The OECS/USAID Early Learners Program (ELP) is a reading development programme for young learners. It is administered by the OECS Commission and funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The ELP is working to address essential aspects of policy and practice in order to improve the reading levels of all learners at the early primary level (Grade K to Grade 3). The six beneficiary OECS member states in which the ELP is being implemented are Antigua and Barbuda; Dominica; Grenada; Saint Lucia; St. Kitts and Nevis and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
The ELP believes that if students are able to read at or above their primary grade level, they will be better prepared to successfully negotiate education programmes at the higher primary and secondary levels. As reading is an essential skill for a child’s further academic development and later professional success, especially in the emerging knowledge-based society, the ELP is expected to ultimately help advance the socio-economic development of these OECS countries.
Objectives
The Early Learners Programme will advance overall student learning at the end of the primary education cycle by improving the reading achievement levels of all learners at the early primary level (Grade K to Grade 3) in six member states of the OECS.
Specifically, the project will:
Who Benefits?
Students
Interventions under the Early Learners Programme will benefit Kindergarten to Grade three (3) students and their teachers in the six participating OECS Member States. The Early Learners Programme anticipates that in any year approximately nineteen thousand (19,000) students and eleven hundred (1,100) teachers will be directly involved in the ELP
Teachers
In particular, the Early Learners Programme will target all early Grade readers and teachers by providing the necessary technical expertise, support and other resources to directly address the needs of the disadvantaged and those at-risk of not learning to read.
At the same time, however, outputs such as curriculum materials, student assessment frameworks and staff development programmes will be distributed across the wider primary school system.
Member States
Ultimately, the wider communities within these Member States will benefit from the ELP’s interventions.:
Antigua and Barbuda
Dominica
Grenada
St. Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Components
The Early Learners Programme consists of 7 strategically selected components to address those factors that are believed to contribute most to improvements in children’s ability to read. These are:
This component focuses on appropriate language of instruction where students entering primary school may have a mother tongue different from English which is being taught in the schools. The objective is to establish an appropriate policy within each Member State for introducing reading to children whom English is a second language.
This component will examine existing pre-service and in-service programmes for developing teachers’ competence in the teaching of reading at the primary level. The objective is to improve the training programmes for the teaching of reading.
Professional development will be provided to teachers to strengthen the content and pedagogy related to the teaching of reading and in the use of standardised reading tests. Higher level training will be undertaken for teachers identified to provide coaching and mentoring in their schools and districts. The objective is to improve the competencies of teachers to teach reading and conduct assessment of early primary learners.
This component emphasizes the value of using student assessment data in guiding the teaching and learning process. A comprehensive assessment of students will provide data for informing implementation activities in the other programme components.
Component 5 focuses on addressing the need for access to teaching and learning resources. The objective is to provide more adequate and appropriate teaching and learning resources, materials and equipment to support reading.
The focus will be on improving the school curriculum that support teaching and learning with focus on the adequacy of the instructional time for reading for children to develop and practice their reading skills. The objective is to strengthen the management of reading instructional time in the early primary reading programme.
The focus will be to help school management gain a better appreciation for structured planning, monitoring and evaluation and developing plans for achieving the objectives of reading improvement programmes. The objective is to build capacity for more appropriate school management practices aimed at improving reading.
Aproach
- Use of diagnostic tools to assess student performance;
- Development of a results-oriented evaluation design
- Continuous programme monitoring for measuring impact;
- Use of teaching and learning materials focused on key reading problems;
- Careful selection of tools and instructional materials during teacher training;
- Use of Information Communication Technologies, especially computers for teaching and for accessing online resources.
- Existing teacher-training programmes at local institutions will be reviewed and possibly revised to better support adequate exposure of teacher trainees to the teaching of reading, including post-project longer-term teacher training.
- The policy change will be sought to increase the amount of curriculum time devoted to reading instruction.
- Principals and administrators will be assisted to enhance their school improvement (development) planning processes and to include elements related to literacy improvement in those plans. In this way, improving students’ reading will be better integrated in school plans with an adequate share of resources and greater visibility in school progress reports.
- A broad spectrum of interventions, including specifically to address either preventive, remedial and maintenance needs, have been strategically selected to contribute to a holistic approach to the reading improvement programme. Schools or classes can select from a menu of options in order to address their respective learning needs. This framework is intended to address varying ability and diverse needs identified through systematic student assessment procedures.
Achievements
Achievements: To date the ELP has achieved a number of tangible outputs with over 17,000 learners reached at the Primary level, over 1500 Grades K to 3 teachers supported through job-embedded professional development, 1426 lessons observed and 1031 coaching sessions with teachers have been completed by ELP Coordinators. Further, 60 schools across the Member States have received development grants to support reading enhancement projects and 173,114 teaching and learning materials have been provided to 750 classrooms across the OECS. The OECS/USAID ELP will run through to September 2020 continuing to develop and implement impactful initiatives that advance early grade reading throughout the OECS.
