Innovative Finance
August 1, 2024
Context
Ethiopia faces significant challenges in providing quality education, particularly as 80% of its population lives in remote and rural areas. Over the past two decades, while there has been remarkable progress in increasing access to primary education, with the net enrollment rate rising from 30% in 1995/96 to 85.8% in 2013/14, this expansion came at the cost of quality. National Learning Assessments (NLA) and Early Grade Reading Assessments (EGRA) showed a decline in student scores and low reading fluency, with only 5% of enrolled second-grade students reaching a 60-word-per-minute reading fluency. Other challenges include a substantial literacy gender gap among adults at 15 percentage points (though narrower among young adults), high dropout rates in early grades (25% in the first grade), and an overall low literacy rate of 52% in the adult population, hindering national development goals.
Solution
Launched in 2013, the AfL program aims to develop teachers' capacity for implementing continuous assessment in classrooms. Its core objectives are to improve teaching practices by using information from regular assessments and to align these practices with Minimum Learning Competencies (MLCs), focusing on learner-focused pedagogy. The program concentrates on literacy (mother tongue and English), mathematics, and environmental science.
The program developed a comprehensive in-service teacher training program and implemented a Training-of-Trainers (ToT) model to prepare a core group of trained local personnel, which included selected teachers, school directors, curriculum experts, and cluster supervisors . The ToT training consists of two five-day basic courses and one three-day refresher course, conducted at the district level in local languages. The program uses a cascading knowledge model, with ToT graduates expected to cascade this knowledge to other teachers in their cluster schools (school training) and to teachers in nearby satellite schools (cluster training).
A key input was the development of an AfL package for teachers, which included teaching reference materials for each core subject, field-tested assessment tools, and a continuous assessment manual as a reference tool. The materials were contextualized and translated into appropriate local languages. The program was initially piloted in 3 regions in Ethiopia and has since expanded to 7 more regions. Since 2018, the AfL program has been integrated into pre-service training at Colleges of Teacher Education (CTEs) in certain regions, which is a more cost-effective and sustainable way to scale up compared to the cascading model.
Impact
The AfL program improved teachers’ knowledge of continuous assessment, question development, and feedback provision, helping them adapt lessons to diverse student needs. Teachers in AfL cluster schools spent 19% more time actively assessing and 30% more time interacting with students, with better lesson planning, individual coaching, and a shift toward student-centered learning compared to control schools. It also increased teacher–parent communication beyond disciplinary issues. Student test scores improved in Mother Tongue and Mathematics but not in English or Environmental Science. Qualitative interviews highlighted increased student participation, motivation, self-confidence, and reduced absenteeism and dropouts. The program secured strong policy buy-in and is now part of Ethiopia’s national Continuous Classroom Assessment (CCA) module under GEQIP-E, which covers half of all schools. It has also been integrated into the Ministry of Education’s Continuous Professional Development program for teachers. Overall, stakeholders from regional officials to teachers view AfL as a valuable approach for improving education quality.