Quarterly Progress Report: Technical Assistance Program (TAP) for the Period October 1 to December 31, 2021

The program is implemented by Creative Associates International, INC. and is led by Mamdouh Fadil, Chief of Party. The program's core activities are focused on three parallel tracks: supporting the Ministry of Education (MoE) in developing an evidence-based remedial program, finalizing the situational analysis process with MoE and Ministry of Youth (MoY), and supporting MoY in establishing and operationalizing its Monitoring and Evaluation Unit. During the reporting period of October to December 2021, TAP continued its technical interventions, focusing on the development of a remedial program for students from grades 4 to 11. A two-day workshop was held on November 2 and 3, which aimed at creating a common vision for long-term remedial programming and building MoE buy-in for the program's plans, timelines, and deliverables. The workshop also focused on building consensus around the approach to developing a remedial framework that will guide both a nation-wide diagnostic study and subsequent remedial efforts. Following the workshop, a remedial technical working group was formed with technical teams from five departments, along with teachers and field education supervisors. The group worked in a series of smaller structured sessions with TAP technical experts to prepare two frameworks: one on assessment and the other on instructional support materials based on the existing curriculum analysis for grades 4-6 Arabic and mathematics. Sessions also covered the development of tools for assessing student achievement on prerequisite skills and learning conditions, and the development of instructional materials to support remedial education aimed to begin the second semester of scholastic year 2021-2022 for grades 4-6 math and Arabic language subjects. In addition to the remedial program, TAP continued to work closely with MoE to pilot and field-test the diagnostic study test items developed in Arabic and math, and the conditions for learning questionnaires. Field testing evaluated the psychometric properties of items, determined appropriate time assigned to test components, evaluated clarity of instruction, tried out logistics including test security measures, and collected feedback related to any aspect of testing materials and procedures that can affect validity and reliability of data. TAP also completed a situational analysis with MoE through conducting a series of participatory data dialogue sessions to share, validate and prioritize policy, systems and capacity needs under key technical domains in close coordination with MoE's relevant managing directorates. The situational analysis report is in its final stage and will be submitted to USAID and MoE in January 2022. Implementation challenges were also identified during the reporting period, including a shortage of human, material and financial resources, lack of continuous professional development and capacity building, and inefficient resource management within MoE's examination and curricula departments. TAP is working to address these challenges through modifications to TRG's role, reducing TRG's budget, and taking responsibility for staffing the IR-2 team including STTAs and embedded staff focused on capacity building and professional development/in-service. The program's quarterly and cumulative achievements are presented in the "Core Program Activities" section of this report under the relevant results and sub-results. Targets will be identified upon finalization of the Situational Analysis findings, and in close coordination with GoJ counterparts.