Quarterly Report: Time to Learn Project FY 2015 Quarter 2

The project is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and partners with the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology, Vocational Training, and Early Education (MESVTEE) to develop an effective, replicable, and sustainable model for improving reading performance and responding to the economic, social, and psychological complexities faced by OVCs. During the second quarter of FY 2015, TTL focused on cleaning and analyzing midline impact evaluation data, drafting the midline impact evaluation report, and preparing research designs and study protocols for the third and fourth case studies in the TTL Case Study Series. The project also conducted a series of dissemination events for the first two TTL Case Studies at the central and decentralized levels of the MESVTEE, as well as with TTL education partners. 957 Zonal In-Service Coordinators (ZICs), community school head teachers, and teachers were trained in literacy instruction using mobile phones and instructional videos as a medium for the training. Head teachers were also trained to facilitate school-based teacher training with mobile phones and videos of model teaching practices. School-based teacher training activities on the Early Grade Stepping Stone Reading Program have started and were completed in several schools. 55 MESVTEE administrators and trainers were trained in eEGRA Instruct in Central and Southern provinces. These included Provincial and District Education Standards Officers and Resource Center Coordinators. The eEGRA Instruct instrument will allow these officials to provide better qualitative support to early-grade teachers in the area of literacy. In turn, these officials have started to train Zonal In-Service Coordinators in the use of this formative assessment tool during their monitoring visits. TTL continued to monitor the scholarship program and collect students' receipts for scholarship payments. TTL paid scholarships for 3,768 orphans and vulnerable children, including 1,573 grade 11 students and 2,195 grade 12 students. 342 secondary schools were monitored to verify 2014 scholarship payments, students' enrollment, and attendance. USAID/Zambia Mission Director, Dr. Brems, visited a TTL-supported community school in Muchinga Province. The project's key purpose is to sustainably improve the quality of education in community schools and institutionalize, in a decentralized way, MESVTEE support to community schools to stabilize their operations. This is being done by providing educational resources, improving teacher skills and school management, and enhancing learner support through community and private sector participation. Addressing four key task areas, TTL assists the MESVTEE to promote a favorable environment for MESVTEE engagement at all levels to support community schools, promote HIV/AIDS prevention and provide a continuum of educational and financial support to enable OVCs to participate in upper basic and secondary education, develop the capacity of local community groups and NGOs to advocate for opportunities for children in greatest need, and support opportunities to engage universities and other institutions in research related to promoting educational opportunities for OVC. The project achieved several milestones during the reporting period, including training 957 ZICs, head teachers, and teachers in the phone literacy program, distributing 61 laptops equipped with e-EGRA and TTL Training material to MESVTEE administrators, training 55 administrators and 56 ZICS in the utilization of e-EGRA, and training 187 Secondary School Administrators and teachers in scholarship program administration and documentation. The project also monitored the scholarship program and collected students' receipts for scholarship payments, paid scholarships for 3,768 orphans and vulnerable children, and monitored 342 secondary schools to verify 2014 scholarship payments, students' enrollment, and attendance. The project's results table shows that the number of administrators and officials successfully trained with USG support increased to 3,797, and the percentage of zonal, district, provincial, and other MESVTEE entities monitoring community schools systematically increased to 12%. The percentage of TTL community schools receiving increased support from the MESVTEE also increased to 30%. The project also reported an increase in the number of learners enrolled in primary schools and/or equivalent non-school-based settings with USG support, from 462,625 to 500,000. The project also reported an increase in the number of textbooks and other teaching and learning materials provided with USG assistance, from 226 to 1,007.