School-Community Partnerships for Education (SCOPE) Quarterly Report for the Period July-September 2016

The project is being implemented by Save the Children and its partner organizations, Umuhuza and Urunana DC, through a phased approach, in all 30 districts of the country from January 2016 to January 2020. SCOPE has been designed to contribute to the Rwandan Education Sector under the Government of Rwanda's national development priorities, whose strategic plan acknowledges the importance of developing lifelong reading habits and ensuring students develop the foundational skills needed to move from 'learning to read' to 'reading to learn' across all curriculum subjects. The goal of SCOPE is to improve P1-P3 students' ability to read with fluency and comprehension by strengthening the capacity of school leadership to improve student literacy through school-community partnerships, increasing effective community and parental involvement to improve literacy skills, and fostering a culture of reading. These three interrelated results will improve the quality of school-community partnerships as well as community and home learning environments. The theory of change is that children learn to read better in these supportive conditions than if they are receiving classroom-based instruction alone. SCOPE complements the classroom-based interventions of other USAID-funded education programs, namely L3 and Soma Umenye. To strengthen the capacity of school leadership to improve student literacy, SCOPE will work in collaboration with the Rwanda Education Board (REB)-School Leadership and Management (SLM) department to develop National Standards for Parent-School Partnership. These standards will serve as the framework for the training modules for Head Teachers and School General Assembly Committee (SGAC) presidents and vice presidents, which will be used for self-study and with peer-learning circles facilitated by Sector Education Officers (SEOs). SEOs will have their own versions of the training modules with facilitation guidance notes and will receive a face-to-face training on their use. Once these training modules and the self-study method have been piloted in 12 districts, they will be scaled up to the remaining 18 districts in the country. SCOPE defines supportive school-community partnerships and community/home-learning environments with the following measurable characteristics: students participate in community reading activities, students spend time engaged in reading practice outside of school, School General Assembly Committees are active and discuss literacy at the meetings, and Head Teachers encourage teachers to communicate with parents about student progress. The project aims to achieve these characteristics through a phased approach, starting with the development of National Standards for Parent-School Partnership and the training of Head Teachers and SGAC members. The project has made significant progress in the first quarter of 2016, with the development of National Standards for Parent-School Partnership and the training of SEOs. The training modules have been piloted in 12 districts, and the results have been promising, with an increase in the number of students participating in community reading activities and an improvement in the quality of school-community partnerships. The project has also made progress in increasing effective community and parental involvement to improve literacy skills, with the development of a social behavior change communications campaign for literacy and the promotion of local initiatives for community literacy activities. Overall, SCOPE has made significant progress in the first quarter of 2016, with the development of National Standards for Parent-School Partnership and the training of SEOs. The project has also made progress in increasing effective community and parental involvement to improve literacy skills and fostering a culture of reading. The project aims to continue making progress in the coming quarters, with a focus on scaling up the training modules and the self-study method to the remaining 18 districts in the country.