National Reading Program Implementation and Expansion
USAID has partnered with the Government of Malawi to improve the reading skills of students in the first four years of primary school through the Malawi National Reading Program (NRP). The NRP is revising the curriculum and instructional approach to be founded upon evidence-based practices for teaching reading in Chichewa and English. The program also includes revising student textbooks and teacher guides, distributing textbooks to students, training teachers, assessing students, updating national policy, and engaging communities and families to support reading.
STS assisted the ministry in developing appropriate reading and listening benchmarks and setting targets for reading achievement for Chichewa and English across the early grades (Standards 1-4) of primary school. STS facilitated workshops and engaged key stakeholders to determine performance levels and develop policy surrounding the use of reading proficiency scales.
STS also collaborated with local implementers, the Malawi Institute of Education (MIE), the MoEST, and Florida State University (FSU) to support the monitoring and evaluation of the newly developed Standards 5 through 8 Chichewa and English curricula. STS provided technical support for the review, piloting, and MIE’s data collection and analysis. Throughout the curricula piloting, STS provided in-person training and support on data collection procedures and best practices. Finally, STS’s expert lead capacity strengthening efforts with the MIE team on qualitative analysis, quantitative analysis in R, and report formatting and structure.
In partnership with Florida State University & USAID/Malawi
Dates: 2020 – 2023