USAID Learn to Read 1Q2019 Quarterly Report

The project aims to improve the reading skills of children in pre-primary, grade 1, and grade 2 classes in Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), with a focus on non-Lao-speaking children and children with disabilities. The project targets 16 districts in four provinces of Lao PDR, reaching an estimated minimum of 65,313 children over the life of the project. The Activity has a Strategic Opportunities Fund (SOF) available to provide flexibility in responding to unanticipated gaps, needs, and opportunities. The overarching goal of the Activity is to improve reading skills for all children in pre-primary, grade 1, and grade 2, with a focus on the inclusion of non-Lao-speaking children and children with disabilities. The Activity will develop and distribute teaching and learning materials, train and support teachers, and engage school communities to help children to learn to read on time. The Activity has a flexible, system-strengthening approach to addressing key gaps that limit reading skill acquisition. The Activity will emphasize Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) ownership and reinforce government and non-government national, provincial, and local-level systems through co-design and co-implementation. The project is divided into several components, including Pre-primary Reading Readiness (PP-RR) and Primary Reading Improvement (RI). The PP-RR component aims to develop a Reading Readiness (RR) and instructional materials package for pre-primary, in collaboration with the Global Partnership for Education (GPE II) and the MoES Research Institute for Educational Sciences (RIES). The RI component aims to develop a Reading Improvement (RI) package for students in Grades 1 and 2, in collaboration with MoES-RIES. The RI package will complement the national curriculum revised with the support of the Basic Education Quality and Access in Lao PDR (BEQUAL) program, addressing the diverse needs of learners, including those from ethnic communities or with disabilities. The Activity will also focus on Teacher Professional Development, collaborating with MoES to design and deliver a teacher professional development package that includes teacher training, classroom support, and capacity building. The package will be designed to support teachers in developing the skills and knowledge needed to effectively teach reading to their students. The project will be implemented in close coordination and partnership with the MoES and with leading donor-funded education initiatives to ensure that the systems-strengthening, school improvement, and community mobilization efforts are complementary and mutually reinforcing.