Innovative Finance
August 1, 2024
Context and Issue
Before the Aprender a Ler (Learn to Read) project was initiated, Mozambique's education system faced significant challenges due to its turbulent history. Since 1992, following a long colonial period, a 10-year war for independence, and 16 years of civil war, Mozambique has been in a phase of rebuilding and improving its educational system. The country experienced a rapid expansion in access to primary education, with the number of children in primary school increasing from 3.3 million in 2003 to 5.3 million in 2007, growing at an average rate of 8 percent per year. However, this rapid increase in student enrollment placed a large burden on the already struggling educational system, resulting in many schools operating in double and triple shifts to accommodate the growing number of students. There was a severe shortage of qualified teachers, and school and district managers faced numerous challenges in managing the increased demand and ensuring quality education.
Solution
Aprender a Ler (Learn to Read) is a USAID-funded project implemented by World Education, Inc. to improve early grade reading outcomes in Mozambique, initiated in 2012 in response to USAID’s “All Children Reading” Strategy. The project addressed significant educational challenges, particularly in early grade literacy, by focusing on three key components: training over 5,000 teachers in early grade reading instruction and over 1,000 school directors in school management practices, developing high-quality reading and instructional materials for students and teachers, and designing summative and formative assessment instruments to measure improvements in reading ability, instruction quality, and school management skills. Implemented by World Education, Inc., in collaboration with local Mozambican counterparts, the project targeted over 1,000 urban and rural schools in the Zambézia and Nampula provinces. It employed a two-fold approach of increasing the quality of reading instruction through in-school coaching and material distribution, and enhancing the quantity of reading instruction by strengthening school management practices. The project, which ran from 2012 to 2016, emphasized institutional capacity building at school, district, and provincial levels by working closely with the Ministry of Education, laying the groundwork for subsequent initiatives like the Vamos Ler! program.
Impact
The USAID-funded Aprender a Ler (Learn to Read) program significantly improved early grade reading outcomes in Mozambique, particularly in rural areas. One year post-intervention, schools receiving the full intervention outperformed control schools in all Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) subtests for grades 2 and 3. For example, Oral Comprehension scores in grade 2 full intervention schools were 22% higher than control schools, while Letter Recognition was 173% higher. However, advanced pre-reading and actual reading skills remained low, with grade 3 Oral Comprehension scores dropping to 92% of their 2014 levels.
The program, implemented from 2012 to 2016, trained over 5,000 teachers and 1,000 school directors, developed high-quality reading materials, and improved school management practices. Despite these efforts, the sustainability of improvements was mixed. Teacher instructional behaviors and classroom material retention saw notable declines, with full-treatment schools retaining about 59% of reading materials a year after the intervention. Urban schools showed less sustained impact than rural schools, where the gains were more significant.