Kenya
Background
According to the 2021 UWEZO report, only two in five grade 4 learners meet expectations in reading a grade 3 appropriate English text. Much as this statistic speaks to the general education landscape in Kenya, this disadvantage is loudest in arid and semi-arid areas of the country, which host the pastoralist communities where Grassroots nest for Innovations and Change (GRIC) works is majorly focused. With these regions presently experiencing the worst spell of drought in the past twenty years, poverty levels are high and investment in education is low. These factors impact on children’s participation in school.
GRIC is a not-for-profit organization, which aspires to be the hub for capacity strengthening of community-driven innovations that lead to lasting change in vulnerable communities in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. GRIC’s entry point in any community is education. The end game is to build a grassroots movement for education where communities drive their children’s education and demand high quality education services for their children from different duty bearers. In Kenya, GRIC partners with community-based organizations, women, and youth groups, to ensure that children go to school, learn, succeed, and acquire the skills they require to thrive in the ever-changing world. They strengthen children’s foundational literacy and numeracy skills in pastoralist communities in Kajiado and DolDol in Laikipia North and in the informal settlements in Nairobi. GRIC implements the TaRL methodology in primary schools as a strategy to support the accelerated acquisition of foundational literacy skills for learners’ furthest behind in the learning cycle. TaRL is a fun, non- stigmatizing, non-resource intensive way of promoting learning in underserved communities. It debunks the myth that literacy instruction and acquisition is a tedious process. In addition to supporting learning, the TaRL classes provide an avenue for the learners to forget about the harsh reality of their environment albeit temporarily. “I always look forward to the TaRL classes, I like the games and other activities in the session and I am steadily learning how to construct sentences. I believe that my dream of becoming a veterinary doctor to support my community will be a reality.” Female learner, Kajiado GRIC, through the support of TaRL Africa, is presently implementing the Pamoja Twasoma project in Kajiado County. In this project, GRIC is partnering with teachers, local youth, grassroots organizations, schools’ leadership, and education officials, especially Curriculum Support Officers- CSO’s.
The Pamoja Twasoma project employs the use of the first language to promote the accelerated acquisition of literacy skills. Moving learners from the familiar (first) language to the formal (English) language is anchored on the theory that learning happens faster when moving learners from the known to the unknown. In seven schools, Maa language, the home language, is used particularly at the beginner and word levels. The learners then transition to learning English, which is the language of instruction in schools in Kenya. The intervention takes 60 days with short breaks in between. Concurrently in 15 additional primary schools, we use English right from the word level. This approach has a 45–60-day intervention. The overall level-based approach includes assessing and grouping children according to their ability levels, and not according to their grade level or age. They are identified through a one-on-one assessment and thereafter grouped in three levels the beginner, the word, and the paragraph levels, each group is taught using level-appropriate activities and materials and at the end of 10 days, the students are assessed. Those who qualify, move on to the next level. The classes take place at community spaces, specifically at the manyatta learning centers or at the school, depending on the context and the school schedule. When school is ongoing, classes take place either after school hours, early in the morning, before school schedule commence or at lunch time. GRIC also uses solar powered radios and cell phones to provide digital learning. This involves working with caregivers and families to ensure the content from KICD, Rising on Air and other existing learning platforms is downloaded in USB, delivered to the learning centers for use by the learners using the radios, while the cell phones will be used to access learning materials to caregivers, and accessing learning content from websites. Application of technology in learning will complement learning during and beyond the camps. Engaging parents in their children’s education is part and parcel of our project model
By the end of 2022, GRIC anticipates reaching an estimated 600 learners in the Maa classes in our Pamoja Twasoma project schools. They project to reach an additional 1,800 learners in our other schools in Kajiado county. GRIC anticipates recruiting another cohort of learners when schools reopen in 2023. An analysis of the community based intervention implemented in March 2022 revealed the following results.
- Intervention group literacy level transition rates The lowest transition rates were from letter to word. Across all the partner schools, on average 80% of the learners were able to move from identifying letters to being able to make and read words by combining letters. The highest transition rates were from word to paragraph and story levels. On average, 88% of the learners who were able to read words were able to read paragraphs with 90% of the learners who were reading paragraphs being able to read, understand and answer questions about the story.
- Non-intervention group’s literacy levels transition rates Similar to those in the intervention groups, the transition rate from identifying letters to making words out of the letters was the lowest at 63%. There was a significant improvement of 65% of the learners identifying words being able to read paragraphs and 67 % of the learners reading paragraphs transitioning to being able to read and understand stories. Across both groups, movement across the lower reading levels (letter and word). This calls for concerted efforts from GRIC and our partners to concentrate efforts on these groups in the next phase of the cycle without losing sight of the paragraph and story level learners. Emerging data from our midline assessment conducted in September 2022 indicate impressive transition rates across all the reading levels with the least transition rates in the formative reading levels. The Pamoja Twasoma project employs the use of the first language to promote the accelerated acquisition of literacy skills. Moving learners from the familiar (first) language to the formal (English) language is anchored on the theory that learning happens faster when moving learners from the known to the unknown. In seven schools, Maa language, the home language, is used particularly at the beginner and word levels. The learners then transition to learning English, which is the language of instruction in schools in Kenya. The intervention takes 60 days with short breaks in between. Concurrently in 15 additional primary schools, we use English right from the word level. This approach has a 45–60-day intervention. The overall level-based approach includes assessing and grouping children according to their ability levels, and not according to their grade level or age. They are identified through a one-on-one assessment and thereafter grouped in three levels the beginner, the word, and the paragraph levels, each group is taught using level-appropriate activities and materials and at the end of 10 days, the students are assessed. Those who qualify, move on to the next level. The classes take place at community spaces, specifically at the manyatta learning centers or at the school, depending on the context and the school schedule. When school is ongoing, classes take place either after school hours, early in the morning, before school schedule commence or at lunch time. GRIC also uses solar powered radios and cell phones to provide digital learning. This involves working with caregivers and families to ensure the content from KICD, Rising on Air and other existing learning platforms is downloaded in USB, delivered to the learning centers for use by the learners using the radios, while the cell phones will be used to access learning materials to caregivers, and accessing learning content from websites. Application of technology in learning will complement learning during and beyond the camps. Engaging parents in their children’s education is part and parcel of our project model
Remedial Reading Program – Kenya
Many children in Kenya resumed learning in January 2021 with substantial learning loss following the long closure of schools during the COVID-19 pandemic. And although the full extent of the resulting loss is unknown, the Government of Kenya, through the Ministry of Education sought to develop and implement a Remedial Reading Program with technical support from the RTI International and TaRL Africa based on the Teaching at the Right Level Approach. The pilot focused on Grade 2 and 3 children across 26 counties, targeting 29,135 learners in 308 public primary schools and 81 youth-led community learning centres. The pilot was aimed at minimizing the learning loss that was occasioned by the COVID-19 school closure in 2020, by improving the quality of instruction that learners receive to accelerate their foundational reading skills, and also utilize the resultant data to guide policy decisions. The Teaching at the Right Level was identified as the most suitable approach to address the low literacy rates in primary schools in Kenya, which would build in better instructional practices, expand resources for teacher training, and develop learning materials that support multilingual literacy.
The Remedial Reading pilot was a fully government-owned program which was reflected in its design which involved representatives from various institutions and departments within the Ministry of Education including the Directorates of Quality Assurance, Directorate of Policy, Partnerships and East African Community Affairs and Primary Education, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD), Kenya Education Management Institute (KEMI), USAID, RTI-Tusome, and TaRL Africa. The program governance was steered by the Regional and national Level coordination committees which comprised of the Quality Assurance and Standards Officers and the National Technical Teams respectively.
Program implementation, teacher training and mentoring support were overseen by the Ministry’s Quality Assurance and Standards officers, while RTI international, and TaRL Africa staff provided regular mentoring support. The program was delivered during school days for one designated hour each day for both Kiswahili and English. Through school visits, the program mentors provided academic support and coaching to teachers and teacher assistants. They ensured consistency in program delivery and problem solving.
Both grades recorded improvements in higher and lower learning levels for both English and Kiswahili. At higher levels the percentage improvement was almost similar across grades, with Grade 2 recording 11 and 12-percentage point improvement in the proportion of learners who could read simple paragraphs and short stories while Grade 3 recorded a 12 to 13-percentage point improvement. At lower reading levels, Grade 2 recorded a 13 to 14-percentage point reduction in the proportion of learners who could not read simple words, with Grade 3 recording similar percentage point reduction at the same level.
1. Soland, J., Kuhfeld, M., Tarasawa, B., Johnson, A., Ruzek, E., & Liu, J. (2020, May 27). The Impact of COVID-19 on student achievement and what it means for educators. Blog post, Brookings Institute Brown Center Chalkboard. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-centerchalkboard/2020/05/27/the-impact-of-covid-19-on-student-achievement-and-what-it-may-mean-foreducators/#:~:text=These%20preliminary %20COVID%20 Slide%20estimates,than%2050%25%20of%20the%20gains 2. Uwezo (2017): Are Our Children Learning? Lessons from Uwezo Learning Assessments from 2011 to 2015. Dar es Salaam: Twaweza East Africa. 3. Uwezo (2016): Are Our Children Learning? Uwezo Kenya Sixth Learning Assessment Report. Nairobi: Twaweza East Africa.
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1) Uwezo (2016) “Are Our Children Learning?” Uwezo Kenya Sixth Learning Assessment Report. Twaweza East Africa. Accessed October 24, 2018. http://www.uwezo.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/UwezoKenya2015ALAReport-FINAL-EN-web.pdf
