Chapter 2. Progress towards the EFA goals - Unesco

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0 1 0 CHAPTER 2 2 Education for All Global Monitoring Report It is crucial for reading difficulties to be detected early and acted upon quickly 40. The positive correlation between comprehension and oral reading fluency has been the subject of much research. For additional examples see Kudo and Bazan (2009) and RTI International (2008). 41. In the United States, children are identified as being at risk of developing learning difficulties if their reading speed is below seventy words per minute in grade 2 and below eighty in grade 3. 42. It is not possible to compare across countries in the table owing to the different languages used and differences in the ages of student populations. Teaching reading in the early primary grades is crucial for learning Children lacking reading and comprehension skills are unable to use textbooks and other written materials and to take advantage of learning opportunities in or out of school. Research shows that children who have difficulties acquiring these skills in their early lives are likely to struggle throughout their school careers (Jukes et al., 2006). Schools in many developing countries are failing to equip young learners with these basic skills. If the EFA quality goal is to be achieved, it is crucial for reading difficulties to be detected early and acted upon quickly. Understanding is central to the achievement of reading skills. Children need to be able to read with sufficient fluency to obtain meaning from what is being read. Reading accurately and quickly has been shown in many cases to be strongly correlated with comprehension (Abadzi, 2006; Fuchs et al., 2001). In a small-scale survey of Peruvian first and second graders, children who could answer a set of three comprehension questions correctly read on average at seventyseven words per minute, compared with fifteen words per minute for children who only answered one comprehension question correctly (Abadzi et al., 2005). 40 Early grade reading assessments aim to test comprehension by measuring reading fluency (Box 2.24). Estimates vary, but reading fluency in excess of forty words per minute is thought to be required for comprehension (Abadzi, 2006). 41 Small-scale reading assessments conducted in several low-income countries paint a worrying picture (Table 2.7). 42 While these tests are not nationally representative, they often point to very low levels of fluency in reading. Average performance in many test sites falls far short of automatic reading, implying that large numbers of children are failing to achieve the basic reading skills necessary to facilitate further learning: In Gambia, children in grades 1 to 3 were able, on average, to read six words correctly in a minute. In Liberia, grade 2 students could read eighteen words per minute. Although fluency increased in grade 3, it was still below the estimated forty words per minute required for comprehension. Looking beyond the averages reveals the poor outcomes for some children: In Ethiopia, a 2008 study of grade 3 students in Woliso district found that 36% could not read a single word in Afan Oromo, the local language (DeStefano and Elaheebocus, 2009). In Guatemala, two-thirds of students could read more than forty words correctly per minute but wide disparities across language groups existed. Students whose mother tongue was Mam had average reading speeds below forty words per minute whereas students whose mother tongue was Quiche or Spanish read more than sixty words per minute (Dowd, 2009). Assessing reading skills early in primary school provides an opportunity to identify children with low learning achievement and take remedial measures that can help prevent dropout and grade repetition. It is far less time-consuming and costly to prevent low achievement at an early age than to act later. Evidence from several countries demonstrates that policy interventions can make a difference in improving reading skills. Involving schools and communities is a key to success. A programme operated by a non-government organization in Uttar Pradesh, India, has used ‘remedial reading camps’ run by volunteer trainers to achieve impressive improvements in early reading (Box 2.25). In the Malindi district of Kenya, teachers were trained for five days on a set of carefully designed lessons to teach effective reading skills to grade 2 students (Crouch et al., 2009). Significant improvements resulted: comparing grade 2 results before and after teachers were trained showed that reading speeds had improved by 80%, on average. While it is difficult to attribute all the improvement to the training, the study showed that this relatively small intervention and the information it generated on the poor state of reading skills contributed significantly. 43 Pilot studies in Mali and the Niger in 2007 also demonstrated promising approaches to improving reading skills at relatively low cost (Mitton, 2008). Whether such pilot programmes can be scaled up to improve reading across national education 43. The study was set up as a randomized trial but improvement in reading skills was seen in schools where the teachers had received the training as well as in the schools where they did not. The study showed that leakage of teaching techniques and the transfer of teachers between control and treatment schools accounted for similar improvements in both types of schools. 112
PROGRESS TOWARDS THE EFA GOALS The quality of education Box 2.24: What are early grade reading assessments and what can they be used for? Failure to develop reading skills in the early school years can severely compromise later learning, undermining progression through grades and contributing to early dropout. Early grade reading assessments help teachers identify problems and correct them. The components assessed include: phonemic awareness — children can focus on, manipulate and break apart the sounds in words; ability to use phonics — they can understand and apply knowledge of how letters are linked to sounds to form letter-sound correspondences and spelling patterns; fluency — they can read orally with speed, accuracy and proper expression; vocabulary — they know an increasing number of words, both orally and in print; comprehension — they can actively engage with and derive meaning from texts. Most of these components are tested by counting the letters and words that children can sound out accurately in one minute. While there are obvious dangers with mechanistic application, the assessments can be used to capture both word recognition and understanding. Similar approaches are used in adult literacy work. Early grade reading assessments are not designed to serve as tests for grading students or ranking schools. They are most useful when integrated into a wider framework for building children’s confidence and equipping schools and teachers to respond to their needs. Sources: Abadzi (2006); Kudo and Bazan (2009); RTI International (2008). Table 2.7: Results from early grade reading assessments (correct words per minute) Gambia Malindi, Kenya Liberia Liberia Nicaragua Junin, Peru Year Tests of reading in English Tests of reading in Spanish Grade Connected text fluency Sample size 2007 1-3 6 1,200 2007 2 10 40 schools 2008 2 18 429 2008 3 28 407 2006 3 18 2,206 2008 3 57 475 Tests of reading in French Senegal 2007 1-3 19 502 Notes: Unless otherwise stated, sample size refers to the number of students tested. The studies recorded in the table also measured other aspects of reading outlined in Box 2.24 and in some cases tested reading in local languages as well. Sources: Castro and Laguna (2008); Crouch and Korda (2008); Crouch et al (2009); Jammeh (2008); Kudo and Bazan (2009); Sambe and Sprenger-Charolles (2008). systems is open to question. Many of these programmes succeeded because of intensive efforts to mobilize communities, resources and local professionals. Duplicating these efforts is often difficult for subnational authorities, let alone national ministries. Even so, the success of pilot programmes shows that substantial improvements are possible. Central governments and education authorities can make a difference to early learning through action at many levels, including training teachers more effectively and providing appropriate teaching materials. Box 2.25: India — remedial reading classes in Uttar Pradesh A baseline survey conducted in 2005 in Jaunpur district in Uttar Pradesh revealed poor acquisition of basic skills. Among 7- to 14-year-olds, 60% could not read and understand a simple story designed for first grade students. In this context, a randomized evaluation examined the impact on basic education skills of combinations of three interventions: encouraging community participation by providing information and facilitating discussion on the status of local schools and outlining to village education committees their roles and responsibilities; training community members to assess children’s learning and presenting these findings at village meetings; training local volunteers in simple techniques for teaching children to read and introducing reading classes after school. The evaluation found that information-sharing did not improve reading skills but that extra classes after school had a big impact. Overall, the evaluation showed that it was possible to get children who were not fluent readers to read fairly fluently by combining instruction in school with additional reading classes which students attend for two hours a day over a period of three months. Source: Banerjee et al. (2008). In India, ‘remedial reading camps’ have achieved impressive improvements in early reading 113
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Chapter 2. Progress towards the EFA goals - Unesco

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