USAID Quality Reading Project – Kyrgyz Republic - Quarterly Report (October – December 2015)

The project is a four-year initiative implemented by the American Institutes for Research (AIR) and Save the Children (SC). The primary objective of the contract is to improve student reading levels, increase availability of reading materials, increase out-of-school reading time, and increase government support to improve reading. The project focuses on improving reading instruction in grades 1-4, increasing availability of reading materials, increasing out-of-school reading time, and increasing government support to improve reading. The project works to build capacity from the national level down to the classroom, supporting the common goal of improving students' reading skills. The project has made significant progress in the Kyrgyz Republic, with one of the main successes being the in-service teacher certification for 3,610 teachers from Cohort 1 schools. The teachers received certificates from the Kyrgyz Academy of Education (KAE) for the completion of the 72-hour in-service teacher training (IST) course. Schoolteachers in Chui, Naryn, and Issykul Oblasts started the first quarter of the school year off with a training on how to organize Reading Camps. 349 Reading Camp mentors were trained, and 79 reading camps were organized in reaching over 3,000 students. The project also celebrated National Book Day on Chinghiz Aitmatov's birthday, with over 1,197 teachers and 11,183 students participating in celebration of the National Book Day activities. The government bodies, heads of local self-governance, school administrations, parents, and children actively promoted book reading by performing mini-dramas, reading stories, singing songs, making handmade books, and similar book-related activities. The project held joint workshops with the USAID Quality Reading Project Tajik team, including a capacity building workshop on data use and psychometrics and an Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) Grade 3 Instrument Development Workshop. Planning for the 2016 midterm data collection and EGRA has begun, with direct collaboration with the MOES and the NTC in the planning, designing, and data collection stages. The USAID Quality Reading Project and the National Testing Center organized a meeting with the National Committee on Reading to present the midterm EGRA key findings. The midterm assessment was conducted in April 2015 in Grades 2 and 4 for Kyrgyz and Russian languages in four oblasts of Cohort 1 schools. The MOES was pleased to see that there was an improvement in reading scores for grade 2 students, with the populations that saw the largest improvement in reading scores being boys and students who were learning in a language other than their mother tongue. The project hosted two high-profile visits, including a visit by the USAID Mission Director, Michael Greene, who was impressed by the project's activities. The project has made significant progress in improving reading levels among students in grades 1-4 in the Kyrgyz Republic. The project's life span is from June 28, 2013, to October 27, 2017, with a total estimated contract/agreement of $9,410,609 (Modification 3). The project has obligated $9,410,609 (Modification 3) to date, with total expenses at the beginning of the quarter (September 30, 2015) being $3,874,508. The expenditures for the current reporting period (October 2015 – December 2015) were $508,868, with a pipeline at the end of the quarter (December 31, 2015) of $4,383,376. The estimated expenditure for the next quarter (January 2016 – March 2016) is $820,000.