The National Program for Reading (NPR) project’s goal was to help “students in target regions read fluently and with comprehension by the end of the second school year.” It aimed to implement change by focusing on three components linked to the intermediate results outlined in the activity framework:
• Improved reading and writing materials used in primary school
• Improved reading and writing instruction in primary schools
• Learning and assessment system improved
STS was contracted to design and conduct a non-experimental, mixed-methods performance evaluation, which gathered information for two purposes. The first purpose was to evaluate the extent to which NPR achieved its activity targets and outcomes; and the second was to build on the findings from the previous whole-of-project Reading for Success (RFS) evaluation conducted in 2019 that were related to project implementation, sustainability, and the role of the Ministry of National Education, Preschool, and Sports.
STS’s evaluators utilized a mixed-methods research approach including both qualitative analysis and secondary quantitative analysis. The evaluation team conducted qualitative fieldwork over the course of approximately four weeks across six regions and 12 provinces in collaboration with local contracted data collectors. Data was gathered from a variety of NPR stakeholder respondent groups to gain an understanding of multiple perspectives and experiences across a variety of levels—national, regional, provincial, and school/community—and to enable triangulation of data and findings. The qualitative data collection methods included semi-structured key informant interviews (KIIs) and focus group discussions (FGDs). In addition, the team gathered existing NPR project data as was possible, including EGRA results, to conduct secondary analysis. Triangulation used qualitative and quantitative methods to gain a more holistic understanding of NPR and mitigate potential bias in data analysis.
Data were analyzed from December 2022 to March 2023, culminating in a Data Validation Workshop with key stakeholders in Rabat and a remote Final Results Presentation. The results, conclusions, and recommendations of this evaluation were disseminated through a final report, which was submitted to USAID and published on the DEC.