The USAID Read with Me Project in Tajikistan is a five-year early grade reading project that seeks to improve reading outcomes for students in grades 1 through 4 in targeted schools across Tajikistan.
STS led the project’s baseline, midline, and endline Early Grade Reading Assessments (EGRAs) and Snapshot of School Management and Effectiveness (SSME) surveys. With local stakeholders, STS developed and piloted new EGRA tools for both Tajik and Russian in grades 2 and 4 for data collection in nearly 300 schools in 2018, 2019, and 2021. The EGRA provided USAID and policymakers in Tajikistan with both a nationally representative snapshot of reading performance over time and an estimate of RWM intervention effects on reading progress. Additionally, STS developed a comprehensive formative assessment teacher training module with supporting materials for grade 1 through 4 teachers in two national languages: Tajik and Russian. The module built the skills of early grade teachers to develop, administer, and use formative assessments of reading in the classroom. The trainings cascaded through a training-of-trainer model to reach approximately 2,800 schools.