui à l'Enseignement Moyen PALME Partenariat pour l'Amélioration de la Lecture et des Mathématiques dans l’Enseignement Elémentaire PAP Priority Action Plan PAQUEB Programme d’Amélioration de la Qualité de l’Education de Base PAQUET Programme d’Amélioration de la Qualité, de l’Équité et de la Transparence PAV Plan d’Action Volontariste PDT Performance Data Table PI Principal Investigator PIRS Performance Indicator Reference Sheet PMU Project Management Unit POC Point of Contact PREMAS Project Pour la Préservation des Manuels Scolaires RF MERL Rapid Feedback MERL RFP Request for Proposals RFQ Request for Quotations SBCC Social and Behavior Change Communication SEA Senior Education Advisor SIMEN Système d’Information du Ministère de l’Education Nationale SNEB Semaine Nationale d’Education de Base SSFP Safety and Security Focal Point SYSGAR Système de Gestion Axée sur des Résultats
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ToA Training of Assessors TOC Theory of Change UAEL Union des Associations d’Elus Locaux UCGE Union des Comités de Gestion d’école UDAPE Union des Associations des Parents d’Elèves USAID United States Agency for International Development USG United States Government UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. 7 A. 7 B. 7 2. 8 A. 8 B. 10 PROGRAM AND CROSSCUTTING ACTIVITIES 12 OUTCOME 1: EARLY GRADE READING INSTRUCTION IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS AND DAARAS IMPROVED 16 OUTCOME 2: DELIVERY SYSTEMS FOR EARLY GRADE READING INSTRUCTION IMPROVED 25 OUTCOME 3: PARENT AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT IN EARLY GRADE READING IMPROVED 36 C. 40 D. 42 3. 43 4. 44 A. 44 B. 44 C. 45 5. 45 A. 45 Description 50 Findings and Application to Improve Project Performance 50 B. 45 Description 50 Findings and Application to Improve Project Performance 51 C. 46 Description 52 Findings and Application to Improve Project Performance 52 D. 48 Description 53 Findings and Application to Improve Project Performance 53 6. 49 Supporting Documents for EGRA CI Report 54 Supporting Documents for Other Information Reported 57 7. 52 ANNEX A: Public Summary in French 60 ANNEX B: Aggregate Outcomes and Results (milestones and deliverables) since inception 61 ANNEX C: Technical Reports and References 65
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1. INTRODUCTION
A. Program Overview
The Government of Senegal and its Ministère de l’Education Nationale (MEN) have launched a national reading program, “Lecture Pour Tous,” to significantly increase reading outcomes for students in early grades. USAID’s primary technical assistance initiative to aid Lecture Pour Tous contracted under USAID/All Children Reading and referred to here as Lecture Pour Tous (LPT), is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by Chemonics International and its consortium of partners in support of the Senegalese national reading program led by the MEN. Lecture Pour Tous began at the end of October 2016 and runs through July 10, 2021, aiming to greatly improve reading levels for students in Grades 1-3 through an effective, sustainable and scalable national program. This technical assistance program targets three outcomes to achieve this goal: improved early grade reading instruction in public primary schools and daaras, delivery systems for early grade reading instruction, and parent and community engagement in early grade reading.
To achieve this, the Lecture Pour Tous team and partners are facilitating a politically savvy process to consolidate efforts around early grade reading in national languages in Senegal, capitalize on the best of renowned Senegalese expertise and experience, and complement these local assets and resources with world-class expertise from people who have applied the international evidence-base to achieve this kind of change in Senegal and elsewhere. Emphasis is placed on the idea that Lecture Pour Tous is there to serve the Ministry and the program’s dedication to the concept of “faisons ensemble.” The French name of the program underlines its commitment to serving as a resource to the Ministry and to the concept of “faisons ensemble;” Lecture Pour Tous is here to assist the MEN, not vice-versa. Lecture Pour Tous’ approach is unique in that its goal is to ultimately render itself redundant. For this purpose, the MEN will start implementing the national reading program with targeted support from Lecture Pour Tous in the region of St. Louis. By the end of Lecture Pour Tous, the Ministry should be taking over both core costs and full leadership of actions at scale.
B. Results Framework
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2. PERFORMANCE, CHALLENGES, AND LESSONS LEARNED
A. Overview
During the second year of programming, Lecture Pour Tous focused its efforts not only on the first full school year of implementing activities at the heart of the program, but also on reinforcing and deepening synergies with stakeholders within the MEN. By doing so, Lecture Pour Tous demonstrated its firm commitment to the “faisons ensemble” approach that is central to the project. With embedded staff in place at the regional level and staffed offices at the national and zonal levels, Lecture Pour Tous continues to streamline implementation and establish its role as a strategic partner to government, civil society, and private sector actors in the early education space. Among the 123 activities implemented during the academic year of 2017-2018, Lecture Pour Tous carried out its first cycle of in-service trainings, distributed reading materials to the first round of students in Cours Initial (CI) classes, conducted studies that will inform policy development, and mobilized parents and community members around the importance of early grade reading. Most importantly, Lecture Pour Tous gained an initial understanding of what works and what approaches need to be changed both in preparation for the scale-up of the program to six regions and as Lecture Pour Tous continues to collaborate with strategic partners to ensure that the program achieves its goals by the end of Year 5. Throughout Year 2, Lecture Pour Tous collaborated with USAID/Senegal and various technical units within the MEN to achieve the following major accomplishments.
Key highlights of Outcome 1 during Year 2 include: ● Distribution of the teaching and learning materials for grade 1, or Cours Initial (CI), students in 1,108 schools across the first four regions of the program for the 2017-2018 school year. ● Successfully supported the MEN in implementation of a cascade training approach1 to train inspectors and school directors on a new pedagogical approach focused on teaching reading in national languages. In Quarter 1, Lecture Pour Tous trained 905 school directors and 99 inspectors on coaching techniques, who in turn trained 1,499 CI teachers and daaras instructors from the first 15 targeted Inspection de l’Education et de la Formation (IEFs). Lecture Pour Tous held refresher trainings in Quarter 2 for teachers, inspectors, directors and resource persons. ● The development and approval of Grade 2, or Cours Préparatoire (CP), early grade reading (EGR) teaching and learning materials, as well as the second edition of CI materials for the 2018 – 2019 school year. Under a tight deadline and with a team of international and local experts, Lecture Pour Tous collaborated with the MEN to roll out an unprecedented effort to develop the second edition of CI and new CP EGR teaching and learning materials. These experts developed full sets of teaching and learning materials in-house, including teacher’s guides, student classroom manuals, student take-home booklets, alphabet charts, and leveled readers. ● In Year 2, Lecture Pour Tous trained early grade reading assessment (EGRA) enumerators and worked with the Institut National d’Etude et d’Action pour le Développement de l’Education (INEADE) to organize a training workshop for EGRA CI enumerators, bringing together 66 participants (25 women and 41 men). This session laid the groundwork for the EGRA CI (or “EGRA Lite”) data collection that was conducted from May 28 to June 9, 2018 in 210 CI classes in Kaolack, Kaffrine, Fatick and Matam. In addition to EGRA CI assessments, the team collaborated with a specialist from the Association pour le Progrès Social des Aveugles du Sénégal (MPSAS) to transcribe the Braille characters and the assessment tool in Wolof. Subsequently, all EGRA trainers also received training on methodologies and procedures for gender mainstreaming and how to work with children with special needs when administering EGRA evaluation.
Key highlights of Outcome 2 during Year 2 include:
1 This cascade is closely monitored and supported by the team of national trainers to ensure training is done properly
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● During Year 2, the Outcome 2 team trained departmental communication officers at the central and decentralized levels on communication techniques and strategies. In addition, more than 750 people visited the Lecture Pour Tous stand during the Semaine Nationale d’Education de Base (SNEB) and the International Fair of Dakar (FIDAK) and were informed about the program. ● Lecture Pour Tous supported the MEN in the production and use of internal communication tools and structure and the MEN staff received capacity building to improve their technical, practical, and operational capacities in the implementation of the communication strategy at every level. ● Helping the MEN at the central level to establish draft student performance benchmarks for early grade reading for CI and CP covering phonemic awareness, alphabet principle/phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and reading comprehension in the three national languages (Pulaar, Sereer, and Wolof). 2,358 MEN staff (teachers, inspectors, directors, and staff of the MEN) were made aware of the student performance benchmarks and the Outcome 1 team incorporated these into the teacher’s guides prepared by the national technical team composed of ARED, Lecture Pour Tous, SIL and the MEN. ● Supported the MEN in conducting language-mapping operational research to determine the national language for the 2,488 schools to be integrated into the program during Year 3. Only 5 schools have chosen languages different from those supported by Lecture Pour Tous. Discussions are held with the management of these schools and relevant MEN bodies (IEF and the Direction de l’Enseignement Elémentaire [DEE]) to determine a course of actions for these 5 schools. ● The Outcome 2 team also assisted the Département des ressources humaines (DRH) to conduct a survey on teacher mobility with 925 targets (Inspection d’Académie [IA], IEF, school principals, mayors, village heads, union leaders, and Centre Régionaux de Formation des Personnels de l’Education [CRFPE] directors, student-teacher trainees, and Lecture Pour Tous-supported school teacher) from each IEF in the Lecture Pour Tous regions. The data collected outline the factors that influence teacher mobility in these regions. Based on the data, Lecture Pour Tous supported the DRH to develop a specific guide that advises on measures to be taken on teacher mobility in the context of teaching in national languages. ● Shared performance improvement assessments with MEN staff (DEE and Direction de la Formation de la Communication [DFC]) at both the central and decentralized levels in Kaolack and Kaffrine.
Key highlights for Outcome 3 during Year 2 include: ● Conducting the Knowledge Attitudes and Practices (KAP) surveys of community members and families on early grade reading support to students. ● Finalization and pilot testing of social and behavior change communication (SBCC) materials, including visual training aids, posters, radio spots, etc. in each of the three target languages (Wolof, Sereer and Pulaar). ● Launch of 129 community forums to inform key community stakeholders about the Lecture Pour Tous program, discuss the link between early grade reading achievement to future academic success and showcase upcoming parent and community engagement activities. ● Training of 466 Comité de Gestion d’Ecole (CGE) members from 157 Result 3 schools on parent engagement activities, monitoring of EGR activities through Plans d’Action Volontaristes (PAV)/Contrats d’Amélioration de la Qualité (CAQs), and the community mobilization grant program. ● Launching of the community mobilization grants program and selection of an initial 50 CGE grantees. ● Validation of a home-school communication tool to be piloted in 100 schools at the start of the 2018-2019 school year. ● Creation and validation by the MEN of parent and community engagement best practice networks at departmental and regional levels.
Other key accomplishments during the second year of implementation include: ● A USAID delegation including Ms. Evelyn Rodriguez Perez, Director of the USAID Education Office in Washington, D.C. and staff from the Education Office of USAID/Senegal, visited to the Bouldiabé
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elementary school in Kaolack in February 2018. The delegation observed a class session in which a teacher demonstrated reading lessons using new instructional approaches and materials, and the use of langue première (L1) for instruction as planned under anticipated bilingual education reform. Following the delegation’s meeting with communities, Ms. Perez commented, “we are reassured by the high level of engagement demonstrated by the school pedagogical team and communities, as we had expected. I’ve observed meaningful results at this stage of implementing early grade reading instruction in this school, which will facilitate our reporting to USG decision makers/officials on the efficient use of allocated funds to the program. We will mark our agenda, planning our next visit, to a CP class next year.” ● In February 2018, Lecture Pour Tous contributed to the Journée Internationale de la Langue Maternelle, or the International Mother Language Day, organized by the Direction de l'Alphabétisation et des Langues Nationales (DALN) in Fandène, Thiès. Lecture Pour Tous’ Program Director explained Lecture Pour Tous’ teaching and learning tools and presented its interventions to a crowd of high-profile representatives from the education community, including M. Joseph Pierre Ndiaye, Directeur de Cabinet in the MEN, as well as M. Amadou Sy, Governor of the region of Thiès. The event, which was well covered by the press, served as a great example of the “faisons ensemble” approach of Lecture Pour Tous’ collaboration with the MEN. M. Joseph Pierre Ndiaye commented: “We’d like to express our appreciation to USAID for their tireless support to the MEN with the goal of improving the quality of learning in Senegal.” ● Furthermore, to broaden key MEN partners understanding of USAID’s vision on early grade reading, three members of the MEN (Khady Diop, DEE Director at that time; Ablaye Niang, Chef de la Division Qualité de la Direction de l’Enseignement Elémentaire; and Cheikhena Lam, acting Director of INEADE) accompanied by Lecture Pour Tous’ Chief of Party, traveled to Bamako, Mali for a study tour from November 26 to December 1, 2017. The study tour visited the USAID/SIRA Reading Program and resulted in a noticeable support of Lecture Pour Tous by these key partners that realized that they were parts of a global initiative, which could yield tangible results with full support from MEN partners. ● For the first time, the DEE, in collaboration with all relevant partners, launched a process of developing a National Reading Framework that will serve as an orientation document to clearly identify policy and curriculum components for the National Reading Program.
B. Performance
PROGRAM AND CROSSCUTTING ACTIVITIES In Year 2, Lecture Pour Tous’ program and crosscutting accomplishments focused on four major areas: internal and external technical coordination of activities; communication, gender and social inclusion; daara outreach; and monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL). Throughout the year, Lecture Pour Tous continued to reinforce and deepen the synergies with MEN and between stakeholders, partners, USAID, education donors, and the technical units within the MEN at the central and decentralized levels in targeted regions.
I. Coordination and Communication Internal coordination. During Year 2, internal coordination efforts focused on the supervision of quality planning, implementation, and evaluation of crosscutting activities, coordination of the activities across the three outcomes, and development and implementation of quarterly plans. The Lecture Pour Tous program team met every two weeks to discuss the status of technical activities against the quarterly work plans, share successes and challenges, and identify areas for improved communication and planning across components and outcomes. During these internal coordination meetings, component and outcome leads, including gender and daara specialists, worked to harmonize scopes of work and consolidate communications to the DEE. Overall, this led to more synchronized activity implementation in the regions of Kaffrine, Kaolack, Matam, and Kaffrine.
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Lecture Pour Tous also held regional workshops in Kaffrine, Fatick, Matam and Kaolack with the MEN representatives from the IAs and IEFs, and women’s associations, totaling to roughly 200 participants. The goal of these workshops was to share strategic Lecture Pour Tous documents such as the comprehensive communication strategy of the program, the SBCC communication plan, and the gender strategy developed by Outcome 2, Outcome 3, and crosscutting teams.
During Quarters 3 and 4 of Year 2, internal coordination activities focused mostly on planning for technical meetings. Internal coordination meetings held during the second half of Year 2 provided an opportunity for the team to evaluate Quarter 3 interventions, consolidate Quarter 4 work plans for DEE validation, as well as begin Year 3 work planning. In collaboration with key stakeholders from the central and decentralized levels, Lecture Pour Tous developed tools to facilitate better work planning sessions.
External coordination. With regards to external coordination, communication, and event planning, Lecture Pour Tous participated in several high-level visits and nation-wide events during Year 2, recognizing the contributions of Lecture Pour Tous towards the improvement of quality education (especially EGR) in Senegal.
Lecture Pour Tous participated in two government-sponsored publics events: the 2017 Dakar edition of the international book and didactic material fair (FILDAK) on the theme “the book, youth, economy: development challenges”, and the International Fair of Dakar (FIDAK). During these events, Lecture Pour Tous participated in the exhibition where the MEN displayed teaching and learning materials. At the FIDAK, the MEN showcased Lecture Pour Tous’ teaching and learning materials (student’s tools, teacher’s guides, and alphabetical charts). Communication materials such as leaflets, flyers, and a video on Lecture Pour Tous produced in a Kaolack department school were on display. In each event, at least 100 participants attended the exhibit.
During the first quarter of Year 2, Lecture Pour Tous hosted several visits to the Ndiaffat Sereer and Guedel Mbodji Elementary Schools in the Kaolack region by the US Ambassador to Senegal, Mr. Tulimabo Mshingi and the USAID/Senegal Mission Director, Ms. Lisa Franchett. The delegation attended classroom observations where teachers demonstrated reading lessons using L1 with the EGR strategy they learned during training. Both the ambassador and USAID Mission Director interacted with the teachers, students, school directors and school community members.
In the first quarter of Year 2, Lecture Pour Tous participated in the 12th International Conference on Language and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in Dakar from November 27 to 29, 2017. Organized by the British Council, this conference provided an opportunity to learn from experiences from other countries and to take part in high quality debates on national languages. The conference provided additional public exposure for Lecture Pour Tous, its teaching and learning materials as well as pedagogical support produced in national languages.
During the second quarter of Year 2, Lecture Pour Tous signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the MEN to embed program staff at the central, regional and departmental levels. As part of this process, job descriptions and protocols for the counterparts were developed and formalized. Furthermore, the MEN also signed an official note instructing the embedded staff’s installation in the IA and IEF. 38 Lecture Pour Tous staff have been embedded in 4 current regions of implementation with an additional 15 staff planned to be embedded by mid-December 2018.
Lecture Pour Tous held meetings with the Project Pour la Préservation des Manuels Scolaires (PREMAS) and ChildFund during Quarter 3 to discuss areas for cross-project collaboration. Both meetings resulted in the projects agreement to share lessons learned and best practices for areas of similar intervention, for example, the preservation and repair of textbooks for elementary schools and daaras.
Support the preparation of Saint Louis activities through the G2G. Throughout Year 2, Lecture Pour Tous participated in several meetings and began technical assistance in support of the MEN’s efforts to expand the Lecture Pour Tous model into the Saint Louis region with direct Government-to-Government (G2G) financial support from USAID. In Quarter 2, inspectors from Saint Louis participated in Lecture Pour Tous’ trainings for teachers, directors,
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and inspectors on coaching and supervision using the new EGR instruction model. Through the G2G partnership, the MEN in Saint Louis plans to use materials and approaches developed with Lecture Pour Tous support, including the first edition of CI materials, as well as the program teacher training plan. In Quarter 3, Lecture Pour Tous provided technical guidance to MEN technicians in Saint Louis (specifically the DALN) as they conducted their own language mapping study using adapted versions of the Year 2 study research methodology and data collection and analysis tools supported by Lecture Pour Tous. In addition, Lecture Pour Tous conducted budget analyses and provided planning documents to the MEN to help them prepare for other activities in Saint Louis, including the region’s EGRA. Finally, beginning early in Year 2, Lecture Pour Tous also began meetings with the IA and other MEN officials in Saint Louis to prepare for introduction of activities to support parent and community engagement in early grade reading, which is the one component implemented directly by Lecture Pour Tous as a USAID Activity in addition to the G2G.
II. Gender and social inclusion In Year 2, Lecture Pour Tous’ Gender and Social Inclusion Specialist collaborated with the MEN’s counterparts to ensure gender mainstreaming into activities. A major accomplishment in Year 2 was the revision of the initial Lecture Pour Tous Gender Plan, with the purpose of making the plan more operational. On December 14 to 15, 2017, the Lecture Pour Tous Gender and Social Inclusion Specialist, in collaboration with her MEN counterpart, the Communications Coordinator and Outcome 3 teams, organized and held the first regional workshop in the Kaffrine region to share the program’s communication strategy, gender plan, and parent engagement plan. The revised work plan integrated aim to achieve the following outcomes: (1) development of guidelines for all program staff and a checklist to be used during the selection of gender champions among teachers; (2) adaptation of early grade reading assessment (EGRA) and student’s tools in Braille and (3) development of a module on inclusive education to enable teachers to tailor the lessons to the specific needs of children with disabilities.
III. Daara Outreach The Daara Liaison Specialist began Year 2 with a series of Quarter 1 coordination meetings in Kaolack and Kaffrine to discuss regional daara program implementation. Shortly thereafter, the Daara Liaison Specialist, along with the Inspector of Daara, returned to Kaolack and Kaffrine from October 23 to 24, 2017 to supervise the coaches training and oversee the beginning of daaras teaching and learning activities. The trainings included 34 participants (5 of which were women), and ultimately strengthened the commitment of the daaras and resulted in agreed-upon timelines for the commencement of daaras teaching and learning activities.
Lecture Pour Tous also took part in the supervision of coaches training in Kaolack and Kaffrine from November 20 to 22, 2017, with 16 Serigne daara and 2 daara monitors participating. These trainings also provided an avenue for Lecture Pour Tous to distribute teaching and learning materials to the daaras, while collecting materials distribution and enrollment data. Following discussions with the IAs and IEFs, and on-site discussions with each head instructor (equivalent of the school director) and daara instructors, Lecture Pour Tous collected the following data: ● Number of classes: 20 classes in 18 daaras, 2 daaras in the region of Kaffrine having 2 classes ● Enrollment: for the 20 classes, 891 daara students in the regions of Kaffrine and Kaolack, 353 girls and 538 boys ● Materials distribution: over the 891 manuals per type of tool (class and take-home) needed to cover the needs of the 20 classes, 170 class books including 40 in Pulaar, and 130 in Wolof (Kaolack: 80 Wolof and 40 Pulaar, Kaffrine: 50 Wolof) have been distributed.
Lecture Pour Tous recruited 2 Daaras Liaisons in January 2018 to provide dedicated support to the daaras program activities in Kaolack and Kaffrine. During the teacher training organized in Quarter 2, daara instructors from the 20 daaras that took part in the Lecture Pour Tous pilot gathered in the same class per the strategy adopted in Year 2. According to the evaluation conducted after the training, the decision to group these instructors together allowed them to gain a better understanding of the modules than they had in previous trainings. Lecture Pour Tous’ leadership decided to continue to reserve a separate room for future trainings of daara instructors.
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IV. Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) During the first quarter Year 2, the MEL team completed five major activities: 1. The organization of the EGRA baseline results presentation during a three-day workshop (with 34 participants) held in Thiès on October 25 to 27, 2017; 2. Database consolidation of Outcome 1 inspectors, director, and teacher trainings. This process consisted of monitoring, reconciling, and archiving the data collected from the inspector, director, and teacher training attendance sheets; 3. Monitoring KAP surveys of the MEN and parent engagement. This exercise consisted of programming 35 tablets with the Survey Solutions Application, which the MEN’s agents used to conduct the survey; 4. The Dakar-based MEL team collaborated with the regional-based MEL specialists to assist Outcome 1 in planning and finalizing the coaches and supervisors training sessions. The data collected from the training attendance sheets registered 1,215 trained coaches and supervisors, including 55 women from November 20 to 22, 2017; 5. USAID Rapid Feedback (RF)-MERL visited Lecture Pour Tous in December 2017 to review the Theory of Change (TOC) and identify the commitment of parents and the community, the use of books in class, and teacher training opportunities. Part of RF-MERL’s trip included field visits, followed by a forum in the IEF Kaolack Commune, at the Serigne Aliou Cissé School, and in the Birkilane IEF at the SEGRE SECCO school on December 7 to 8, 2017. Lecture Pour Tous also continued discussions with the USAID Rapid Feedback (RF) – MERL consortium and held a meeting in Dakar in Quarter 4 regarding Lecture Pour Tous support to relevant research agenda and learning questions.
During Year 2, Lecture Pour Tous revised its Activity Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Plan (AMELP), ultimately approved by USAID in June 2018. The primary revisions included further defining indicators and updating previously “to be determined” targets based on the availability of baseline or more accurate data. Lecture Pour Tous held a workshop in Quarter 2 to share the program AMELP with IEF inspector focal points, IA planners, and IA MEL staff from the six program target regions, extending to Saint Louis. At the request of USAID, Lecture Pour Tous transferred the approved AMELP to a new USAID template in Quarter 4. Throughout the year, the Lecture Pour Tous MEL team monitored the quality of program data collection processes, updated Lecture Pour Tous’ DevResults database, and supported the implementation of Year 2 surveys and assessments (for example, the parent, teacher, and Ministry Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices (KAP) studies).
V. Operations During Year 2, the operations team provided support to both the program and technical teams by reinforcing and streamlining the financial, procurement, human resources, and logistic systems in the central and regional offices to ensure sound operational support of technical activities.
Personnel recruitment and onboarding. The operations team continued recruitment efforts for strategic positions during the first quarter of Year 2 according to Lecture Pour Tous’ recruitment plan. The team completed the recruitment of Dakar-based positions and filled the majority of positions at the regional and departmental levels.
Lecture Pour Tous continued to embed its staff within the MEN in Year 2, finalizing and signing a MOU with the DEE. Scopes of work for each Lecture Pour Tous staff embedded at the IA and IEF levels were also finalized. The MEN signed an official note formally instructing the IAs and IEFs to facilitate the co-location of the embedded Lecture Pour Tous’ staff within their offices. The staffs that were already recruited for these positions joined their respective offices in the first quarter of Year 2, while the remainder of staff embedding took place subsequently during the second and third quarters. A total of 34 staff were embedded as follows: 5 at the central level, 20 at the IAs/IEFs in Kaolack, and 9 at the IAs/IEFs in Louga.
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Following the resignation of the Senior Reading Specialist at the beginning of Quarter 1, Lecture Pour Tous had difficulties finding a qualified candidate to replace her. As a result, Lecture Pour Tous and USAID concluded that, given the difficulties in finding suitable candidate meeting the contractual requirements, the project would begin recruitment efforts for a Senior Education Advisor (SEA). This would capture a larger pool of qualified education professionals familiar with early grade reading who could lead and provide technical oversight for Outcome 1, while also strategically deploying the most needed technical assistance for the reading expertise. The contract was subsequently modified in June 2018, with recruitment efforts for the SEA position beginning that same month.
To provide support in place of the Senior Reading Specialist over the course of Year 2, Lecture Pour Tous used a combination of interim support from Chemonics’ home office Technical Director, Dr. Jennifer Swift-Morgan and extended technical assistance from Publishing and Materials Development Specialist, Ms. Juliana Nielsen, Reading Advisor Dr. Souhila Messaoud-Galusi, and additional surge support from consortium partner Readsters, all with the ongoing leadership of the Outcome 1 Coordinator.
Also, in Quarter 4, Lecture Pour Tous successfully recruited and began onboarding the project’s Deputy Chief of Party (DCOP), Mr. Valery Bujiriri after the resignation of the former DCOP.
Procurement. During Year 2, the procurement team supported the technical team in evaluating responses to RFPs to advance key activities, such as the community KAP survey and the selection of non-government organizations (NGOs)/community based organizations (CBOs) to support the project’s community engagement activities during Quarter 1. The Senior Logistics Specialist updated the project inventory with all equipment and furniture purchased during Year 2, monitored vehicle logs, and followed up on tax exemption for utilities. The Senior Grants Manager worked with the grants team to finalize the grants manual and launch the first 50 fixed-award amount (FAA) grants to CGEs to support summer reading camps between the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 school years.
Finance. Additionally, during Year 2, the operations’ team oversaw financial processes and transactions, including the processing and payment of vendor of invoices and support to the technical workshops. The finance team opened a bank account in Matam to support the regional office’s financial needs and met with Ecobank to discuss ways to improve the management of Lecture Pour Tous’ bank accounts. The finance team also met with Orange/Sonatel representatives to explore payment possibilities for participants in project activities via Orange Money. This mobile payment alternative would mitigate potential risks linked to carrying larger amounts of money in the field. The other main activities conducted by the finance team in Year 2 include: (1) training on cost ingredients tracking and reporting, (2) orientation of recently hired Matam staff on administrative and financial procedures, (3) training of the new accounting staff on ABACUS bookkeeping systems and Chemonics accounting practices. Furthermore, the finance team in regional offices supported the implementation of all operational and technical activities in the regions.
OUTCOME 1: EARLY GRADE READING INSTRUCTION IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS AND DAARAS IMPROVED I. Crosscutting Activities Crosscutting activities supporting the achievement of Outcome 1 primarily include work on gender equality and social inclusion within the program’s instructional models and materials and the use of information and communication technology (ICT) to support training and continuous professional development of teachers, directors and inspectors.
Gender empowerment and social inclusion in teaching and learning materials. During Year 2, a key component of gender and social inclusion activities focused on conducting audits of teaching and learning materials to ensure that they promote gender equality and social inclusion. This consisted of ensuring the that female and male characters are depicted with equal frequency, ensuring positive depictions of people with disabilities, discarding any stereotypes found in illustrations and the content of the materials, and promoting the depiction of gender-empowering and social
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inclusion images and messages. The program also helped ensure that gender equality and inclusive requirements were integrated into the pedagogical specifications for the request for proposals (RFP) to develop the CI and CP materials for 2018-2019. National Trainers’ Team received gender-sensitive training. To equip members of the national trainers’ team with the necessary tools to train other regional teams on gender and social inclusion issues and increase awareness for gender-sensitive programming, gender and inclusive modules were developed and incorporated in the training sessions for teachers, directors and inspectors.
Addressing disabilities and vulnerabilities for all children to learn to read. Other technical tools such as datasheets were produced to enable teachers to easily identify certain types of impairments and dyslexia in students as well as cases of gender-based violence during reading lessons in a way. As a result, teachers are now better equipped to create conducive learning environment for all the students during reading lessons. In addition, in the presence of parents and administrative and academic authorities, students received the Wolof learning materials adapted in Braille. School learning materials including those for at-home and in school were distributed to five (5) visually impaired students at the Serigne Alioune School in Kaolack.
Launching of the ICT strategy for training and continuous professional development. In support of Lecture Pour Tous’ ICT strategy, the program helped to develop a training, monitoring, and support roadmap in Year 2 to prepare for piloting of ICT tools in Year 3. Lecture Pour Tous held several meetings with key stakeholders and public-private partners, which resulted in the production and internal dissemination of guidelines for the production and implementation of ICT resources aimed at strengthening and supplementing training. These documents served as the basis for SMS push message production workshops in August and September 2018 to develop the content of SMS texts containing instructional tips and motivational messages that will be sent to teachers, directors, and inspectors in support of their work on early grade reading. These workshops brought together inspectors, directors and teachers, representatives from DEE, DFC, Direction Radio Télévision Scolaire (DRTS), and Système d’Information du Ministère de l’Education Nationale (SIMEN) and resulted in the production of a “Message Bank” as well as the development of a framework to guide the production of audio and video clips. These digital resources will reinforce and supplement teacher training and coaching activities, as well as facilitate communication between educators to increase peer support. In parallel, Lecture Pour Tous pursued the finalization of the partnership agreement with Orange Labs/Sonatel to pilot one large component of these tools and, if they prove effective, pave the way for a public-private partnership with the MEN to adopt these tools within the Ministry’s own ICT platforms.
II. Performance by Output Throughout Year 2, Lecture Pour Tous collaborated with the MEN and other education partners to successfully implement its activities according to the Year 2 work plan. Lecture Pour Tous planned and provided capacity building to private publishers in a bid to improve their procurement knowledge and practices. Another major achievement was the in-house development of 2018-2019 teaching and learning materials as capacity strengthening of local publishers continues. Alongside this major activity, Lecture Pour Tous conducted a study on the Senegalese textbook supply chain with recommendations for improvement; the study report will be ready for dissemination in early Year 3. Meanwhile, teachers' strikes marred implementation of planned activities such as coaching and supervision sessions in some localities resulting in adjustment or postponement of activities. Other major activities accomplished during Year 2 included the launching of the renewed coaching and supervision model at both the school and school cluster levels in support of improved early grade reading instruction.
Output 1.1: Evidence-based early reading materials in Senegalese languages are provided
Support to the distribution and management of the 2017-2018 teaching and learning materials
Teacher Guides and Alphabet Charts. Concerning the first edition of the CI teachers’ guides and alphabetical charts in Wolof, Pulaar, and Seereer, the bid was awarded to the Educ'action Group. Lecture Pour Tous printed 2,800 copies of teacher's guides and 1,150 alphabetical charts. Materials were distributed to the IEFs between October 4
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and 20, 2017, and then to teachers during the Quarter 1 teacher trainings.
Read-aloud booklets. Lecture Pour Tous released a request for quotations (RFQ) for procurement and distribution of the teacher read-aloud booklets for the 2017-2018 school year, resulting in the award to DIDACTIKOS. After incorporating all the recommended corrections, DIDACTIKOS distributed a total of 11,900 booklet packages to teachers in the IEFs in between November 17 and December 5, 2017.
Student Tools. For the first edition of CI tools prepared for the 2017-2018 school year, the selected supplier, Rotolito Lombarda, was responsible for printing and distributing 90,400 printed tools, distributed as follows: ● Student Classroom Tool, Grade 1in Wolof: 24,560 ● Student Classroom Tool, Grade 1 in Pulaar: 10,170 ● Student Classroom Tool, Grade 1 in Sereer: 10,470 ● Student take-home tool, Grade 1 in Wolof: 24,50 ● Student take-home tool, Grade 1 in Pulaar: 10,170 ● Student take-home tool, Grade 1 in Sereer: 10,470
These tools were printed in Italy and then shipped to Senegal. Rotolito distributed in 1,115 schools and 20 daaras in Kaolack, Fatick, Kaffrine, and Matam. Over a period of 10 days, the distributor delivered materials to schools using pick-up vehicles, using a detailed schedule with the name of the school, the quantities provided by schools, the contact of the director in charge of receiving the materials and signing the proof of delivery. Despite detailed planning, the distribution of the student tools was delayed, and gaps between planned and actual needs were noted. This could be explained by the ratio of 38 students per class that served as a basis for calculation and the number of early grades per school that increased. Facing this challenge, Lecture Pour Tous worked with the DEE, who instructed teachers to have their students share the readers in pairs or use take-home booklets (in regions where they were similar enough to the student manuals) until the program was able to print additional materials.
Post-distribution audits of teaching and learning materials. To better track and manage the distribution of the 2017- 2018 materials, Lecture Pour Tous conducted two phases of post- distribution audit. The first phase, which took place immediately Results from the 90-day post-distribution following distribution, involved reconciling all the delivery notes of audit: the distributed materials and completing visits. The second audit, 90- day post distribution, took place in March 2018 and consisted of two -98.5% of schools said they received student components. For the first component, the MEL team conducted field tools and student workbooks. visits and conducted an onsite distribution survey in 10% of target -The number of tools received was 88,844 schools (120 schools). Secondly, a call center carried out quantitative against a need of 90,400, a difference of 1556 (1.7%). surveys with directors of 100% of target schools. A total of 1,135 - 98% of schools reported having received directors were contacted by text message and phone call to determine the teacher’s guide. 1,526 guides distributed the quantities received after distribution. Following this audit, Lecture for 1178 classes. Pour Tous identified a number of challenges and quickly responded to - 926 classes out of 1,135 received alphabet follow up with the distributor and reprint additional copies of student charts, a rate of 83%. tools as needed, based on the fact that there were more students - 8,432 read-alouds distributed enrolled than the ministry estimated at the time the printing order was placed. The results of the 90-day post-distribution audits are in a detailed report that also shared after an internal validation (see text box).
Support to the development and printing of 2018-2019 teaching and learning materials
Development of detailed pedagogical and technical specifications. Early in Year 2, the Lecture Pour Tous Outcome 1 team, in collaboration with the MEN, developed and validated detailed pedagogical and technical specifications to guide the development of all teaching and learning materials for the 2018-2019 school year. These include revised CI materials and new CP materials comprising student textbooks/class manuals, student take-home books, teacher's guides, student read-alouds, decodable-leveled readers, and alphabet charts. As part of the effort to prepare and
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prepare these specifications, the team conducted field observations and peer reviews of the 2017-2018 first edition CI tools. Several observations and recommendations were integrated into the pedagogical specifications for the new materials, such as adjusting the sequencing, structuring, and pacing of the lessons to reduce the cognitive overload of students; updating and further detailing the linguistic scope and sequence for each of the languages following careful analyses; increasing the period for pre-reading skills; increasing the amount of text available to students to practice each new reading skill in alignment with this pacing; and rendering the instruction more explicit. The pedagogical specifications also included reference to the draft performance benchmarks (norms and standards) for CI and CP (see more under Ouput 2.2). Between October 2017 and February 2018, Lecture Pour Tous facilitated several group discussions and with the MEN finalized the pedagogical approach for the 2018 materials.
Leveled-readers workshop. As a critical component of the pedagogical specifications for the new CI and CP materials, detailed leveling criteria needed to be established for the multiple levels of decodable, leveled readers to be developed and used as supplementary texts to complement the student textbooks. Lecture Pour Tous and the MEN organized a two-day workshop in December 2017 to establish criteria for the first five levels of the seven planned with Lecture Pour Tous support: two fully decodable levels to be used in CI per the updated CI scope and sequence; one level to be used in both CI and CP classes, and two additional levels for readers in CP.
Open bidding process to procure the development of the new CI and CP materials from private publishers. Following the development of the fully detailed approach to the materials, the team integrated the specifications into terms of reference for an international call for tenders launched at the end of January. This was in keeping with recently updated Senegalese scholastic publishing policy privatizing the development of textbooks. After the RFP was released, the team hosted by a bidders’ conference to answer questions about the procurement process and the terms of reference. This process unfortunately did not result in any viable bids, due to factors including short period of time to produce the proposals; the short period of time needed to develop a very large number of different titles in three national languages; the required technicity of the materials; and limited human resources in the private sector for this work, especially in national languages and because those with the greatest expertise in this area are within the MEN itself. Following this process, the MEN agreed that in order to have materials in time for the 2018-2019 school year, Lecture Pour Tous should proceed with in-house development in coordination with its technicians.
In-house development of the 2018-2019 CI and CP materials. Lecture Pour Tous then launched an unprecedented mobilization of technicians to produce the CI and CP materials as an extended team in conjunction with the MEN in Quarter 3 and finishing in Quarter 4. The team integrated comments from USAID and the MEN, along with feedback from technical sharing meetings and correction workshops, into the final versions of the teaching and learning materials beginning July 2018 for production.
Procurement of printing, distribution, and remaining materials for the 2018-2019 school year. In Quarter 3 of Year 2, Lecture Pour Tous selected Burda East Africa, Ltd. as the printer for the 2018-2019 CI and CP materials (including teacher guides, student manuals, take-home booklets, alphabet charts, and decodable leveled readers) via a full and open procurement process. Following USAID and MEN validation and later input from the printer, Lecture Pour Tous experienced delays in getting all materials fully print-ready and thus anticipates that all materials will be printed in Quarter 1 of Year 3. After completing the procurement process begun in Quarter 4 of Year 2, Lecture Pour Tous anticipates selecting a distributor for shipment of materials to Senegal and in-country distribution to the IEF level also in Quarter 1 of Year 3. During this quarter, Lecture Pour Tous will also finalize the evaluation and selection process for the procurement of CI and CP teacher read-alouds.
Capacity building for publishing houses. In parallel to the in-house development of the new CI and CP materials, Lecture Pour Tous hosted a workshop for Senegalese publishers to use the award-winning open source “Bloom” software developed by Lecture Pour Tous team member SIL International for the development of leveled and even decodable readers and other text. In addition, Lecture Pour Tous in Quarter 4 refreshed discussions with Scolibris, a nonprofit based in France dedicated to the development of scholastic publishing in Africa. The discussions revolved around potential approaches for a training and mentoring plan for interested Senegalese publishers. After discussions, the parties agreed that a more thorough diagnosis of publishers’ training needs would be required, building on the
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findings of the Senegalese book supply study. As a result, the director of Scolibris is expected to travel to Senegal in Quarter 1 of Year 3 to meet with Lecture Pour Tous, the MEN, and Senegalese publishers to further discuss the real needs of scholastic publishers in Senegal particularly vis-à-vis the need for large volumes of high-quality materials for early grade reading in national languages. This will result in a comprehensive capacity strengthening plan developed and launched in Year 3.
Output 1.2: Teachers’ skills in evidence-based early grade reading instruction is improved
In-service teacher training
Conduct training for Cohort 1 CI teachers and daara instructors in early grade reading (Sessions 1 and 2). Developed at the end of Year 1, this module was used at a training to familiarize teachers with the Lecture Pour Tous program, the methodological approach and pedagogic tools for early grade reading, and their roles and responsibilities. The first seven-day training workshop was held in the regions of Kaolack, Fatick, and Kaffrine from October 4 to 11, 2017, followed by a second workshop from October 10 to 17, 2017 in Matam in collaboration with IAs and IEFs. Each regional workshop was led by a selected team of two trainers and one supervisor.
The second CI teacher training session was preceded by a trainers’ orientation day on March 21 in Matam and on March 24, 2017 in Kaolack, Kaffrine and Fatick, during which trainers discussed challenges and shared best practices. Lecture Pour Tous facilitated CI second teacher training in the four-targeted regions of implementation. This second session came after 5 months of putting into practice the methodological approach of the reading model initiated by the Lecture Pour Tous program in September 2017. Classroom visits conducted in February and March 2018 by the national technical team in schools of Kaffrine, Kaolack and Fatick revealed both successes and difficulties faced by teachers in implementing the approach and using teaching materials. The findings from these visits informed the development of the Session 2 trainings, including a focus on the introduction of the new sound, the lesson of fluency - comprehension, integration, EGRA, and skills transfer from L1/L2.
In addition to the follow-on training on the reading instructional model and materials conducted during Session 2, Lecture Pour Tous, together with the MEN provided an additional 4-day reinforcement module to address identified challenges in transcribing and using national languages. This module for teachers focused on double consonants, the aperture and length of vowels, as well as the separation of words that are important aspects of reading and writing in L1.
Prepare CI (session 1 cohort 2) and CP (session 1 cohort 1) teacher training. In anticipation for the 2018-2019 school year during which Lecture Pour Tous will support the new early grade reading model for CP classes (Cohort 1) in 50% of public primary schools in the first four target regions (Kaolack, Kaffrine, Fatick and Matam) and 100% of CI classes in all six target regions (the first four plus Diourbel and Louga), Lecture Pour Tous worked closely with the DEE and DFC technicians and inspectors in Quarter 4 to outline the updated in-service teacher training plan. The updated training plan re-designated the national team of trainers composed of the highest-performing inspectors. Subsequently, a workshop to review the training content for CI and design modules for CP took place in Dakar from August 6 to 9, 2018 with inspectors and representatives from the new program regions of Louga and Diourbel. During this workshop, Lecture Pour Tous and its partners worked with inspectors and the training team to develop training modules using the new teaching and learning materials developed for the 2017-2019 school year. These modules will be used at trainings at both the national and regional levels for CI and CP directors and teachers in all six regions. These trainings, originally planned for Quarter 4 of Year 2, were delayed due inspector strikes and are now planned to be held in Quarter 1 of Year 3.
Pre-service teacher training
During Quarter 4 of Year 2, the team launched major activities to begin preparing for pre-service teacher training in early grade reading. Lecture Pour Tous worked closely with the DFC and representatives from the CRFPE regional training centers to establish a working group that drafted a scope of work to clearly state its role and major activities
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planned for the end of Year 2 and beginning of Year 3. The major activity then conducted in Quarter 4 was the development and implementation of a pre-service training needs assessment in the context of early grade reading instruction, and early grade reading instruction particularly in national languages.
The pre-service training working group thus validated the scope of work for this needs assessment in conjunction with the 6 CRFPEs in Lecture Pour Tous’ targeted zones: Diourbel, Fatick, Kaolack, Kaffrine, Louga and Matam. Between July and mid-August 2018, Lecture Pour Tous helped develop and stabilize the data collection tools for this assessment, and researchers were recruited and trained on these tools and methods during the second half of August 2018. Data collection for the needs assessment was conducted in early September 2018. Before the end of the month, the working group reviewed the “pre-report” with major findings and provided comments and suggestions for the preparation of the final report which will be ready for dissemination early in Year 3. This report will include a proposal for the next steps to develop pre-service training modules for early grade reading to be piloted in the targeted CRFPE.
Output 1.3: Coaching and supervision of the early grade reading instruction improved
Teacher support and supervision in classrooms
Development of tools and training in coaching and supervision. Early in Year 2, Lecture Pour Tous developed extensive guide for coaching and supervision, and with the help of international short-term consultants, supported the national team of trainers in finalization of the coaching and supervision training materials. These materials were revised in Quarter 2 and used during for the follow-on trainings for directors, inspectors, and resource staff (i.e., retired inspectors). Working with the DFC and CRFPE, Lecture Pour Tous supported the training of 99 inspectors and 905 school directors on coaching and supervision in November 2017 and in February 2018. This second wave of trainings provided an opportunity to examine strengths, weaknesses and areas for improvement of coaching and supervision in the target regions.
Technical assistance for coaching and supervision. Following each training session, Lecture Pour Tous supported the initial implementation of the coaching and supervision model for better early grade reading instruction by providing additional tools in the expanded coaching and supervision guide. In Quarter 3, the inspectors at the IEF level shared their coaching and supervision activity plans that allowed Lecture Pour Tous’ IA-based Teacher Professional Development (TPD) staff and IEF-based Focal Points and their counterparts to further carry out their support and monitoring activities. However, given the disruption caused by teacher strikes in some localities, some IEFs found it necessary to adjust the schedule of inspector visits to schools or to simply postpone these visits. More follow-up visits were conducted in Quarter 4 as an opportunity to establish an on-going dialogue with the IEFs in order to ensure the teachers are often supervised and to create a supportive and collaborative relationship.
During Quarter 2, 226 out of the 318 scheduled activities (or 71 percent) were accomplished. However, out of the 229 activities planned for April 2018, only 87 activities (or 38 percent) were accomplished. Nonetheless, the school directors were able to provide support and coaching to their CI teachers at the agreed upon schedule of twice a month.
Planning for teacher support in Cellules d'Animation Pédagogique (CAPs)
Lecture Pour Tous supported planning for teacher support in CAPs throughout the 2017-2018 school year following training on coaching and supervision, including through CAP teacher circle/professional development meetings. During the second training sessions held in November and in collaboration with directors and inspectors, participants reviewed lessons learned from their recent activities, how to use observation tools, how inspection is different from supervision, how to conduct student assessment, ICT use and information sharing, how to manage CAP in schools, and how to facilitate information sharing with families and the community on students’ reading performance. Lecture Pour Tous field visits provided an opportunity to observe one external CAP meeting in Kaolack, where teachers were
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encouraged to share lessons learned on how to implement the tools, as well as to have an honest discussion on their experiences.
Coaching and supervision support and monitoring
Throughout Quarters 1 and 2, inspectors from 15 IEFs conducted observation and coaching visits to schools in their regions, using the coaching and supervision techniques they received training on during the November 2017 and February 2018 Lecture Pour Tous-supported trainings. During these visits, inspectors provided teachers and directors with the necessary support to effectively teach EGR as well as tailored remedies and feedback, evaluated progress and effectiveness of planned activities, and assisted with obtaining data from activities collected from grids.
Lecture Pour Tous also conducted targeted visits during Year 2 to evaluate progress and effectiveness of coaching and supervision activities. During Quarter 2, Lecture Pour Tous organized visits to several daaras and Lecture Pour Tous-supported schools in central and northern zones to review progress of coaching activities, as well as evaluate if directors and inspectors were effectively using monitoring tools. During these visits, Lecture Pour Tous observed 3 director-coaching and 3 inspector-coaching sessions in Kaolack, Matam, and Kanel. These visits and evaluation of inspectors’ records indicated that only 338 activities, out of the scheduled 564, had taken place. The Lecture Pour Tous Outcome 1 team led a discussion with IEFs, IEF focal points, their counterparts, and TPDs on effective techniques for monitoring coaching activities and data collection, provided monitoring sheets and objectives, and held a TPD-specific orientation session in May 2018.
A number of factors, including strikes, distance, and delayed trainings, contributed to an overall lower than anticipated number of coaching/supervision visits throughout Year 2. Lecture Pour Tous will support the planning of coaching activities during December 2018, in preparation for activities to begin in January to March 2019.
Take stock of monitoring and coaching plans. Following monitoring visits, Lecture Pour Tous staff worked with MEN counterparts to compile and analyze the data from inspectors’ and directors’ coaching and supervision activities and verify them to provide a summary of activities. Out of the 99 inspectors who received training, only 53 visited schools. The results included: (1) Inspectors activities with the teacher observation grid: 243 teachers observed; (2) Inspectors activities with the coaching tool: 189 teachers coached; (3) School directors’ activities with the coaching tools: The school directors coached 272 teachers; (4) IEF Inspector activities, resource persons and Lecture Pour Tous’ staff with the observation grid for the coaching activity: The inspectors coached 40 school directors.
At the end of Quarter 4, Lecture Pour Tous was further analyzing these data and lessons learned from the first year of training on coaching and supervision to compile lessons learned that will be applied to the second year of the coaching and supervision model. In Year 3, this will entail expanding the model to the 100% of public primary schools in all six target regions of the country receiving direct support from Lecture Pour Tous, plus additional anticipated application of the model in St. Louis with G2G support. Also, in Year 3 Lecture Pour Tous will support piloting digital versions of the coaching and supervision tools to ease data collection, analysis, and use.
Output 1.4: Early grade reading assessment improved
Early Grade Reading Assessment
Updating and developing assessment tools. During Quarter 2 of Year 2, Lecture Pour Tous organized a workshop from January 31 to February 9, 2018 with the DEE, DALN, INEADE, and eight inspectors/focal points to develop new assessment tools, including for the EGRA CI. All of the draft tools were tested in three schools in Kaolack and validated by INEADE. These included three texts in each language (Pulaar, Wolof, Seereer) for this year’s EGRA assessment of CI students, two texts designed for CP students for later use, and five questions to measure understanding of these texts.
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Sharing EGRA baseline results. During the second quarter of Year 2, the EGRA baseline results were shared during workshops across Lecture Pour Tous’ 15 IEFs in the four (4) target regions. Overall, 476 people participated: inspectors, school directors, staff from the CRFPE, representatives of teachers’ unions, Union des Associations des Parents d’Elèves (UDAPE), local authorities, collectif daara, CGE officers, other community members, and the president of the Collectif des directeurs d’école (CODEC) (416 men and 60 women). At the end of each baseline presentation, the team and MEN partners provided a summary in the local language before starting discussions. In some cases, the presentation was primarily given in a local language. Participants made numerous important contributions to the discussions and raised pointed questions about the use of national languages in the education system, although the majority expressed support for this practice. In almost all IEFs, the stakeholders that were present made strong commitments to support the Lecture Pour Tous program in their respective localities.
Conducting EGRA CI and analyzing results. The main objectives of the EGRA CI (or “EGRA Lite”) assessment were to: (i) provide a measure of basic reading skills of students in Grade 1 in Senegal in three national languages; (ii) provide a measure of Indicator 4 of the AMELP; and (iii) identify the characteristics most closely associated with student reading performance. The subtasks included in the assessment in this study were listening comprehension, letter sounds, familiar words, connected text oral reading, and reading comprehension. Assessment tools were developed in February 2018 and in collaboration with the DEE, INEADE, DALN, ARED, SIL Lead, IEF representatives, EdIntersect, and Lecture Pour Tous. Data collection took place in May 2018, with the goal of measuring the status of reading competencies for CI students in the three national languages supported by Lecture Pour Tous. The assessment took place in 212 primary schools across Fatick, Kaffrine, Kaolack, and Matam regions. The sampling was done in two phases, first choosing a representative number of schools in each of the four regions across three language groups, and then randomly sampling 10 CI students (5 boys and 5 girls) from those present on the day of the school visit.
After data cleaning, assessments from 2,166 students were maintained in the final dataset. When considering the EGRA CI results in relation to the preliminary benchmarks currently in place for Lecture Pour Tous, the overall results show the majority of students across language groups demonstrate competent listening comprehension skills. The average scores in the three language groups range from 67% to 77%, which meets the minimum benchmark for this task. This average range demonstrates competent to high-performing listening comprehension skills and thus a strong foundation of receptive vocabulary in the national languages being used for the national language reading program. More comprehensive results from this study are described in Section 6.
Local Education Monitoring Approach (LEMA)
In Year 2, Lecture Pour Tous supported the introduction of LEMA, or the Approche Déconcentrée de Suivi Educatif (ADSE) in French, as an important tool for data-based decision-making at the departmental and regional level in support of early grade reading. Initial strategy meetings between Lecture Pour Tous and INEADE took place in Quarter 1, followed by a Quarter 2 workshop for the development of both LEMA and EGRA CI assessment tools. As such, workshop participants included representatives from the DEE, INEADE, DALN, ARED, SIL Lead, IEF representatives, EdIntersect, and Lecture Pour Tous. Following initial development of LEMA assessment tools, a pilot was conducted in the IEFs of Matam, Gossas, Kaolack Commune, and Kaffrine. During Quarter 3, Lecture Pour Tous supported four IEF-level workshops in the targeted regions (Matam, Diourbel, Fatick, and Kaffrine) to share the assessment tool for LEMA data collection. This also served as an opportunity to conduct data collection in 19 elementary schools in each of the IEFs.
Following the pilot activity and in Year 3, Lecture Pour Tous plans to assist the MEN in expanding LEMA to all 21 IEFs in the six Lecture Pour Tous-supported regions. The program will assist the MEN in hosting workshops to share the LEMA approach and develop guidelines for implementation based on best practices and lessons learned from the pilot phase.
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III. Outcome 1 Milestones & Deliverables – Year 2
Milestone/Deliverable Due Date Outcome 1: Early Grade Reading Instruction in Primary Schools and Daaras Improved Output 1.1 Evidence-based early grade reading materials in Senegalese languages provided Materials for students in public schools and daaras (CI, Cohort 1- first edition) Quarter 1 Materials for teachers in public schools and daaras (CI, Cohort 1- first edition) Quarter 1 Printing and distribution of student and teacher materials to public schools and Quarter 4 daaras (Report) Validated technical and pedagogical specifications for CI and CP materials to be Quarter 2 developed for 2018-2019 Materials for students in public schools and daaras (CI, second edition) Quarter 4 Materials for teachers in public schools and daaras (CI, second edition) Quarter 4 Materials for students in public schools and daaras (CP, first edition) Quarter 4 Materials for teachers in public schools and daaras (CP, first edition) Quarter 4 Output 1.2 Teachers’ skills in evidence-based early grade reading instruction improved Training materials for training of trainers and teachers (Cohort 1, round two) Quarter 1 Training of trainers- Cohort 1, round two Quarter 2 Training of trainers- Cohort 2, round one Rescheduled for Q1, Y3 Training of teachers and school directors in public schools and daaras (round one Quarters 1 and 2 and two) Printing and distribution of training materials for teacher training (Reports, for Activity completed. Report October and January trainings) forthcoming (Q1, Y3) Output 1.3 Coaching and supervision of early grade reading instruction improved Training materials and tools for (master) trainers, coaching and supervision Quarter 1 and 2 (Cohort 1, rounds one and two) Training of (master) trainers and coaches - Cohort 1, round one Quarter 1 Training of (master) trainers and coaches- Cohort 1, round two Quarter 2 Technical assistance for coaching & supervision Completed for Y2, Quarters 2-3 Printing and distribution of training materials for coaching and supervision Activity completed. Report (Report) forthcoming (Q1, Y3) Output 1.4 Early grade reading assessment improved Updating and creation of assessment tools (for both LEMA and EGRA Lite) Quarter 2 Technical assistance to INEADE/MEN for assessment administration (both LEMA Quarter 3 and EGRA Lite)
OUTCOME 2: DELIVERY SYSTEMS FOR EARLY GRADE READING INSTRUCTION IMPROVED I. Overview Major achievements for Outcome 2 during Year 2 include the implementation of the communication strategy with the MEN, the preparation of student performance standards for CI and CP in three national languages, the teacher competency framework for teaching early grade reading in national languages, and the implementation of several operational research studies; specifically a language mapping study targeting 100% of the schools in all 6 regions. The Outcome 2 team adapted weekly timetables for CI and CP in Lecture Pour Tous classes, and on teacher mobility. Additional successes achieved under Outcome 2 are described below.
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II. Performance by Output Output 2.1: Coordination and communication about early grade reading increased
Support the MEN in the preparation and dissemination of internal communication tools and structures. The Outcome 2 team supported the MEN communication officers (SG, DEE, DFC, DRTS, DALN, SIMEN, and 7 AI including Saint-Louis) in the production and dissemination of internal communications materials on reading instruction. MEN communication officers participated in a workshop to define the structure of an intranet service and an internal newsletter for MEN staff in Quarter 3.
The Ministry formed an editorial board for the monthly newsletter (DEE as Publication Director and DFC as Editor- in-Chief), and the editorial board composed of the communication officers of the General Secretariat of the MEN, DALN, DPRE, INEADE, DRTS, inspector of daaras, HRD, and the SIMEN. The monthly newsletter should contribute to improving communication around the National Reading Program within the Ministry at all levels. The first issue is planned to be published in October 2018. The SIMEN, with the support of the Outcome 2 team, designed an intranet service derived from the official website of the MEN to facilitate the exchange of information from MEN staff on the National Reading Program and Lecture Pour Tous. The website is anticipated to launch at the beginning of Year 3.
Capacity building of MEN staff in communication techniques. In Quarter 1 and 4, Lecture Pour Tous and the MEN (DEE, DFC, and DRTS) presented the communications strategy in four regions (Kaolack, Kaffrine, Fatick, and Matam), and supported the MEN’s regional communication managers in the development of their regional communications plans.
During Quarter 3, the Outcome 2 team also organized a capacity building workshop on communication techniques for 19 MEN’s communication officers, 12 at the central level (DEE, DFC, DRTS, DPRE, SIMEN, HRD, Daaras Inspectorate, INEADE, DAJLD, SG) and seven (7) at the decentralized level (IA Matam, IA Kaolack, IA Fatick, IA Kaffrine, IA Louga, IA Diourbel, IA Saint-Louis). During these workshops, each participant produced a communication plan, a press release, and a success story. The objective of such exercises was to practice the newly acquired skills by developing communication techniques. These skills will allow them to participate in the operationalization of the National Reading Program’s communications strategy at the central and decentralized levels. Some of the workshop participants have applied these skills by assisting with the writing of some of the articles in the National Reading Program’s first newsletter.
Support the MEN to prepare, implement and monitor the mass communication campaign for the National Reading Program. During Quarter 3, Lecture Pour Tous (Outcome 2 and 3) evaluated the technical and organizational capacities of 21 community radio stations located in four (4) regions (Kaolack, Kaffrine, Fatick, and Matam) and selected 15 stations on the basis of seven criteria: quality of equipment, reliability, coverage, languages used, audience, interactions with the audience, and experience in broadcasting education content. Lecture Pour Tous will establish contracts with the selected radio stations, which will produce and broadcast radio programs focused on the National Reading Program and Lecture Pour Tous in Year 3.
Support the MEN to coordinate the mass communications campaign in all targeted areas with the grassroots communications in the subset of school-communities targeted by Outcome 3 activities. Lecture Pour Tous and the DEE prepared the launch of the national communication campaign. During Quarter 4, Lecture Pour Tous supported the DEE in the production of a communication plan and several communication tools, including leaflets, posters, flyers, and radio and TV spots. To accommodate the schedules of high-level officials (USAID and the MEN’s Secretary General) planning to attend, the launch was moved to early November 2018.
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Output 2.2: National standards for early grade reading adopted and applied
Conduct stocktaking of existing performance standards for teachers and students, CRFPE curricula, training modules, and other early grade reading related initiatives in preparation for development of student and teacher performance standards: The Outcome 2 team conducted stocktaking in Quarter 1 to provide an accurate portrayal of the existing performance benchmarks for students and teachers in relation to learning and teaching reading in national languages.
Support the MEN in the preparation and implementation of a roadmap to field test, finalize and validate student performance standards and teacher performance standards for early grade reading. In Quarter 1, with the support of Ms. Norma Evans, Standards Specialist, the MEN defined provisional performance benchmarks for CI and CP students in three languages, Wolof, Pulaar, and Sereer, as well as a reader profile at the end of CI and at the end of CP. Workshop participants developed a roadmap for testing, validating, and applying the new reading performance benchmarks.
Support the MEN in disseminating student and teacher performance standards for early grade reading: The national and regional trainer teams were able to train 2,358 teachers, school directors, and inspectors on these provisional performance benchmarks during the different training sessions throughout the year.
Define draft student performance standards in Wolof, Pulaar, and Sereer: After the development of the provisional benchmarks in November 2018, the MEN (INEADE, DEE, DFC, DALN, ID, CRFPE) with the support of Lecture Pour Tous will review early in Year 3 the CI standards based on the results of EGRA CI 2018 and new teaching specifications. Lecture Pour Tous incorporated these draft performance benchmarks into the teachers’ guides prepared by the program for the three national languages for CI and CP in Quarter 2 and 3. The goal is now to provide teachers with intermediate (quarterly) benchmarks so that they can assess during the year whether the students will reach the end-of-year performance benchmark or if remedial actions were needed. Analysing the pedagogical specifications for this purpose led to drafting intermediate (quarterly) benchmarks, which will be updated once the results of EGRA CI are disseminated, at the beginning of Year 3.
Additionally, Lecture Pour Tous and a technical group composed of the MEN’s partners (INEADE, DEE, DFC, DALN) produced a booklet on the draft performance benchmarks, which presents the roles and responsibilities of inspectors, school directors, and teachers in the operationalization and use of provisional performance benchmarks. It also includes sample tasks and activities for teachers, school directors and inspectors to use performance benchmarks for formative assessment. This tool will be discussed by the DEE at the beginning of Year 3 after taking into account the results of EGRA CI. Lecture Pour Tous also developed a student performance communication tool for parents.
Teacher Performance Standards: In the process of defining teacher performance standards, a teacher competency framework for teaching early grade reading in national languages was produced. It defines the minimum pedagogical skills that a teacher should possess to be able to teach early grade reading in national languages. The MEN (DFC, DALN, DEE, etc.) reviewed and discussed this document, which will be finalized taking into account the new pedagogical specifications. It should then be integrated into the CRFPE competency framework.
Output 2.3: Research on early grade reading in Senegal produced and disseminated
Develop partnerships with research institutions to conduct Lecture Pour Tous supported studies. Lecture Pour Tous held a partnership workshop in Quarter 2 of Year 2, with 17 participants from INEADE, the DFC, the Direction de la Planification et de la Réforme de l'Education (DPRE), the DEE, the Centre national des ressources éducationnelles (CNRE) and the DALN, as well as researchers from the Institut Fondamental d'Afrique Noire (IFAN), the Faculté des Sciences et Technologies de l'Education et de la Formation (FASTEF), ARED and other institutions, to discuss the research agenda for the National Reading Program. This meeting further served as an opportunity to review research activities for Year 1 and plan those for Year 2. During Year 2, Lecture Pour Tous, in collaboration with the Institut Fondamental d'Afrique Noire (IFAN) and Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humaines (FSLH), developed a
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partnership with the MEN institutions to prepare them for their operational research within the G2G framework. Specifically, Lecture Pour Tous provided technical support to the MEN’s key technical units to conduct their language mapping study in the Saint Louis region.
Provide support to the MEN in the implementation of the annual research agenda, conduct a workshop to review and update the research agenda and develop partnerships with research institutions to conduct Lecture Pour Tous supported studies. The MEN’s directorates and research institutions attended the annual research agenda workshop organized by Lecture Pour Tous in January 2018, to discuss the studies to be conducted in Year 2 and their methodology. Participants provided feedback and recommendations for the Year 2 research agenda, with the purpose of creating synergies between the MEN, research institutions, and NGOs.
The language mapping study, conducted between February and August 2018, enabled capacity-building opportunities for ministerial participants including INEADE, the DEE and the DALN, who worked on this study and attended several workshops to review the tools and analyze the data collected. This was conducted with the support of Lecture Pour Tous’ Ms. Adeline Seurat, Research Quality Assurance Specialist. In addition, 21 IEF staff were trained on survey supervision techniques. They in turn, trained the investigators. The DALN was able to use the skills acquired during the language mapping carried out in Saint Louis as part of the G2G. IEF staff also participated in the collection of additional data on the language mapping.
Conduct a study on teacher attitudes, practices, and skills in early grade reading (baseline). The teacher KAP study was conducted in two phases. First, the Outcome 1 team collected and analyzed data on teachers' knowledge and attitudes about the teaching of reading in national languages during the teacher training in Year 1. Data collection was conducted in Quarters 3 and 4 of Year 2, on reading instruction practices through classroom observations. Data was collected in 20 schools and two daaras, across four (4) regions (Kaffrine, Fatick, Diourbel, and Matam). The full report of the study will be available in Year 3.
Finalize the report for the study on teacher mobility in the early grades. The teacher mobility study was conducted in two stages in 2017 and then in March 2018: finalization of the study conducted in three regions during Year 1 (Kaolack, Fatick, and Kaffrine), and study in the northern area (Matam) and two new Lecture Pour Tous regions (Louga and Diourbel). Both studies show high rates of teacher mobility, linked to difficult living conditions, especially in rural areas. Teachers are trying to get closer to urban centres. The regions of Dakar and Thiès are the most in demand. Both studies also show that women and young adults are the most likely to seek to change duty stations. Matam has the highest rate of departure (see 7.C for more details2).
Finalize the report on the first language mapping study in the first four regions. Lecture Pour Tous submitted the initial report on the mapping of the “language in common” in November 2017, covering the regions of Kaolack, Kaffrine, and Fatick. Matam was not included as the program had not yet launched in that region, nor was authorized to carry out this research there in time for the 2017 – 2018 school year. The final report in response to USAID comments was submitted and approved in February 2018.
Conduct a study on mapping of the “language in common” of students and teachers in grades one to three. The objective of the second round of this study was to determine the national language that will be used for early grade reading instruction in schools covered by the expansion of Lecture Pour Tous support in the 2018-2019 school year to 100% of public primary schools in all 6 target regions (Diourbel, Louga, Matam, Fatick, Kaffrine, and Kaolack). Lecture Pour Tous assisted INEADE with updating data collection tools to inform the choice of language of instruction: (i) an observation grid of interactions between students in the playground, to identify the language(s) they use in their daily life, and (ii) an interview guide with communities to gather their opinions about which language should be introduced at school.
2 This refers to one of the analysis section at the end of the report on teacher mobility (in the technical report section).
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Of the 2,488 additional schools to begin the Lecture Pour Tous program in the 2018-2019 school year, the language mapping conducted by INEADE led to the identification in 2,482 schools of one of the three national languages supported by Lecture Pour Tous (Wolof, Pulaar or Serer). Initially, in 22 school-communities, the common language observed among students and chosen by the community was not one of these three supported languages. Following another set of discussions with these communities, all but 5 school-communities opted for a language supported by Lecture Pour Tous3. Lecture Pour Tous is currently engaged in discussions with the relevant Ministry bodies (DEE, IA and IEF) to resolve this issue; Lecture Pour Tous’ recommendation is to not work in schools where the language in common is not Wolof, Sereer or Pulaar and to have those schools wait the MEN’s planned expansion of bilingual education to other languages.
Conduct a study on book supply chain (cost of book production and book transportation; situational analysis of local publishing industry. Lecture Pour Tous conducted a study on the book production supply chain between December 2017 and October 2018, which focuses on the procedures in place for tenders, submission, and ordering of teaching and learning materials. It further examines the procurement requirements for the textbook supply chain and offers recommendations for improving the collaboration between Lecture Pour Tous and Senegalese publishing houses. The report will be finalized and disseminated at the beginning of Year 3.
Study of students’ oral vocabulary mastery in French at school entry and in the early grades, as well as teachers’ mastery of French and the relevant Senegalese language(s) (Report). The objective of this study is to understand students’ degree of oral vocabulary mastery in French at the beginning of school and in the early grades, and secondly, the degree of students’ progression in this area over time. This data will be collected to support the MEN in updating the bilingual approach and in particular in deciding on the best time to introduce the teaching of reading in French.
In Year 2, Lecture Pour Tous developed a concept note specifying the objectives and scope of this study, recruited an international specialist in the development of similar tests, and began the development of the research protocol and survey tools. The concept note was presented to INEADE and DEE for comments. The second part of the study on teachers’ mastery of French and national languages will be discussed during the research agenda workshop in Year 3.
Support the MEN in the dissemination and application of research results. Lecture Pour Tous supported the MEN with the dissemination of results from the Teacher Mobility and Language Mapping Year 1 studies during the Year 2 research agenda workshop, held in January 2018.
Output 2.4: Policies in support of evidenced-based early grade reading instruction implemented
Support the MEN in updating guidelines for teacher and inspector training. Lecture Pour Tous accompanied the MEN / DFC in the preparation for a technical note and a work plan for the integration of Lecture Pour Tous training modules in the teaching of reading in national languages in the pre-service training provided in the CRFPEs. The Ministry validated these documents and Lecture Pour Tous started the work plan implementation. This work will continue in Year 3 once data on reading instruction practices collected during the teacher KAP study can be applied.
Support the MEN in preparatory work to develop a policy on the amount of time, daily, during which each early grade learner should benefit from reading instruction: During Year 2, a national team at the decentralized level (inspectors, school principals, and teachers), supported by Lecture Pour Tous, developed 13 timetables. Lecture Pour Tous CI teachers have used these timetables and after two (2) quarters, these teachers evaluated the timetables through a questionnaire. Teachers were generally satisfied with the timetables, but expressed new needs, including increased reading time in L2 and capacity building on the use of timetables.
3 Lecture Pour Tous notes that most students speak the chosen national language, however also notes that selection of an LPT- supported language may cause challenges for some students and families and so will monitor these cases to evaluate if and what types of adjustments could be undertaken.
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Table 1: Timetable update for CI:
To optimize initial reading performance in 2018 – 2019, the following timetable adjustments were introduced: - Listening comprehension/story time (2 sessions of 15 minutes per week) - Reading of decodable texts (2 sessions of 30 minutes per week), in addition to the 9 existing reading instruction sessions for L1 (30 minutes) - Additional time dedicated to L2 (2 x 30 minutes per week, in addition to existing sessions) - Revision sessions at the end of the week (additional 30 minutes)
Table 2: Main elements of the timetables:
CI timetables CP timetables - Pre-reading phase (4 weeks, with transition in the - Re-learning or revision phase (9 weeks) 5th week), - Phase of acquisition of diphthongs and - Phase called "beginning reading” – (16 weeks) understanding of types of texts, together with - Initial fluency phase (4 weeks) ongoing decoding, fluency and comprehension - Teacher read-aloud “story time” for oral practice (16 weeks) comprehension and vocabulary building - Teacher read-aloud “story time” for oral - Additional decoding, fluency and written comprehension and vocabulary building comprehension practice with decodable, levelled - Additional decoding, fluency and written readers comprehension practice with levelled readers
To take into account teachers' feedback on pilot timetables, a team of 32 technicians from the decentralized level (Fatick, Kaolack, Kaffrine, and Matam academies) under the leadership of DEE technicians, developed 35 different timetables - 9 for regular classes (3 quarters/ CI and CP) and 26 for special classes: double shift schools, multigrade schools, Franco-Arabic, and Daaras. Discussions are underway, for example with the Arab Education Division, to increase reading time in these schools.
The MEN is signing an official letter to request the application of these timetables in CI and CP in Lecture Pour Tous single shift schools. Opening Ceremony of the new LPT Timetable Design Workshop Engage in preparatory work to support the MEN in developing regulatory Photo credit: Moustapha Thiam, Kaolack LPT Zonal Office. (Photo: LPT) measures intended to formalize a system for coaching and supervision of teachers. Lecture Pour Tous prepared a concept note summarizing the progress of this work, which will continue in Year 3.
Support the MEN in managing teacher mobility. Based on the teacher mobility study and additional information collected in Year 2 by the DRH and Lecture Pour Tous in the regions of Matam, Diourbel and Louga, an HRD-led team developed a reference document for the management of teacher mobility in the context of teaching in national languages. This tool, entitled "mechanism for rationalizing teacher mobility," presents the main mobility factors in three categories: (i) socio-cultural and psychosocial factors, (ii) factors related to school environment; and (iii) career management factors. The team formulated recommendations to streamline teacher mobility. These strategies are particularly important to ensure that teachers trained in teaching national languages and who speak the national language chosen by the school stay in these schools as long as possible.
Two categories of strategies are proposed: systemic strategies and short-term strategies. Systemic strategies focus on the training of a critical mass of student teachers according to the dominant national language in each CRFPE of each
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Lecture Pour Tous region, together with non-financial incentives and support. Short-term strategies focus on improving the living and working conditions of teachers working in deprived areas.
Given the challenges of teacher mobility, Lecture Pour Tous will be seeking both an institutional validation by the MEN (DEE and DRH) and a social validation (with social partners, technical and financial partners and local authorities) at the beginning of Year 3 to ensure all involved parties agree on the recommendations.
Support the MEN in preparatory work to develop a policy specific to the choice of the language to be used for reading instruction in the early grades. In September 2018, Lecture Pour Tous developed a concept note to document the selection process for choosing the national language for each school applied during the two language mapping studies. This note will be finalized in Year 3 and discussed by the Ministry, also building on the process followed in Saint Louis, as part of the G2G.
Support the MEN in updating policies related to the instruction of reading in French. This technical support to the MEN regarding the teaching of reading in French, as part of the bilingual approach, will begin when the survey results on students’ mastery of oral vocabulary in French are finalized. This activity is therefore postponed until Year 4.
Support the MEN in updating practices and procedures on budget preparation and execution for supplying learning resources to the early grades, as well as for procedures for procuring and dispatching early grade texts. This activity, which aims at improving the management, design, procurement, and provision of learning resources for early grade reading, depends on the results of the book production study currently being finalized.
Development of a National Reading Framework. This activity was not initially planned, but the DEE requested strategic and technical support from Lecture Pour Tous in formulating a National Reading Framework. This framework aims to provide the DEE with a tool to pilot any intervention in the teaching of reading. The MEN, with the support of Lecture Pour Tous, organized a launching workshop during which the participants produced (i) a roadmap, (ii) specifications for the thematic consultations to be conducted by each party or by local consultants, (iii) the establishment of a provisional stakeholder group to formally evolve into a technical committee for the management of activity design. The different partners must now decide on their level of commitment to start the activities planned in the roadmap.
Output 2.5: Ministry of education staff’s performance of essential functions improved
During Year 2, Lecture Pour Tous’ support to the improvement of the performance of the structures of the MEN focused on three aspects: the assessment of the performance of a first set of targeted ministerial units at the central and deconcentrated levels, the development of performance improvement plans for these targeted units, and the kick- off of targeted technical assistance in support of these plans.
Support the MEN to improve target units' performance in carrying out their respective roles and responsibilities as they relate to the Workshop on the implementation and monitoring of the provision of high-quality early-grade reading instruction performance improvement plans. (Photo: LPT)
Conduct the performance/capacity assessment of each targeted directorate/unit in Cohort 1 using an HICD approach. To finalize capacity and performance assessment of the first cohort of targeted MEN units using the HICD approach, Lecture Pour Tous helped administer data collection tools with the first cohort of six (6) targeted units, comprising 2 at the central level: the DFC and the DEE, and 4 at the deconcentrated level: IA of Kaolack and Kaffrine, IEF of Kaolack commune and Kaffrine. A total of 162 people
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were consulted during these assessments, among them 36 women. In all, 10 individual interviews, 14 focus groups, were conducted and 74 questionnaires and 6 profile fact sheets (one for each unit assessed) were administered.
Use analysis of assessment results to develop and share performance improvement plans for each target unit (by incorporating the most recent approved versions of the respective roles and responsibilities and key performance indicators of the units in question). As a result of the assessments, Lecture Pour Tous helped the MEN produce 6 reports and a summary. Lecture Pour Tous facilitated workshops to review the results with each of the targeted units during which participants discussed the gaps observed from the findings, their main causes and the appropriate solutions. Based on the results of the assessment, Lecture Pour Tous assisted the first cohort of targeted units to develop performance improvement plans. By the end of Year 2, all six had established their plans and identified their priority actions.
It should be noted that because the findings of the assessment revealed that most of the targeted units have outdated organizational charts and staff who do not know their job descriptions - especially in IEFs – it was difficult in this first year of HICD work to help the MEN immediately clarify and define the roles and responsibilities of different units and staff in implementing the early grade reading program. These efforts will need to continue into Year 3 and possibly beyond.
Table 3: Sample assessment results from 1st cohort structure:
Direction de l’Enseignement Élémentaire (DEE) : No inclusion of the national languages in the Basic Education curriculum (CEB) Failure to implement strategies and plans for the use of the national languages Low level of support and supervision of teachers by inspectors (the ratio / master is low),
No mastery of the process of assessing learning outcomes (managed by INEADE)
All those gaps affect the functioning of an early grade reading program
Direction de la Formation et Communication (DFC) :
Lack of strategy and communication plan Non-implementation of an ongoing training plan on early grade reading Lack of coordination of training mechanisms such as a national training council (on early grade reading) Absence of monitoring and support mechanisms for teachers on early grade reading
IA and IEF: Low functionality of organizational charts and lack of knowledge of job descriptions by staff
Low level of training on the job for officers such as planners, human resource managers, material and financial resource managers Difficulties in deploying teachers and maintaining them (lack of mastery of teachers’ mobility)
Difficulties in the acquisition, the distributing of manuals, and related data collection
Lack of mastering of evaluation data
Identify 2 to 3 areas to focus technical assistance for each targeted directorate for Year 2 and develop a work plan for this direct assistance. Lecture Pour Tous held a workshop in April 2018 with the 6 structures of the first cohort. During this workshop, the structures developed priority action plans (PAPs) on the provision of technical assistance, roadmaps, and recommendations on the establishment of an operational mechanism to monitor the PAPs. A summary of priority actions for the involved structures is provided below.
Table 4: Priority of actions for each structure:
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DEE/DFC IA/IEF Support for the definition and the mastery of staff Capacity building of accountants for the management job descriptions and monitoring of the distribution of textbooks and school materials Support for the elaboration and the mastery of the Capacity building of planning officers on the reference document for the piloting of bilingual deconcentrated approach of monitoring and early grade reading evaluation of learning in early grades reading Identification of training needs Capacity building of IA and IEF in quality management of learning Training Directors on management, planning officers on planning, monitoring and evaluation (planners) and procurement officers on managers Train inspectors on innovative teaching practices
In support of these plans, Lecture Pour Tous will assist the DEE in the development of the National Reading Program and the establishment of steering bodies. For the DFC, Lecture Pour Tous will support the development of a teacher training référentiel, which will integrate early grade bilingual reading recommendations, and the development of a communication strategy/plan.
Provide technical assistance on the two or three areas of performance to improve MEN staff capacity. The two aspects of targeted Lecture Pour Tous technical assistance under Output 2.5 begun in Year 2 focused on planning and capacity building on the management of the MEN system in relation to early grade reading. The PAPs were developed with MEN staff using a participatory approach to assess structures and to draw up performance improvement plans for early grade reading.
Under the leadership of the DEE, Lecture Pour Tous organized a capacity building workshop on August 30 and 31, 2018 to discuss the management of the MEN system in relation to early grade reading. Participants included the DPRE, the DFC, the IA of Matam, the AI and IEF of Kaolack and Kaffrine and their Lecture Pour Tous counterparts. This meeting helped to define the guiding framework, the roles and responsibilities of the actors, the conceptual framework of the indicators and the methodology for the elaboration of performance indicators within the framework of the National Reading Program.
Identify priority directorates to conduct performance improvement initiatives for Year 3. Following the performance assessments done with the first cohort of ministerial units, Lecture Pour Tous also worked later in Year 2 to improve the assessment tools to be used with a second cohort of units in the upcoming year. The additional units identified and selected with the MEN as key to the success of early grade reading reforms include 6 central structures (DPRE, DALN, INEADE, HRD, ID, DAGE) and 19 decentralized structures of Matam (IA, IEF Matam, CRFPE, IEF Kanel, IEF Ranérou); Kaolack (IEF Kaolack department, IEF Guinguinéo, IEF Nioro, CRFPE); Kaffrine (IEF Mbirkilane, IEF Malem Hoddar, IEF Koungheul, CRFPE); and Fatick (IA, CRFPE, IEF Fatick, IEF Diofior, IEF Gossas, IEF Foundiougne).
Initiate performance/capacity assessment activities for new entities using the HICD approach for Year 3. In Year 2, Lecture Pour Tous helped to administer the performance assessment in 31 MEN structures across those included in Cohorts 1 and 2. Once complete in early Year 3, the reports of these assessments will be reviewed and validated together with each of the respective units. As done with Cohort 1, Lecture Pour Tous will then help Cohort 2 units develop performance improvement plans, then PAPs, and then support two to three priority actions with targeted technical assistance of particular importance to further early grade reading reforms. The assessment tools and performance improvement plans also integrate questions of gender equality.
Monitoring and assessment of performance plans and result reporting
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Support the operations of the MEN internal performance monitoring committee. The establishment of the steering committees for the National Reading Program is planned for the beginning of Year 3. Nevertheless, Lecture Pour Tous supported performance improvement actions under Output 2.5 interventions at the central level in Year 2, along with the DEE and the DFC as two of the most important MEN entities responsible for early grade reading reform.
Develop and share assessment reports with the MEN, technical and financial partners, and other stakeholders and support the MEN in sharing the annual performance reports relevant units. A first meeting of this kind took place on September 19, 2018 during the second meeting of the "Sub-Group of Basic Education and Secondary Education" of the technical and financial partners. Under the chairmanship of USAID, Lecture Pour Tous was invited to present the HICD approach and an example of an actual PAP. Other meeting participants included the World Bank, the NGO Aide et Action, UNICEF, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), Canadian Cooperation, the Agence Française de Developpement (AFD), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and USAID. The meeting created the opportunity for synergy among partners, particularly on improving the capacity and performance of MEN structures. In perspective, it is planned to strengthen the leadership of the DEE in ensuring coordination. In coordination with the DEE, Lecture Pour Tous supported a round table discussion to identify potential areas for PTF support of the PAPs.
Support to the annual DPRE performance review. In March 2018, Lecture Pour Tous participated in the MEN’s annual performance review, which included beginning the validation process for performance improvement plans. Lecture Pour Tous participated and shared information on ongoing activities and achievements on the performance improvement of the structures. This activity was an opportunity to show the correlation between the expected performances of the structures and the expected effects and impacts of the program on the system of teaching early grade reading in national languages. Looking forward, Lecture Pour Tous intends to support the structures involved in the program during the review process to present their achievements in the framework of Lecture Pour Tous technical assistance.
Support for the institutionalization of performance criteria for different MEN structures concerning the provision of quality early grade reading
Use capacity assessment findings to clarify and refine the roles and responsibilities of the MEN units responsible for implementing reading reform at the central and decentralized levels. The assessment of the structures has shown that at the central level, there are no job descriptions and the structures operate in accordance with their formal job descriptions. For example, the assessment shows that each organization within the DFC has its own training plan, as opposed to leading coordination efforts for continuing education. At the decentralized level, although the job descriptions do exist, they are not shared and owned by the staff. Lecture Pour Tous is finalizing a draft of roles and responsibilities on early grade reading using the national languages.
Review and validate the revised and updated performance indicators and related criteria. Along with the MEN counterparts, Lecture Pour Tous shared key performance indicators and a road map on implementation and monitoring performance. These activities will continue in Year 3.
III. Outcome 2 Milestones & Deliverables
Milestones/Deliverables Due Date Outcome 2: Delivery Systems for Early Grade Reading Instruction Improved Output 2.1 Coordination and communication about early grade reading Increased Launch of external mass communications on the National Reading Program Rescheduled for Q1, Y3 Output 2.2: National standards for early grade reading adopted and applied Support to the development of national standards for early grade reading (progress Quarter 1 report) Draft student reading performance standards Quarter 1 Roadmap to field test, finalize and validate student performance standards and Quarter 1 develop teacher performance standards
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Output 2.3: Research on early grade reading in Senegal produced and disseminated Report(s) on teacher attitudes, practices, and skills in early grade reading (Baseline Activity completed. Report Report) forthcoming (Q1, Y3) Mapping of the ‘language in common’ of students and teachers in grades one to Quarter 3 three (Reports) Study of teacher mobility in the primary grades (Report) Quarter 1 Study of students’ actual oral vocabulary mastery in French at school entry and in Rescheduled for Q2, Y3 the early grades, as well as teachers’ mastery of French and the relevant Senegalese language(s) (Report) Output 2.4: Policies in support of evidence-based reading instruction implemented Support to the MEN for developing or updating key policies in support of early Ongoing grade reading Initial regulatory measures that specify the number of hours in the academic Quarter 1 timetable allocated to early grade reading Regulatory measures to formalize a system for coaching and supervising teachers Rescheduled for Y3 CRFPE amendment/official guidelines Rescheduled for Q1, Y3 Regulatory measures to manage teacher mobility Quarter 4 Output 2.5: Ministry of Education staff’s performance of essential functions improved Support to the MEN for targeted capacity building to improve early grade reading Ongoing service delivery Capacity Building Plan and Capacity Assessment Tools (including updates to Ongoing tools) Performance Improvement Plans for first cohort of priority units, incorporating the Quarter 2 latest validated versions of the respective roles and responsibilities and key performance indicators of the units concerned Summary report following annual evaluation of the performance improvement Rescheduled for Q1, Y3 plans for the first targeted units
OUTCOME 3: PARENT AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT IN EARLY GRADE READING IMPROVED I. Overview/Crosscutting Activities Outcome 3 aims to help the MEN increase support from parents, caregivers, community members and other local- level actors to ensure improved early grade reading performance. In Year 2, Outcome 3 worked in 20% of school- communities in the target regions of Kaffrine, Kaolack and Matam. Activities and initiatives focused on creating localized networks to promote early grade reading and providing parents, school and community leaders with the knowledge and tools to encourage, improve, and monitor students’ early grade reading progress. During the last quarter of the year, the team began preparations to expand activities to select communities in Diourbel, Louga and Saint-Louis, identifying key partners, at both the national and regional level, to roll out and ensure the sustainability and scalability of parental and community activities sponsored under the program.
The following section summarizes progress towards key crosscutting activities planned for Year 2, with a more detailed focus on Quarter 4 interventions:
Prepare and conduct Knowledge Attitudes and Practices (KAP) surveys of community members and families in the area of early grade reading support to students. Originally planned for implementation during Quarter 1, Lecture Pour Tous finalized a contract with local firm LARTES in January 2018 to conduct the baseline community KAP survey in the six regions where Outcome 3 activities will be conducted over the course of the project. In Quarter 2, the baseline survey protocol was developed and administered in 1449 households under the joint supervision of LARTES and Lecture Pour Tous staff. Results were presented to Lecture Pour Tous project staff, MEN stakeholders and USAID in Quarter 3. Survey findings influenced the design of community-based SBCC materials, training
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content for CGE members and community liaisons. While the team experienced unexpected administrative delays in the selection and contractualization of the local firm, these issues have been addressed and processes streamlined in preparation for the midline KAP survey, to be administered at the end of Year 3. The midline survey will gauge progress towards key indicators measuring changes in knowledge, behavior and attitudes, allowing the team to further tailor parent engagement efforts to maximize results at the community level.
Contract Lecture Pour Tous local NGO/CBO subcontractors to implement parent and community engagement activities in target regions (through an open competitive selection process). Under Outcome 3, local CBO/NGOs are to play an integral role in the implementation of parent and community engagement activities. Key responsibilities include: holding community forums, supporting school CGEs and training parents in EGR support activities. Unfortunately, contracting these organizations remained a persistent challenge throughout the year. The procurement process, which proceeded as scheduled during Quarter 1, did not result in a pool of qualified local organizations that met both technical and financial required criteria. As a result, subcontracts for the regions of Kaffrine, Kaolack and Matam, originally planned for January 2018, were not issued. To avoid additional delays with a second lengthy procurement process, Lecture Pour Tous directly contracted over 70 individuals within communities (community mobilizers) to engage parents in early grade reading activities. In Quarter 4, Community Mobilizers were instrumental in the implementation and supervision of summer reading camps, delivered through 49 CGE small grants (described under Output 3.2).
While effective, the administrative burden of supervising Community Mobilizers across multiple regions is excessive. Therefore, Lecture Pour Tous will be re-launching the NGO/CBO subcontractor procurement in the first quarter of next year. In preparation, the Outcome 3 team developed a simplified scope of work focusing on parent engagement activities; support and oversight of CGE grant activities, and the organization of community forums in target school communities. In collaboration with the Lecture Pour Tous Grants team, the Outcome 3 team will issue a streamlined RFP, advertised regionally. This should result in a smaller, more relevant list of final candidates able to begin implementing community engagement activities in Quarter 2 of next year.
Finalize/revise NGO orientation guide and materials / Conduct program orientation for local NGO partners. Because local NGO/CBOs were not contracted in Year 2, these activities were not conducted. However, the team drafted materials to provide training for both CGEs and Community Mobilizers in Quarter 4. These materials will serve as an integral part of the orientation guide, to be finalized and delivered to local subcontractors next year.
Develop regional parent and community engagement action plans. Using the Community Literacy Support Plan (CLSP) as a guide, Regional Parent and Community Engagement Liaisons worked with MEN inspectors in participating IEFs and IAs to map pilot schools; identify key school-based actors; and catalogue relevant community stakeholders and organizations during the first two quarters of Year 2. As community forums were held in each commune (described under Output 3.4), Lecture Pour Tous regional staff and IEF primary school inspectors presented the CLSP to these school and community representatives, outlining key action points and goals for the year. These included establishing decentralized early grade reading best practice networks; delivering a first round of small grants to CGE; and planning parent engagement activities. While the absence of local NGO/CBO subcontractors delayed implementation of some activities, Lecture Pour Tous, in close collaboration with counterparts at the IA and IEF, was able to follow through on the majority of action points as detailed in the sections below.
Share lessons learned and best practices through parent and community engagement best practice networks at the national, regional and departmental level. In Year 2, Lecture Pour Tous was able to convene a national-level parent and community engagement best practice network. The Network brings stakeholders from national government and civil society together to share best practices in parent and community engagement, discuss project challenges and identify opportunities to strengthen early grade reading outcomes at the community level and within families. Activities this year focused on planning regional and departmental networks and identifying key members for these decentralized groups. Recommendations included collaborating closely with high-level government officials
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(Governors and Prefects) to raise the visibility of program initiatives, and including local mayors in positions of influence and responsibility.
Create parent and community engagement best practice networks at departmental and regional levels. While Lecture Pour Tous had planned to recreate the success of the national-level network at the regional and departmental levels, Lecture Pour Tous encountered delays in getting official approval from the DEE and regional education directors. During Parent and Community Engagement Best the final quarter of the year, the Outcome 3 team was able to Practice Network (National-level) share a terms of reference document with the regional education academies of Kaffrine, Kaolack and Matam. As this coincided FENAPES DFC with the end of the school year, Lecture Pour Tous anticipates UNAPEES World Vision ChildFund USAID/GOLD launching these decentralized best practice networks at the start Counterpart Aide et Action of the next school Year (Quarter 1; Year 3) in all six Association Femmes Plus ARED participating regions (Diourbel, Kaffrine, Kaolack, Louga, DEE DRTS Matam and Saint-Louis). Tostan Plan Senegal
Support and monitor community-level partnerships to advance EGR achievement. Implementing the regional-level action plans described above provided an opportunity to garner the commitment of key community stakeholders and government officials with the potential to sustain activities beyond the duration of the project. During community forums (Output 3.4), Lecture Pour Tous Regional Parent and Community Engagement Liaisons and MEN Inspectors across Kaffrine, Kaolack and Matam were able to initiate partnerships and commitments across different local stakeholder groups, such as:
● Local Governments have agreed to provide logistic support for community forums; providing solar lamps to families of CI students; distributing awards for EGR achievement; fund community libraries. The influence of the project has extended beyond Outcome 3 communities. A local mayor in Kaolack independently financed an additional forum in a community outside of the Lecture Pour Tous program, with technical support from the Result 3 team. ● Community organizations have committed to: raising awareness of CI and CP parents on the importance of reading achievement (parent associations); integrating EGR messages in their religious services (the Diocesan Council and local imams); advocating for girls’ education and against early marriage (mothers’ associations). ● At the school level, CGEs will conduct door-to-door awareness raising to encourage parent engagement; organize information sessions at central community meeting locations; organize motivational student activities and work closely with health community mobilizers to integrate EGR messages into their activities.
In Quarter 4, the implementation of summer reading camps (see photo) provided an opportunity to strengthen these types of partnerships at the community level. For example, CGE grantees mobilized families to provide additional financing to expand camp activities. Local government and MEN representatives played a leadership role during the camps, often acting as Camp Director and closely monitoring activities. In many cases, commune government officials provided Summer Reading Camp (Photo: LPT) free meals to campers, as well as t-shirts and other promotional materials (Mayors in Keur Madiabel, Mbadakhoune, Prokhane and Mandongo). Finally, the high profile of the reading camps within the communities of Kaolack led to a partnership with Network of Eco-conscious Citizens (Réseau des Eco- Citoyens du Sénégal) and the Water and Forestry Regional Bureau, who created a campaign that linked friendly reading environments with improved environmental standards: « A Camper, A Tree » (Un campeur, un arbre). During the Camps, campers in Kaolack planted trees and discussed the importance of having a safe, calm environment to read and study.
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Review and update Community Literacy Support Plan. This activity has been rescheduled for Quarter 1 of Year 3 in order to allow sufficient time to evaluate the effectiveness of our short-term parent engagement activities conducted by our community mobilizers. The updated CLSP will reflect key lessons learned and best practices from these activities, as well as incorporate findings from initial stakeholder consultations in Diourbel, Louga and Saint-Louis.
II. Performance by Output Output 3.1: Parent and community demand for high-quality early grad reading instruction increased
Finalize Community-Level Social Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) Plan and Materials for family and community engagement in EGR. In Year 2, Lecture Pour Tous finalized a comprehensive community-level SBCC plan after conducting formative research within communities in each of the three target regions. The plan aligns closely with the Lecture Pour Tous global communications strategy and builds on the successes of previous SBCC programs in Senegal, particularly the USAID-funded Kaolack study to promote parent and community engagement in early grade reading. Over the course of the year, the team developed materials through a participatory process involving counterparts within the Ministry (DEE, DFC, DRTS and the DALN), members of the best practices network (Femme Plus and ARED) and IEF communication officers, illustrators and graphic designers. Materials were piloted in each of the three regions to ensure linguistic integrity and adherence to socio-cultural norms. All SBCC materials promote messages of gender equity and inclusion, depicting images of boys and girls, men and women in both traditional and non-traditional roles. Validated and approved materials include 5 different posters, the campaign logo and a selection of radio spots in each of the three target languages (Wolof, Pulaar and Sereer). While Lecture Pour Tous anticipate fully launching the SBCC campaign in communities at the start of the next school year, summer reading camps and the arrival of our Community Mobilizers provided an opportunity to begin using finalized materials with parents and other community members.
Conduct program orientation and capacity building for community SBCC implementing actors. The local NGO/CBO sub-contractors will be implementing the majority of SBCC activities; therefore this activity was not implemented as planned, causing an overall delay in launching SBCC interventions within our communities. However, as Community Mobilizers were identified in Quarter 3 to conduct initial community outreach activities, the team integrated Lecture Pour Tous SBCC messages and materials into their training sessions. Communication materials developed as part of communication for social and behavioral change (Photo: Implement Community-level SBCC plan in target communities. As LPT) noted above, SBCC activities at the community level have been delayed, beginning in Quarter 4 with the implementation of summer reading camps and the initial activities of Community Mobilizers. A major component of the grassroots SBCC plan is the diffusion of contextualized local radio programming. Over the course of the year, the Outcome 3 team has been working closely with Outcome 2 colleagues to identify local community radio stations to broadcast SBCC messages and programming. As part of this effort, Lecture Pour Tous, in collaboration with IEFs, conducted a survey of target communities to better understand trends in local radio listenership. This survey has allowed us to identify the most popular stations, preferred radio presenters, zones of coverage and the most convenient times for listeners. In addition, they survey analysis revealed two key recommendations: 1) Men and women don’t necessarily listen to the radio at the same time, nor the same programming. Lecture Pour Tous will need to make a concerted effort to tailor messages appropriately to the target audience and schedule messages to ensure Lecture Pour Tous is reaching its full target audience; 2) SBCC messages need to reflect the particular needs of the target community, as reflected by survey results and community action plans.
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During Quarter 4, Lecture Pour Tous selected 15 local radio stations and is currently finalizing contracts for the upcoming school year. Next steps include providing an orientation to these stakeholders, finalizing a local media plan and monitoring local programming.
Output 3.2: Community-based early grade reading activities implemented
Reinforce capacity of school-level actors (school management committees-CGE and parent associations-APE) to implement and sustain parent and community engagement. At the school level, CGEs play a vital role in engaging CGE Capacity Training Module Themes parents and mobilizing community resources to benefit school activities. Motivating and building the capacity of Strengthening the school action planning process: CGEs is therefore a key component in Lecture Pour Tous’ integrating community and parental engagement into approach to effective parent and community engagement. CAQs and PAVs to improve EGR performance and During the first half of Year 2, the Outcome 3 team developing monitoring tools to evaluate levels of conducted a review of existing CGE training materials participation. Engaging parents and building their capacity to support (developed both by the MEN and NGO partners) to inform their children as they learn to read through activities such the development of Lecture Pour Tous CGE capacity as summer reading camps and parenting sessions training modules. Final modules were developed in close Creating successful local partnerships (with both private collaboration with local-level representatives from the IA, sector and civil society) to raise funds for early grade reading and school improvement activities. IEF and UCGE, as well as national-level representatives of Applying for and implementing Lecture Pour Tous the DEE, DALN and DPRE. Over the course of the year, the small grants to support school and community-level Outcome 3 team conducted two CGE trainings for in each activities in support of EGR. region:
Table 5: Lecture Pour Tous CGE Training Sessions - Year 2
LECTURE POUR TOUS CGE TRAINING SESSIONS- YEAR 2 Training 2: Summer Reading Camp Training 1: Action Planning & & Small Grants Implementation (July REGION DEPARTMENT Small Grants (May/June 2018) (IA) (IEF) 2018) # of local # of CGEs # of # of local # of CGEs # of Trainers trained Participants Trainers trained Participants Koungheul 3 14 45 1 5 22 Malem Hodar 3 9 27 1 3 13 KAFFRINE Kaffrine 3 15 45 1 5 21 Birkelane 3 10 30 1 3 13 Kaolack 3 8 24 1 3 13 Commune KAOLACK Kaolack Dépt 3 20 60 1 6 25 Nioro 3 23 69 1 7 29 Guinguinéo 3 17 51 1 5 22 Matam 3 18 54 1 6 25 MATAM Ranérou 3 4 12 1 1 4 Kanel 3 19 57 1 6 25 TOTAL 33 157 471 11 50 212 National-level Trainers (DEE, DALN, DFC, DRTS, UNAPES, 15 24 Lecture Pour Tous)
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Prepare and implement community mobilization grants program. Because monitoring community mobilization grants was to be an essential responsibility of the local NGO/CBO subcontractors, this activity was delayed until Quarter 3. In an effort to CGE Small Grants Selection disburse grants before the end of the fiscal year, Lecture Pour Tous moved Committee Members forward with the selection of 50 CGEs despite the absence of local NGO sub- contractors. Grants were focused on the implementation of summer reading Lecture Pour Tous Regional Parent camps designed to highlight the importance of early grade reading in and Community Engagement anticipation of the coming school year. An evaluation committee of Lecture Liaisons, Grants Officers and Pour Tous staff and IEFs used a streamlined process to select CGES Zonal Coordinators according to their level of functionality (presence of an executive council, IEF Gender Focal Points IEF Communication Inspectors level of participation, past success implementing activities, etc.). All Regional Inspectors participating CGEs were trained in grant administration, as well as the summer camp program developed by Outcome 3 (see training table above).
In Quarter 4, Lecture Pour Tous began preparing the second phase of grant distribution for the 2018-2019 school year. This phase will target those 107 CGEs who will qualify for grants in the first phase. A combined Lecture Pour Tous team of staff from Grants, Operations and Outcome 3 trained a total of 38 Grant Selection Committee members from the IEF and regional bureaus of Kaffrine, Kaolack and Matam. The training detailed the application and selection process; the roles and responsibilities of the selection committee; CGE selection criteria and evaluation tools. The second phase application was launched in September 2018, closing in the end of October. Grantees will be finalized soon thereafter and implementing parent and community engagement activities in Quarter 2 of next year.
Increase availability of extra-curricular early grade reading material in communities. During the first quarter of Year 2, Lecture Pour Tous conducted a comprehensive review of available extra-curricular EGR materials available within the Senegal market using the following criteria:
● Illustrations: Attractive and relevant; either in black and white or color ● Adapted to reading level: Must correspond to the suggested reading levels in CI-CP-CE1 ● Quality of Language: Lack of errors; rich, relevant vocabulary in alignment with targeted reading levels ● Content: Age appropriate; can be considered neutral, general or documentary
In Quarter 3, the Lecture Pour Tous Operations team launched an open procurement process for these materials, however the process yielded only a single applicant whose cost proposal exceeded established limits. In Quarter 4, the team successfully re-launched the process, tailoring the RFP towards local NGOs who produce these types of materials and three publishing houses working in Wolof. Procurement is currently underway, and materials should be arriving in community libraries at the start of the coming school year. A full report will be provided in Quarter 1 of Year 3.
Support implementation of early grade reading support activities in target communities. With the selection of our first set of CGE grantees and the summer reading camp program, Lecture Pour Tous began implementing targeted EGR activities in our communities in Quarter 4. In preparation for these camps, Outcome 3 conducted training for a cohort of 35 Master Trainers, composed of IEF inspectors (primary education, gender and communication) and other Ministry focal points, as well as Lecture Pour Tous regional staff. These individuals then trained individuals at the community level, including Lecture Pour Tous Community Mobilizers, reaching a total of 212 CGE Keur Madiabel 1: During in an Early Grade Reading participants trained to rollout summer camp activities. Summer camp (photo-LPT) Training topics included introduction to the interactive camp
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activities; identifying and managing risks associated with camp operations and evaluating activities.
Over the course of July and August, CGE grantees held their 2-week summer reading camps for incoming grade 1 students and their parents. 50 summer camps were held, reaching over 1,000 students: 16 camps in Kaffrine; 21 in Kaolack and 13 in Matam. Activities focused on both reading activities, as well as other games designed to prepare children for school. Examples included: ● Free play and sports; ● Hygiene and cleanliness; ● Theater productions modeling positive parent engagement in school and support for early grade reading; ● Learning games focused on letters, sounds and songs; ● Creation of classroom materials and decorations focused on encouraging reading.
As noted above under Outcome 3 Cross-Cutting Activities, summer camps provided an excellent opportunity for community members and parents to support their local schools through financial contributions (local mayor’s offices), collaboration (local NGOs) and volunteering (parents and family members). According to initial evaluations, Camp Facilitators created an interactive and safe environment where children enjoyed learning to read. One camper noted: «here, we learned many things without someone hitting us. » (Ici, on a appris beaucoup de choses sans qu’on nous frappe.). Lecture Pour Tous Outcome 3 activities will continue to model positive parenting and teacher behaviors in support of improved learning environments and reading achievement.
Monitor and supervise community-based activities by Lecture Pour Tous NGOs/CBOs. As noted above, Lecture Pour Tous plans to re-launch the NGO/CBO subcontractor procurement in Quarter 1 of Year 3, with community-based activities planned to begin in Quarter 2.
Output 3.3: At-home support to early grade learners improved
Finalize and deliver teacher and school director training module on parent and caregiver engagement. During Quarter 1, the Outcome 3 team supported the development of a teacher and school director-training module: Effective Parent and Community Engagement. The module served as an introduction to parent engagement, helping participants better understand the role parents can play in their children’s education. Module objectives included: 1) Participants will demonstrate understanding of the integral role parents can play in helping their children learn to read; 2) Participants will be able to identify the principal obstacles facing parents and caregivers in helping their children to read and effective strategies for overcoming these obstacles. The creation of the home-school communication tool (described below) further reinforces these objectives, providing a simple and easy method for teachers to share student progress with parents.
Train and support parents and caregivers to support children in early grade reading. In Quarter 2, the Outcome 3 team, with the support of MEN inspectors and APE leaders from our participating regions, completed parent engagement training modules, building off of best practices captured under the USAID-funded Kaolack Study. Closely linked with Lecture Pour Tous SBCC materials, the training series consists of twenty practical discussion sessions that demonstrate strategies for supporting children as they learn to read. Catered to both literate and illiterate parents and caregivers, each session includes pictures showing mothers, fathers, grandparents and older siblings engaged in positive behaviors around EGR. Working with language experts within the DALN and local artists, material content was adapted for Pulaar, Seereer and Wolof-speaking communities throughout our zones of intervention. Parent training sessions will be delivered through Community Mobilizers, local NGO/CBO subcontractors and CGE grantees. Through these activities, parents will learn about the importance of early grade reading using national languages; practice routines that encourage reading at home; learn how to create print-rich homes using local materials; and develop positive relationships with teachers in order to monitor student reading progress.
Because of the delays in contracting local NGO/CBO subcontractors and administrative delays in recruiting community mobilizers, the general rollout of this activity has been rescheduled to Year 3. However, the
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implementation of summer reading camps did provide an opportunity to use our developed materials both with Camp facilitators as a training tool, as well as to sensitize parents participating in the Camps. Full rollout of these activities is planned to begin in Quarter 1 of Year 3.
Introduce and monitor use of tool for routine home-school communication to monitor student reading achievement. In Quarter 3, Lecture Pour Tous finalized a home-school monitoring tool, inspired by a review of similar tools being used successfully in Sub-Saharan Africa. The tool was developed in collaboration with Outcome 2 in order to ensure alignment with student performance measures. The simple tool incorporates images and emoticons (e.g., smileys) to show how a student is performing on certain EGR tasks. In the final quarter of the year, the team conducted a test to introduce the tool within a small sample of communities, gathering feedback from parents, teachers and CGE members. This feedback helped to refine the tool for a larger scale rollout at the beginning of the next school year. IEF Inspectors have selected 150 schools to participate in a 3-month pilot, during which IEF inspectors and Lecture Pour Tous regional staff will closely the use of the tool and collect participant feedback in preparation for a full rollout in all Outcome 3 communities.
Output 3.4: Parent and community monitoring of early grade reading instruction delivery improved
Review PAV/CAQ “dashboards” and adapt to add indicators that capture and evaluate home/community support. Over the course of the year, the Outcome 3 team and MEN monitoring and evaluation specialists reviewed community engagement and early grade reading indicators embedded in school-level action plans. Working closely with the Ministry Inclusion Specialist, the Outcome 3 team suggested additional indicators that have been integrated into the Lecture Pour Tous CGE training program. All CGE grantees must report on these indicators and integrate them into their Plans d’Action Volontariste (PAV) and Contrat d’Amélioration de la Qualité (CAQ).
COMMUNITY FORUMS- YEAR 2 # of Participants Region Forums Men Women Total Kaffrine 47 2,577 66% 1,300 34% 3,877 Kaolack 63 2,473 36% 4,467 64% 6,940 Matam 40 1,129 23% 3,826 77% 4,955 TOTAL 150 6,179 39% 9,593 61% 15,772 Convene community forums to share best practices in parental engagement and results of classroom-based reading assessments. Community forums are an essential component of Outcome 3 activities, bringing together a diverse set of stakeholders (school administrators, parents, government officials and civil society representatives) to discuss student achievement and garner support for Lecture Pour Tous initiatives. Because of their integral role in mobilizing the community, the Outcome 3 team aggressively moved forward with their implementation, despite the delays in contracting local NGO/CBO partners. The team conducted community forums in 150 communities4, reaching 15,772 participants, 61% of whom were women. As this was the first such forum, forums served to introduce the National Reading Program and Lecture Pour Tous parent engagement activities. In following year, this activity will continue on a regular basis (at least once per year), acting as a venue to share EGR results, in collaboration with Outcome 2, and success stories.
Support community members to ensure regularity of EGR instruction in the context of potential strike action. The CGE training program (mentioned above) includes action-planning frameworks to help CGE members mitigate the impact of teacher strikes and other disruptions to the school schedule. Across Outcome 3 activities, Lecture Pour Tous will build the capacity of CGEs to conduct supplementary study sessions, reinforce the capacity of parents to support reading at home and mobilize community members to organize reading activities for children in CI-CE1. Community Mobilizers, local NGO/CBO subcontractors and Lecture Pour Tous regional staff will provide support on an as needed basis, sharing best practices across communities and regions.
4 Outcome 3 currently operates in 157 schools. When possible, Lecture Pour Tous combined school stakeholders into one community forum, resulting in only 150 forums held. However, all school communities were involved in this activity.
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Create exchange opportunities for CGEs to share best practices and challenges around parent and community monitoring. This activity was planned for Quarter 3, under the assumption that parent and community engagement activities and the community mobilization grants program would be fully underway. Because these activities were delayed, Lecture Pour Tous rescheduled CGE exchange opportunities to Year 3.
Collaborate and discuss results with LARTES/IFAN on household-level assessments of students’ reading. This activity was scheduled for Quarter 2 of Year 2, however LARTES only recently completed their independent baseline household-level assessment survey. Lecture Pour Tous is currently exploring opportunities to collaborate with LARTES on the dissemination of results and future assessments, leveraging our current relationship with the Union des Comités de Gestion d’école (UCGE) and regional MEN representatives.
III. Outcome 3 Milestones & Deliverables
Milestone/Deliverable Due Date Outcome 3: Parent and Community Engagement in Early Grade Reading Improved Crosscutting activities Local NGO subcontractor selection and orientation for Kaffrine, Kaolack and Q3 (Replaced with Matam community mobilizer activity) Community Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) baseline study report Q1 Local NGO subcontractor selection and orientation for Diourbel, Louga and St. Q4 (Replaced with Louis community mobilizer activity) Regional parent and community engagement action plan finalized Q2/Q4 Output 3.1: Parent and community demand for high-quality early grade reading instruction increased Community-Level Social Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) plan and Quarter 1 materials finalized Social and behavior change communications (SBCC) campaign (SBCC Campaign, Ongoing noted in Quarterly Report) Output 3.2: Community-based early grade reading activities implemented Launch grants program with selection of first awardees Quarter 2 Extra-curricular EGR materials distributed to first target communities Quarter 2 Community-based events (Quarterly Report) Ongoing (beginning in Quarter 1) Output 3.3: At-home support to early grade learners improved Teacher/director training module on effective parent and community engagement Quarter 1 finalized Tool for home-school communication finalized Quarter 3 Training and support to at-home reading activities (Quarterly Report) Ongoing Output 3.4: Parent and community monitoring of early grade reading instruction improved Community engagement guide for maintaining EGR activities during periods of Quarter 2 disruption produced Community organization and capacity building (Quarterly Report) Ongoing
C. Challenges Lecture Pour Tous will continue to monitor challenges encountered during Year 2, discussing in depth both internally and externally with relevant actors. These challenges serve as a chance to discuss the adaptations that were made once new opportunities were identified and the lessons learned for future work. Over the course of the year, Lecture Pour Tous encountered several significant challenges that required the full attention of program senior management, as well as close coordination with USAID.
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Teaching and learning materials procurement. Lecture Pour Tous’ open bidding process to procure the development of the new CI and CP materials from private publishers in 2018-2019 unfortunately did not yield any viable bids due to challenges including a short open bidding period, timeline constraints for production of materials, required technicity of materials, and limited human resources capacity in the private sector. In agreement with the MEN, Lecture Pour Tous assembled an impressive team of technical experts to develop the materials in-house. During Year 2 and in preparation for upcoming years, Lecture Pour Tous has collaborated with international partners including SIL International and Scolibris to host workshops and develop training and mentoring plans for capacity building for interested Senegalese publishers.
Teaching and learning materials distribution. In the process of distributing Year 2 reading materials to 1,115 schools and 20 daaras using a third-party distributor, Lecture Pour Tous encountered a number of challenges including returned tools due to director absences, insufficient or excess numbers of books in some schools, incorrect language distributed, delayed release of materials from customs, religious holidays (Magal Touba and Maouloud), conflicting/overlapping dates for distribution and trainings, and difficulty accessing schools in remote locations. Upon reflection, Lecture Pour Tous determined that distributing to the IEF-level and coordinating with directors to retrieve the materials at their respective IEFs would be a much effective strategy moving forward. Lecture Pour Tous plans to use this distribution strategy for the 2018-2019 materials in Quarter 1 of Year 3.
Training of daaras instructors. After the first session of trainings in Quarter 1 of Year 2, Lecture Pour Tous realized that Daaras teachers were struggling to understand the training modules given their lower levels of comfort with the French language, and that in fact, it would be more effective to train them separately. Lecture Pour Tous tested this strategy in the second session of trainings in Quarter 2 of Year 2 and plans to implement this training strategy for the remainder of the program.
Engagement with the Ministry. During Year 2, Lecture Pour Tous experienced challenges in ownership of the communication strategy by all actors at the decentralized level as not all structures had been closely involved in its development. To reinforce ownership, Lecture Pour Tous organized regional workshops in Kaolack, Matam, Kaffrine, and Fatick to share the communication strategy and assist the MEN structures with preparing regional communication plans. Outcome 2 also faced challenges with MEN engagement while working to shape the new guidelines on teacher mobility due to limited availability of the DRH officials directly involved in the process. Lecture Pour Tous worked with the Secretary General of the MEN, who prepared an official letter asking the Director of the DRH for a firm commitment - to appoint a team of technicians to assist with the work, and establish a calendar based on the DRH’s availability.
Language of instruction. During the second Quarter of Year 2, community forums revealed misunderstandings by parents and community members around the choice of a single language of instruction in certain schools where more than three or four national languages are spoken. These forums were an excellent venue to sensitize community stakeholders on this issue and to address any issues or potential conflicts early on in the national reading program. Forums also bring a diverse set of actors and place CGEs in the driver’s seat of school reform, increasing their sense of responsibility and commitment to early grade reading achievement. This reinforced the importance of continuing to ask questions of our partners and stakeholders to ensure that they understand key activities, and provide spaces for stakeholders and beneficiaries to voice misunderstandings or confusion as early as possible.
Community subcontracts and grants. Outcome 3 experienced significant challenges in Year 2 with the identification of local NGO/CBO partners in Kaffrine, Kaolack and Matam. A first attempt at issuing a request for proposals (RFP) failed to identify strong, local NGOs able to cost effectively implement Lecture Pour Tous’ parent and community engagement activities. By December 2017, it was clear that the project would have to re-launch a revised RFP with a reduced scope of work and streamlined procurement process, potentially taking an additional three to four months. In an effort to quickly launch activities within our target communities, Lecture Pour Tous chose an alternative solution, directly engaging over 70 community mobilizers and supervisors to implement key parent and community engagement activities. While this was administratively burdensome and time consuming, the team was able to identify and train these individuals in preparation for the implementation of summer early grade reading camps by
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CGEs through the community mobilization grants program. As we move forward with Outcome 3 activities in Year 3, we will look for ways to actively engage these individuals as a means of strengthening our outreach to parents and other community members (through volunteer opportunities, short-term consultancies, best practice network members, etc.).
In preparation for Year 3, the Lecture Pour Tous Outcome 3 and Grants team are working together to collectively review lessons learned and outline a revised procurement process that will effectively identify and contract local NGOs and CBOs at the regional and departmental level. The NGO/CBO partners will implement a simplified scope of work, focusing on parent engagement activities; technical support and oversight of CGE grant activities and the organization of community forums in targeted school communities. Outcome 3 activities that were delayed were added to the Year 3 annual Plan.
D. Lessons Learned The following are key lessons learned during Year 2:
● As part of the development of teaching and learning materials for the 2018-2019 school year, Lecture Pour Tous issued a call for tenders to private publishing houses that did not result in any viable offers. Faced with this challenge, Lecture Pour Tous contemplated releasing a revised RFP, but determined with relevant MEN directorates that in order to keep the timeline for materials production on track, the best option would be to produce materials internally. This was no easy feat, as a large team of skilled technical experts in didactic materials development, editors, graphic designers and illustrators, and linguistics had to be mobilized quickly to keep the process on track. Though the team was ultimately able to succeed, Lecture Pour Tous has reflected significantly on how the process can be improved for next year. As a result of this process, Lecture Pour Tous learned that we must adjust our strategy and expectations around the possibility of subcontracting with these publishers in Years 3-5. Additional details are included throughout this report.
● The process for drafting student performance standards and teacher competencies for instruction in national languages often involves multiple reviews, iterations, and adjustments, as experienced by Lecture Pour Tous and the MEN during this reporting year. In response, Lecture Pour Tous has adapted its roadmap and action plan to fit those needs during the Standards setting workshop. To be more specific, the goal was to be able to provide teachers with intermediate (quarterly) benchmarks so that they can assess during the year whether the student will reach the end-of-year performance benchmark or if remediation actions were needed. This review of the pedagogical specifications led to drafting intermediate (quarterly) benchmarks, which will be updated once the results of EGRA CI are known, at the beginning of Year 3.
● In the process of distributing reading materials in Year 2, Lecture Pour Tous discovered that the strategy it had adopted for the distribution of materials directly to schools by an external service provider was quite challenging (returned tools because of director absences, insufficient or excess numbers of books in some schools, incorrect language distributed, etc.). To mitigate this issue, Lecture Pour Tous determined that working directly with IEFs to distribute materials and coordinate with directors to retrieve the materials at the IEF level would be a more effective strategy moving forward. The advantage of this process is the rapid recovery of receipts. In addition, this adjusted model will enable better engagement of the deconcentrated services of the MEN (IA, IEF) in the implementation and oversight of the distribution. The distribution schedule must also be communicated and validated with each IEF early on in the process.
● In order to streamline communications between parties, Lecture Pour Tous created direct communication channels with individual points of contacts (POCs) in each of the relevant MEN’s offices. This reduces the risk
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of delays due to bottleneck communications routing solely through one point of contact and builds logical and productive relationships between the program staff and their MEN counterparts.
● Several challenges that were reported during quarter 2 in the review of local NGO subcontract applications persisted, resulting in a canceled procurement. Even though Outcome 3 and Lecture Pour Tous’ Grants and Operations Teams analyzed the financial aspects of the NGO technical proposals and attempt to adjust them to fit within the Lecture Pour Tous budget, unfortunately, the team couldn’t find a solution. The budgets proposed by the NGOs went far beyond the authorized amount intended and included items such as purchase of vehicles, motorcycles, and other equipment. The team learned that in the future, the request for proposals must contain information on the types of line items and activities to be budgeted and a maximum award amount.
● Community forums held during quarter 2 revealed that parents and community members did not have a full understanding concerning the Language of instruction in Ndiassé selected language of instruction for schools in areas where more than For example, parents whose primary three or four national languages are spoken (see text box). Other language is Pulaar had initial lessons learned throughout the year include: (1) further reinforcement difficulties understanding why Wolof of the importance of creating spaces for question, open discussion and was the selected language of instruction at their children’s school. dialogue on topics of early grade education among community Mayor Kanté Diallo of Ndiassé members. (2) When schools are in close proximity to each other, addressed this concern by explaining to holding a single forum can minimize project costs, as well as create forum participants that all students inter-school partnerships. (3) Forums provide an opportunity for CGE spoke Wolof on the school playground, members to take on leadership roles within the community and can whereas only a minority understood create collaboration spaces for CGEs and APEs to work towards Pulaar, The ultimate selection of Wolof as the school’s language of instruction shared goals. (6) Community members often have more time to provided an opportunity for everyone participate in forums when they are held outside of school hours, on to understand early grade reading weekends, or over holidays, and should be consulted on the time and instruction and prepare them for an location of forums to increase likelihood of participation. eventual transition to reading in French. 3. ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE
As discussed in the Environmental Mitigation & Monitoring Plan (EMMP) approved as of April 3, 2017, all planned activities and interventions for Lecture Pour Tous fall under the categorical exclusion category. Any activities that are outside of the scope of activities already planned, as well as grants activities, will be subject to environmental review. This includes the 50 grants that were awarded towards the end of the last quarter of Year 2 and for which there no unforeseen activities that fell outside of the categorical exclusion took place yet; as such there was no need to screen new interventions or develop activity-specific EMMPs.
During Year 3, Mr. Najib El Mdaghri of Lecture Pour Tous received environmental compliance training. Other key team members, including the COP, DCOP, and Compliance Officer will receive the same training in Year 3. The grants manual was approved in September 2017 as a result, Lecture Pour Tous will continue to develop solicitations for grants during Year 3 of the program. All grants solicitations and awards will include environmental compliance language. All proposed grant activities would be subject to environmental screening using the Environmental Review Form (ERF). Instructions will be used as guidance to determine the levels of risks (low, moderate, and high) associated with these proposed activities to decide on the appropriate mitigation actions. This will ensure environmental compliance and protect the health of the environment and population. No activities determined as high risk will be undertaken without further assessment and USAID-approved environmental documentation. As Lecture Pour Tous begins awarding more grants, all partners will receive training regarding the Environmental Review Form and Environmental Review Report (ERF and ERR.) These documents will be submitted along with all new grants to the USAID/COR. Lecture Pour Tous will monitor all interventions for environmental compliance throughout implementation.
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4. PARTNERSHIPS AND COLLABORATIVE EFFORTS
A. Government of Senegal During Year 2, Lecture Pour Tous efforts focused on reinforcing and deepening synergies with stakeholders within the Ministry of National Education (MEN) by demonstrating its firm commitment to the “faisons ensemble” approach that is central to all activities. Lecture Pour Tous implemented 119 activities during the academic Year 2017-2018 and carried out its first cycle of in-service trainings, distributed reading materials to the first round of students in CI classes, conducted studies that will inform policy development and mobilized parents and community members around the importance of early grade reading. Lecture Pour Tous’ team helped the MEN at the central level to establish draft student performance benchmarks for early grade reading for CI and CP covering phonemic awareness, alphabet principle/phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and reading comprehension in the three national languages (Pulaar, Sereer, and Wolof). Lecture Pour Tous shared performance improvement assessments with MEN staff at central (DEE and DFC) and decentralized levels (region of Kaolack and Kaffrine). Also, Lecture Pour Tous provided logistical support to the DEE for several key activities during the SNEB. Furthermore, with a tight deadline and using a team of local experts, Lecture Pour Tous collaborated with the MEN to roll out an unprecedented effort to develop the second edition of CI and new GCP EGR teaching and learning materials. Lastly, Lecture Pour Tous is assisting the DEE in developing the framework of its National Reading Program. Under the leadership of the Secretary General of the MEN, the Director of the DEE convened a meeting in Quarter 3, gathering all partners working on reading (EGR, reading in French, and reading in the national languages). The goal of this meeting was to launch the orientation for the framework of its National Reading Program. The main outcome was the establishment of the steering committee (comité de pilotage) and a technical committee (including different thematic task forces).
B. Civil Society Lecture Pour Tous engages civil society partners to strengthen and sustain parent and community engagement efforts. Through the national-level Parent and Community Engagement Best Practice Network (described under Outcome 3 above), the program identified civil society actors working under similar mandates to improve community involvement in education initiatives. In additional to network meetings, Lecture Pour Tous regularly invites members to participate in key program activities. For example, ChildFund representatives participated in the review of parenting activities for the Year 3 Annual Work Plan; local NGO Femmes Plus participated in the development of the CGE training modules, as well as the grassroots SBCC materials. This strategy of close collaboration led to the formalization of close partnerships, further outlined in the Year 2, Quarter 3 report:
● ChildFund: A Memorandum of Understanding is currently in the final stages to link community-level interventions within primary schools and daaras in target departments. Moreover, representatives will be invited to contribute to the development of the FY ’19 work plan to identify potential synergies and points of collaboration. ● Local NGO PREMAS: Lecture Pour Tous held initial partnership discussions to learn from their community- based program focused on preserving and repairing primary textbooks. ● Local NGO Femme Plus de Sokone: Leaders of this NGO reached out to Lecture Pour Tous to initiate an MOU to collaborate on their USAID-funded program, Nos Enfants Lisent. During subsequent meetings, the team agreed to collaborate on the training of community mobilizers, use of Lecture Pour Tous SBCC materials and CGE capacity development trainings. As activities expand into the regions of Diourbel, Louga and Saint-Louis, Lecture Pour Tous will continue to build on other partnerships to ensure the long-term sustainability of program initiatives at both national and regional levels.
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C. Private Sector Lecture Pour Tous held two meetings with New Africa Consulting (NAC), a private organization (http://www.newafricaconsulting.com/). NAC is setting up a virtual repeater through a community television, AfricanityTV.com. The goal of this community television is to broadcast didactic content that allow children learn by watching educational shows. New Africa Consulting has already translated all Ministry owned CI and CP textbooks in Wolof and intends to turn these tools into digital resources for broadcast on Africanity TV. This will also allow parents to read in national languages and will be able to provide better support their children as they learn to read.
5. ANALYTICAL WORK, EVALUATIONS AND ASSESSMENTS
A. Language Mapping Study, Year 2
Description The language mapping study took place in the 6 regions of the program (100% of schools in Diourbel and Louga and 50% of schools in Kaolack, Kaffrine, Fatick, and Matam). Its purpose was to propose a national language for each of the schools that will be enrolled in the program in October 2018.
Findings and Application to Improve Project Performance A total of 2,499 schools were surveyed. Based on the languages spoken by students in the playground and community choices, a language was determined in 2,494 schools in Kaolack, Kaffrine, Diourbel, Louga, Matam, Fatick, and Kaolack regions. Five (5) schools did not choose a language taught in the program and therefore preferred not to be part of it. Within the 2,494 participating schools, the language results were: 1,587 Wolof, 541 Pulaar, and 366 Seereer.
These results will be used for planning training activities, and ordering and distributing materials to students and parents. MEN will also be able to use the results to manage teacher mobility and ensure that a teacher speaking the corresponding national language is placed in each school for each grade (CI and CP).
B. Analysis of Teacher Mobility Data
Description The study on teacher mobility increased awareness of teachers’ movements in Lecture Pour Tous’ areas of intervention. The purpose of this study is to provide program stakeholders with an overview of current practices related to teacher assignment and mobility, and recommendations for taking into account the language factor in teacher mobility as well as ensuring that the teachers trained by Lecture Pour Tous remain in office as long as possible in the program schools.
Following research on mobility in the Kaolack, Fatick, and Kaffrine regions, further consultations were conducted in the Matam, Diourbel and Louga regions to identify the main challenges around teacher mobility in the Lecture Pour Tous regions, including the most problematic areas in terms of teacher mobility. These activities were conducted under the direction of the DRH, with the collaboration of the DEE, and the technical support of Lecture Pour Tous.
Findings and Application to Improve Project Performance Data analysis, review of MEN DRH documents related to mobility statistics, and the conclusions of the national workshop on human resources reveal that in 2017, 25% of teachers left the Lecture Pour Tous zone against only 12%
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of teachers arriving. Mobility factors are categorized into three areas (i) socio-cultural and psychosocial factors, (ii) factors related to the school environment, (iii) career factors.
The results of the study showed that young people and women are the most mobile teachers. Matam is the region most vulnerable to mobility. In general, teachers leave rural areas to settle in urban areas for reasons related, among other things, to difficult living conditions or the need to train alongside universities.
Figure 3: Mobility factors
Socio-cultural and psycho- Factors related to the school Career factors social factors environment
Difficult access to basic Distance from higher social services (health, Difficult living condition in education and / or deprived areas (access to water, hobbies, cellphone or electricity, insecurity, etc) vocational training internet network, etc) structures
Unattractive school environment (non-standard school structures, temporary Distance from family shelters, lack of latrines, special Administative delays classes, insufficient pedagogical supervision)
Difficulty to adapt to another environment Low involvement of communities and local Lack of opportunities to (languages, hostile authorities; absence of a pursue higher education environment, community support system for teachers conflicts)
Distance from decision centers Remoteness and isolation around career management.
These results led to the elaboration of a reference document for teacher mobility management, among others for the teaching of reading in national languages (see Output 2.4).
C. Ministry Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice (KAP) Survey
Description This is a quantitative study on the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of the technical staff of the MEN as relates to early grade reading and the national reading program. It was carried out through a structured questionnaire
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containing questions about knowledge of the reading themes addressed by the Lecture Pour Tous program, attitudes about the expected outcomes, and practices and approaches used by MEN staff. The baseline study undertaken in Year 2 will be followed by a midline and an end line study throughout the life of the project. The population of the MEN KAP survey was limited to 256 technical staff who work in central and decentralized MEN institutions and are involved in the Lecture Pour Tous program.
Findings and Application to Improve Project Performance The study showed that at the time of survey administration early in the program period, 44.1% of MEN technical staff were shown to have “understanding of key reading themes and the [planned] national reading program,” demonstrated by a score of 80% or more desired answers. This score includes their perception of coordination and communication around the new reforms and of their own roles in promoting the reading reforms. The staff surveyed at the decentralized level had a slightly greater level of desired responses (46%) than the staff polled at the central level (39%).
Graph 2: Percentage of respondents scoring 80% or higher on the KAP questions for each category:
Furthermore, the respondents' attitudes about external communication were positive (71%). However, only roughly half (49%) had positive attitudes about the effectiveness of internal communication.
Graph 3: Percentage of respondents judging that communication and coordination around the National Program Lecture Pour Tous is good.
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Lecture Pour Tous has been able to use these results to improve understanding of gaps, particularly regarding the need for strengthened internal communication and coordination.
D. Analysis of the new timetable’s implementation
Description During the second teacher training session, Lecure Pour Tous administered a questionnaire regarding the use of the new timetables to the 1,300 teachers of all CI classes within the program, who were the main users. A team of MEN staff and Lecture Pour Tous analyzed the data through several workshops and were able to draft recommendations.
Findings and Application to Improve Project Performance The main conclusions are presented through this graph (there is no writing production in the first quarter):
Graph 4: Teachers’ Satisfaction About Timetable
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In Quarter 1: In general, teachers were satisfied with the time allocated to L1. However, some teachers, mainly in the Franco-Arab schools (EFA) and multi-grade classes (CMG), have concerns about the lack of time and the lack of teacher training on the use of these timetables. Teachers suggested increasing the number of sessions for L2 or the amount of time devoted to it.
In Quarter 2 and 3: Teachers of double-shift classes (CDF) and Daaras were the least satisfied. They suggested adding reading time in L2 to solve the problem of the transfer of L1 to L2.
These findings enabled the review of the first timetables and the preparation of new versions for the Lecture Pour Tous CI and CP classes of 2018/2019 (see 2.4)
6. SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION FOR INFORMATION REPORTED
Supporting Documents for EGRA CI Report
EGRA data
Lecture Pour Tous supports reading development of students in the first two years of elementary school (CI and CP) in three national languages: Wolof, Pulaar and Sereer. This report presents the results of an Early Grade Reading Assessment conducted with first-grade students as part of the program’s Activity Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Plan (AMELP). The main objectives of this study were to: (i) provide a measure of basic reading skills of students in Grade 1 in Senegal in three national languages; (ii) provide a measure of Indicator 4 of the AMELP; and (iii) identify the characteristics most closely associated with student reading performance.
Participant data
Data collection took place in May 2018 in 212 schools across the three language groups in four regions of Senegal: Fatick, Kaffrine, Kaolack, and Matam. The final analytic sample in this study includes 2,166 first-grade students, half were girls and half of which were boys, each assessed in the national language chosen for use in the national language reading program in the first two grades at that school. The subtasks included in the assessment in this study were listening comprehension, letter sounds, familiar words, connected text oral reading, and reading comprehension. Table below presents the average score and accuracy percentages for each subtask across the three language groups
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Table 6. Student accuracy and mean scores across language groups:
Wolof Pulaar Seereer Mean Accuracy Mean Accuracy Accuracy Subtask Mean Score Score % Score % %
Listening Comprehension/% 71.5 76.6 67.2 correct answer Letter Sounds/ Correct letters 26.4 65.0 24.1 62.7 20.1 57.5 per minute Familiar Words/Correct words 6.2 28.6 3.9 19.6 4.3 21.1 per minute
Connected Text Passage/Correct words per 5.9 28.2 1.9 9.5 4.9 28.6 minute
Reading Comprehension 14.6 16.8 6.2 7.5 16.8 23.5
When considering the EGRA CI results in relation to the preliminary benchmarks5 currently in place for Lecture Pour Tous, the overall results show that: ● The majority of students across language groups demonstrate competent listening comprehension skills. The average scores in the three language groups range from 67% to 77%, which meets the minimum benchmark for this task. This average range demonstrates competent to high-performing listening comprehension skills and thus a strong foundation of receptive vocabulary in the national languages being used for the national language reading program. ● Letter sound identification scores range from 20 to 26 correct letters per minute, placing first-grade students at a beginner stage and, for some, entering a developing stage for understanding the alphabetic principle. ● The average number of familiar words read, ranging from 4 to 6 words per minute, indicates first graders are at a beginning to just entering a developing stage in word reading. ● On the connected text passage, students in the Pulaar group read an average of 2 words per minute (beginning stage), while their peers in the Seereer and Wolof groups read nearly 5 and 6 words per minute (beginning to developing stages). ● Similarly, students in the Pulaar group correctly answered an average of 6.2% of reading comprehension questions, compared with 17% and 15% in the Seereer and Wolof groups respectively. First graders are spanning the spectrum of the beginning stages for reading comprehension.
The main performance indicator of interest for this study is Indicator 4 from the Lecture Pour Tous AMELP: “Average student score for accuracy in reading connected text, measured in the percentage of correct words read of connected grade-level text, in a language students speak and understand (Wolof, Sereer, Pulaar) and at the end of one school year of reading instruction supported by the program.” Table ii below presents the overall reading accuracy of students, as well as averages within language groups, gender, and region. These results show that students in the Wolof and Seereer groups were able to read 25% and 22% of words in the passage correctly, with the Pulaar group score at 8%. Across language groups, students in Fatick and Kaolack generally read words in the passage more accurately than their peers in Kaffrine and Matam. There were no statistically significant differences between boys and girls on this indicator.
Table 7. Indicator 4 accuracy scores reported overall, by region and gender
5 See Table A9 in the annexes to view the preliminary benchmarks.
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Overall Mean6 Wolof Pulaar Seereer Overall 20.5% 24.8% 8.3%* 21.8%
Fatick 24.9% 34.1% 21.8% 19.9% Kaffrine 17.7% 18.1 % 11.5% 17.6% Kaolack 25.6% 25.8% 15.5% 27.6% Matam 7.2% 8.9%* 7.2%* N/A
Boys 20.0% 25.6% 10.5% 16.6% Girls 20.9% 23.9% 6.5% 26.9% * Indicates statistical significant differences at the 0.05 level
Given the differences in study design and instruments between this study and the baseline conducted in 2017, there can be no direct comparisons quantifying differences in student performances. It is helpful, however, to contextualize the results of this study by comparing the proportion of students unable to identify one letter or word across subtasks. Table eight (8) below presents the proportion of CI students at baseline and those in this study unable to identify one word or letter correctly. These results show that while 20% to 40% of students were unable to identify a single letter sound in 2017, nearly all students in Year 2 could identify at least one letter. In addition, there were almost no CI students able to identify any word at baseline, and this proportion is approximately 50% in the familiar word subtask in this study, and ranges from 40% to 80% in the connected text passage.
Table 8. Proportion of CI students unable to identify one word or letter correctly
Wolof Pulaar Sereer 2017 2018 2017 2018 2017 2018 Letter 28.9% 5.3% 18.3% 4.8% 39.5% 5.9% Sounds Familiar 83.9% 44.4% 77.3% 49.3% 88.1% 56.0% Words Connected 79.6% 52.1% 91.6% 81.7% 87.9% 37.9% Text Passage
To reiterate, findings to highlight from this study include: ● Student performance in listening comprehension across the three language groups can be categorized as competent or high performing. ● Student performance in letter sound identification can be categorized as the developing level. ● Performance at the word level and reading comprehension remains largely at the beginning level. ● Students in the Pulaar language group demonstrate lower scores than their peers on average. However, this comparison should be interpreted with caution because the languages are different, and the instruments are different. This finding should encourage the program to investigate reasons for this difference, including Pulaar language variants and vocabulary choice. ● Students in Matam demonstrate lower scores than their peers in other regions, on average. This difference was evident for students learning both in Pulaar and in Wolof (there are no Seereer schools in Matam).
6 The overall mean across language groups should be interpreted with caution given students were assessed in three different languages depending on the school using different text passages. This indicator is computed to respond to the need of the AMELP to include a program-wide figure.
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However, interestingly, students in Matam learning in Pulaar demonstrated stronger listening comprehension skills than their peers in other regions. ● There were generally no large differences between boys and girls in reading skills. Of note though in the Seereer language group, girls performed better than boys, on average, on letter sounds, familiar words, and reading comprehension. ● The student characteristics most consistently associated with higher reading accuracy were: having books at home and reporting using a book at school on a daily basis. ● Teachers and school directors reported high levels of participation with Lecture Pour Tous, as well as high levels of satisfaction with the training and teaching materials. ● Teachers reported higher levels of confidence in their ability to read and write in the national languages, compared with baseline reports.
Supporting Documents for Other Information Reported
Deliverables and other reports related to each of the milestones have been submitted with each of the Quarterly Reports. They can be found in our project files.
7. SUSTAINABILITY AND SCALABILITY OF CORE INTERVENTIONS
In Year 2, findings from HICD activities continued to highlight the need for strengthening technical units at the MEN, particularly as it relates to MEN staff capacity strengthening for early grade reading and teaching activities.
During Year 2, the link between the herculean and collaborative effort between Lecture Pour Tous and the MEN for the timely production of adequate and sufficient quality EGR materials and the development and/or review of training contents – according to the USAID’s approved training plan; and the effective launching of the ICT activities package aimed at strengthening and supplementing the training of education staff have greatly enhanced material production, coaching and supervision support both in the classroom and within school clusters.
The development and production of the learning materials was carried out by a Senegalese sub-contractor (ARED). Relevant MEN partners (DALN, DEE, INEADE and DFC) were involved in the development of specifications and the validation of the materials. The Lecture Pour Tous team worked closely with the MEN to develop detailed publishing specifications for the materials. This full publishing model carried out in collaboration with national partners is a significant step forward in assuring the sustainability and scalability of the Lecture Pour Tous project.
Proofreading and Material Review at the MEN. During Year 2, the MEN’s staff, who specialize in the writing and evaluation of books in national languages also participated in the proofreading, editing and review of materials produced. This work is mainly done under the leadership of the DEE, whose staffs manage pedagogical and didactic aspects related to content (texts and contents). Engaging MEN staff directly in the development and review process for teaching and learning materials presents not only capacity building opportunities but will contribute to the sustainability of program objectives related to the production of early grade reading materials.
Institutional monitoring mechanism. The institutional monitoring mechanism set up in Year 2 allowed the MEN’s partners to have a better understanding of the processes of in-house (internal) production and its objectives. At the same time, this provides an avenue for monitoring content production on a regular basis, using a timeline that was developed and agreed-upon by involved parties.
In-service teacher training. Following the conclusion of teacher trainings in October 2017 and refresher trainings in March 2018 during which inspectors were highly engaged, Lecture Pour Tous selected a group of regional inspectors to directly support the review of the training contents for Year 2 and to participate in the development of the training contents for Year 3. This approach has been validated by the DEE and will ensure that feedback from local stakeholders is directly woven into the development of program training materials. It will further provide MEN staff
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with experience in the creation and validation process for Lecture Pour Tous program materials.
Pre-service teacher training. Lecture Pour Tous set up a working group consisting of the MEN’s experts in September 2018 to accompany the DFC in preparing for a pilot training module for a bilingual reading method, set to take place at the CRFPE in Quarter 4 of Year 2. The DFC fully supports this mechanism and it will continue to be an important element for the program scale up and sustainability.
Coaching. Establishing the new system for successful coaching and supervision requires close coordination between Lecture Pour Tous’ staff (including Teacher Professional Development Liaisons, MEL Liaisons, Reading System Liaisons or points focaux), the IAs and the IEFs. Lecture Pour Tous clearly noted that in order to ensure sustainability and scalability of effective coaching, all of these field agents who are already fully engaged in activities will help to bring about the systemic change that will guarantee sustainability.
Materials procurement. The recent challenges around the procurement of materials for the 2018-2019 school year have revealed the importance of getting the private sector up to speed with the curricular changes related to the reading and bilingual reforms, and in the future ensuring there is sufficient time for private sector materials development in advance of new school years. The lessons learned from the 2018-2019 materials procurement process has provided the MEN with useful information and tools for when they take the lead on materials procurements in the future.
Lecture Pour Tous will contribute to sustainability and encourage local ownership in Saint Louis through G2G activities, which began in Year 2. The MEN in Saint Louis had adopted the use of all of Lecture Pour Tous materials and approaches, for example, the second edition of CI materials and teacher training plans. The DALN in Saint-Louis adapted Lecture Pour Tous research methodology and tools from Year 3 to Year 5, with support from IFAN and FSLH. Through their involvement in language mapping activities during Years 1 and 2, MEN staffs are building capacity to replicate similar studies in regions such as Saint-Louis. In Year 3, Lecture Pour Tous will continue working with the MEN on issues of teacher mobility and deployment.
The communication strategy and action plan for Lecture Pour Tous were shared widely with partners of the region of Kaffrine under the leadership of MEN partners, Direction d’Education Elémentaire (DEE), Direction de la Formation de la Communication (DFC), and Direction Radio Télévision Scolaire (DRTS) and will be presented to the remaining targeted regions. During workshops at DEE, DALN and ID central and regional levels, participants created their own communication plans, following the strategy of the global communication strategy. DFC/DRTS and the communication officers at IA and IEF levels, with technical assistance from the Lecture Pour Tous Communication Coordinator, are responsible for executing communication activities from these plans across the central and decentralized levels.
School day timetables to institutionalize reading instruction in national languages in Year 2 in Lecture Pour Tous targeted regions. The education system in Senegal has never integrated scheduled instruction in national languages at a large scale, or early grade reading timetables at all for specific classes (such as multigrade, double-shift, and franco- arabic). Lecture Pour Tous created these timetables through collaboration with the DEE, DALN and ID, designed to be scalable for CI and CP in elementary schools and in a way that can be adapted for additional levels such as CE1 and CE2, as well as for upcoming G2G activities. These timetables are prime example of the scalability and sustainability of Lecture Pour Tous’ efforts to equip the MEN with the tools it needs to effectively teach early grade reading.
Performance improvement plans produced in 2018. The development of performance improvement plans for key ministerial departments is critical to the success of national reading reforms. It is an important step in the process of institutionalizing the goals and strategies of the Lecture Policy Tous’ national program within the MEN, and is in line with the Lecture Pour Tous’ approach of “faisons ensemble.” To this point, six performance improvements plans have been produced: two for the DEE and DFC in the central offices. Meanwhile at the regional level, four plans were produced for IA Kaolack, IA Kaffrine, IEF Kaolack Commune, and IEF Kaffrine respectively. These
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performance improvement plans are aimed at improving the capacity of MEN staff both at the central and regional levels to better plan for activities that support the implementation of Lecture Pour Tous. These plans have been handed to the above offices. Once the review if completed, they will be validated and implemented.
CGE engagement. For Outcome 3, ongoing CGE engagement is key for effective and consistent parent and community engagement. Lecture Pour Tous has dedicated resources towards fully engaging CGEs through community forums and focusing on upcoming trainings designed to build their capacity to implement early grade reading support activities for children, parents and caregivers in their communities. Thus, it is important for Lecture Pour Tous to continue to engage APEs and encourage close collaboration between CGE and APE activities to ensure long-term sustainability of Lecture Pour Tous’ parent and community engagement initiatives.
Local government engagement. Engaging local officials and including them in the conceptualization and organization of community activities has generated interest in both the short-term benefits of Lecture Pour Tous’ activities and their long-term sustainability. During the course of Year 2, Lecture Pour Tous observed high participation of mayors, vice-mayors and municipal leaders during the community forums, which demonstrated their dedication to improved education outcomes in their communities. As evidenced by the Mayor of Mbadakhoune, who personally addressed a letter of support to our Senior Parent and Community Engagement Advisor, local governments are ready to actively partner with Lecture Pour Tous and support Lecture Pour Tous’ initiatives. It is anticipated that the promotion of these partnerships will be a focus for Outcome 3 during the next fiscal year.
In terms of sustainability, the Outcome 3 team is aware of the need to reflect on alternative implementation options to overcome the delays in contracting local NGO/CBO partners, which causes significant difficulties in the execution of field activities. The success of this result lies in getting NGO partners on board as soon as possible. While the procurement process was slow in Year 2, Lecture Pour Tous will be able to apply many lessons learned (advanced timeline, streamlined RFP, clear cost guidelines, etc.) to ensure a smooth process for the regions of Diourbel, Louga, and St. Louis.
ANNEX A: PUBLIC SUMMARY IN FRENCH
Please see separate files attached.
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ANNEX B: Aggregate outcomes and results (milestones and deliverables) since inception
Project Year 1
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Project Year 2
Milestone/Deliverable Due Date Outcome 1: Early Grade Reading Instruction in Primary Schools and Daaras Improved Output 1.1 Evidence-based early grade reading materials in Senegalese languages provided Materials for students in public schools and daaras (CI, Cohort 1- first edition) Quarter 1 Materials for teachers in public schools and daaras (CI, Cohort 1- first edition) Quarter 1 Printing and distribution of student and teacher materials to public schools and Quarter 4 daaras (Report) Validated technical and pedagogical specifications for CI and CP materials to be Quarter 2 developed for 2018-2019 Materials for students in public schools and daaras (CI, second edition) Quarter 4 Materials for teachers in public schools and daaras (CI, second edition) Quarter 4 Materials for students in public schools and daaras (CP, first edition) Quarter 4 Materials for teachers in public schools and daaras (CP, first edition) Quarter 4 Output 1.2 Teachers’ skills in evidence-based early grade reading instruction improved Training materials for training of trainers and teachers (Cohort 1, round two) Quarter 1 Training of trainers- Cohort 1, round two Quarter 2 Training of trainers- Cohort 2, round one Rescheduled for Q1, Y3 Training of teachers and school directors in public schools and daaras (round one Quarters 1 and 2 and two) Printing and distribution of training materials for teacher training (Reports, for Activity completed. Report October and January trainings) forthcoming (Q1, Y3) Output 1.3 Coaching and supervision of early grade reading instruction improved Training materials and tools for (master) trainers, coaching and supervision Quarter 1 and 2 (Cohort 1, rounds one and two) Training of (master) trainers and coaches - Cohort 1, round one Quarter 1 Training of (master) trainers and coaches- Cohort 1, round two Quarter 2
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Technical assistance for coaching & supervision Completed for Y2, Quarters 2-3 Printing and distribution of training materials for coaching and supervision Activity completed. Report (Report) forthcoming (Q1, Y3) Output 1.4 Early grade reading assessment improved Updating and creation of assessment tools (for both LEMA and EGRA Lite) Quarter 2 Technical assistance to INEADE/MEN for assessment administration (both LEMA Quarter 3 and EGRA Lite) Outcome 2: Delivery Systems for Early Grade Reading Instruction Improved Output 2.1 Coordination and communication about early grade reading Increased Launch of external mass communications on the National Reading Program Rescheduled for Q1, Y3 Output 2.2: National standards for early grade reading adopted and applied Support to the development of national standards for early grade reading (progress Quarter 1 report) Draft student reading performance standards Quarter 1 Roadmap to field test, finalize and validate student performance standards and Quarter 1 develop teacher performance standards Output 2.3: Research on early grade reading in Senegal produced and disseminated Report(s) on teacher attitudes, practices, and skills in early grade reading (Baseline Activity completed. Report Report) forthcoming (Q1, Y3) Mapping of the ‘language in common’ of students and teachers in grades one to Quarter 3 three (Reports) Study of teacher mobility in the primary grades (Report) Quarter 1 Study of students’ actual oral vocabulary mastery in French at school entry and in Rescheduled for Q2, Y3 the early grades, as well as teachers’ mastery of French and the relevant Senegalese language(s) (Report) Output 2.4: Policies in support of evidence-based reading instruction implemented Support to the MEN for developing or updating key policies in support of early Ongoing grade reading Initial regulatory measures that specify the number of hours in the academic Quarter 1 timetable allocated to early grade reading Regulatory measures to formalize a system for coaching and supervising teachers Rescheduled for Y3 CRFPE amendment/official guidelines Rescheduled for Q1, Y3 Regulatory measures to manage teacher mobility Quarter 4 Output 2.5: Ministry of Education staff’s performance of essential functions improved Support to the MEN for targeted capacity building to improve early grade reading Ongoing service delivery Capacity Building Plan and Capacity Assessment Tools (including updates to Ongoing tools) Performance Improvement Plans for first cohort of priority units, incorporating the Quarter 2 latest validated versions of the respective roles and responsibilities and key performance indicators of the units concerned Summary report following annual evaluation of the performance improvement Rescheduled for Q1, Y3 plans for the first targeted units Outcome 3: Parent and Community Engagement in Early Grade Reading Improved Crosscutting activities Local NGO subcontractor selection and orientation for Kaffrine, Kaolack and Q3 (Replaced with Matam community mobilizer activity) Community Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) baseline study report Q1 Local NGO subcontractor selection and orientation for Diourbel, Louga and St. Q4 (Replaced with Louis community mobilizer activity) Regional parent and community engagement action plan finalized Q2/Q4 Milestone/Deliverable Due Date
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Output 3.1: Parent and community demand for high-quality early grade reading instruction increased Community-Level Social Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) plan and Quarter 1 materials finalized Social and behavior change communications (SBCC) campaign (SBCC Campaign, Ongoing noted in Quarterly Report) Output 3.2: Community-based early grade reading activities implemented Launch grants program with selection of first awardees Quarter 2 Extra-curricular EGR materials distributed to first target communities Quarter 2 Community-based events (Quarterly Report) Ongoing (beginning in Quarter 1) Output 3.3: At-home support to early grade learners improved Teacher/director training module on effective parent and community engagement Quarter 1 finalized Tool for home-school communication finalized Quarter 3 Training and support to at-home reading activities (Quarterly Report) Ongoing Output 3.4: Parent and community monitoring of early grade reading instruction improved Community engagement guide for maintaining EGR activities during periods of Quarter 2 disruption produced Community organization and capacity building (Quarterly Report) Ongoing
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ANNEX C: TECHNICAL REPORTS AND REFERENCES
See attached file.
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ANNEX B: Aggregate outcomes and results (milestones and deliverables) since inception
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