Zambia's Primary Reading Program (PRP) - Global Partnership for ...

eight pupils from each of Grades 1-6 in two schools, urban and rural,in every district served by a District Resource Center. Administrationof the tests was entrusted to District Resource Center Coordinators,who were trained for their tasks at a one-day workshop heldin Lusaka. This training was supplemented by detailed writteninstructions on school and pupil selection, test procedures and testmarking (see Annex 4).This process led to 5,424 pupils, 48 from each school, being testedin 113 schools. The actual testing covered all the nine provinces inthe country and 58 districts. Of the pupils tested, 2,584 (47.6 %)were recorded as being from rural schools and 2,840 pupils (52.4 %)as from urban schools.The testing was anonymous, each child’s response being labeled“Child 1,” “Child 2,” “Child 3,” etc. To this was added a codenumber of the school and the district.In administering the tests, the District Resource Center Coordinatorswere assisted by a teacher who was a fluent speaker of the Zambianlanguage used in the school. The test administrators provided paperfor the tests.Test instrumentsEach pupil was tested in writing and reading. The tests were firsttried in Lusaka schools and modified.For the writing test, pupils were tested in groups according to theirgrade, first in dictation and then in free writing. The writing test wasfollowed by the reading test.The writing test consisted of two elements, dictation and freewriting. The dictation test consisted of a series of single words,followed by sentences, and finally by brief paragraphs.The free writing test was organized as follows:• Pupils in Grade 1 were asked to write their name and the name oftheir school.9. THE STRATEGIES 57