Malawi Teacher Professional Development Support (MTPDS) Program Monthly Newsletter July 2012 Issue

The program is being implemented by Creative Associates International, RTI International, and Seward Inc. in close collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology. One of the key areas of focus for the MTPDS program is enhancing parental and community participation in the monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of the new primary curriculum at the school level. To achieve this, the project has implemented a user-friendly monitoring tool called the School Report Card (SRC). The SRC is designed to provide a comprehensive overview of a school's performance, including literacy skills assessments, and is intended to be used by school administrators, teachers, and community members. The MTPDS program has organized training for School Management Committee (SMC) members on the use of the SRC in seven pilot zones. During these trainings, community members and teachers were empowered to use the SRC in consolidating reports prepared by school administrators, including literacy skills assessments, to monitor their school's commitment and performance. This is a new role for the SMCs, which are traditionally viewed as being responsible for issues like constructing classrooms. The MTPDS program recognizes the great potential SMCs can have in improving accountability in schools. At Tedzani School, the key components of the Maziko a Kuwerenga literacy intervention are coming together in a powerful combination: teacher training, coaching, time on task, assessment, leadership, community support, and availability of essential basic resources. The program has also introduced the EGRA-lite instrument, which is a modified version of the Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) instrument. The EGRA-lite instrument focuses on four skills: letter identification, syllable reading, familiar word reading, and comprehension, and is designed to track progress in the skills deemed most essential to foundational literacy attainment on a more regular basis. The MTPDS program has been using the EGRA-lite instrument to track learner progress over shorter periods of time and correlate measurable changes in literacy performance to specific project activities. The results will determine whether and how much differing impact the various levels of project interventions have on learner performance in literacy, especially in reading fluency and comprehension. The program has also been continuously modifying its M&E systems to more effectively track the literacy performance of learners. The MTPDS program has made significant progress in improving literacy skills among learners. At Tedzani School, learners have demonstrated their knowledge of letters and letter sounds, and their ability to read and write simple sentences with meaning. The program has also empowered parents and community members to play a vital role in school improvement, as they are now able to identify gaps and hold their school accountable for performance. The program's focus on enhancing parental and community participation has led to improved learner attendance and performance, and has provided a platform for community members to work together towards a common dream of children obtaining a quality education.