Lecture Pour Tous Final Performance Report FINAL CLEAN 1
Lecture Pour Tous Final Performance Report FINAL CLEAN 1
PHOTO COVER
This publication was produced for review by the United States Agency for International
Development. It was prepared by Chemonics International Inc.
LECTURE POUR TOUS
A REVOLUTION TO GET ALL CHILDREN READING IN SENEGAL
• Outcome 1: Improved early grade reading instruction in public primary schools and daaras
• Outcome 2: Improved delivery systems for early grade reading instruction
• Outcome 3: Improved parent and community engagement in early grade reading
The program targeted Grades 1, 2, and 3 in six regions (Diourbel, Fatick, Kaffrine, Kaolack,
Louga, and Matam) using three national languages in EGR instruction (Pulaar, Seereer, and
Wolof). As illustrated in Figure 1 below, USAID and the ministry used a phased implementation
approach and provided four years of direct support to classrooms in Fatick, Kaffrine, Kaolack,
and Matam, from 2017 to 2021, and three years of direct classroom support in Diourbel and
Louga, from 2018 to 2021. In addition, Lecture Pour Tous implemented a parent and community
component in 20% of school communities randomly selected across all target regions except for
Fatick, where another USAID implementing partner was already conducting this kind of work.
However, the program also directly implemented parent and community efforts in expanded
implementation to the region of Saint-Louis and provided additional technical assistance to the
region’s education offices as they expanded key aspects of program reforms under a
government-to-government (G2G) accord between USAID and the government of Senegal.
Additionally, the program helped pilot early grade reading reforms in 64 Quranic schools, or
daaras, in all six target regions and in four inclusive education schools in three regions,
introducing Wolof materials and testing in Braille.
When the COVID-19 crisis caused the government of Senegal to close schools from March
through October 2020, Lecture Pour Tous swiftly shifted to support the MEN’s “Apprendre à la
maison (Learning at Home)” initiative to respond to the pandemic via radio instruction, educational
videos, and an innovative hybrid training package for teachers and school directors. Although the
ongoing public-health crisis continued to negatively affect the program’s final 21 months of
implementation, the team persevered and adapted activities and approaches as necessary to meet
THEORY OF CHANGE
In addition to the “Five T’s”, the program included an experimental component in parental and
community (P&C) engagement in 20% of targeted school communities, based on promising prior
research indicating that carefully planned family and community engagement to support children’s
reading acquisition can significantly strengthen classroom instructional intervention.
*EGRA administered in four of the six regions, as the program was only active in those regions at the time.
In addition to these program indicator results and despite the pandemic, Lecture Pour Tous also
greatly increased the proportion of students meeting higher benchmarks in national standards
for early grade reading in national languages provisionally established with the program’s help.
Figure 4 shows this improvement relative to the highest reading skills: oral reading fluency and
reading comprehension.
The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic devastated student learning gains and education systems
around the world, and Senegal was no exception. Program technical assistants and the ministry
expended remarkable energy and effort to rapidly pivot to high-quality alternative ways of
student learning, teacher training, instructional coaching, and program supervision to recoup as
much reading acquisition as possible. Despite these efforts, the inability to safely come to school
or meet in person hamstrung implementation.
However, final EGRA and Snapshot of School “[Lecture Pour Tous] enjoys a very good
Management Effectiveness (SSME) results strongly relationship with the ministry at central and
suggest that the more students benefited from key regional levels that allow for frank discussions
elements of the Lecture Pour Tous program the that bring out good mitigating measures and
more they were able to read. This is an important alternative solutions. ... When the COVID crisis
lesson not only for program performance, but interrupted implementation efforts in mid-
even more so because all core elements of the March 2020 and the Government of Senegal
program’s evidence-based approaches now inform closed schools, the [program] quickly
responded by adapting activities to the
two new national reforms set to expand across
emergency context to prevent learning loss
the whole country: first, the conversion of the
and continue some actvities as appropriate.”
entire elementary school system to a bilingual
model, the Modèle Harmonisé de l’Education Bilingue — USAID/SENEGAL, 2020
du Sénégal (MOHEBS), and second, a new national
reading reform encapsulated in the Programme national de lecture scolaire à l’élémentaire (PNLSE).
Overall, Lecture Pour Tous’ accomplishments are considerable, demonstrated by key results and
outputs illustrated in Figure 5 below. These results of crosscutting activities and specific
interventions to achieve each program outcome are further detailed below.
Thanks to Lecture Pour Tous technical assistance, the KEY TEACHING AND LEARNING
MEN improved early grade reading instruction to ACCOMPLISHMENTS
• Increased the number of second graders
nearly 30% of students reading at grade level after the reading at grade level by 30 percentage
initial two years of program implementation — up points.
from a baseline of less than 1%. A set of evidence- • Produced and distributed multiple editions
of a total of 3,119,710 early grade reading
based interventions based on the program’s theory of TLMs in three languages to teachers and
change produced multiple outputs (see box) that students in three grades.
• Developed and implemented ‘training of
drove this remarkable success: trainers’ to strengthen capacity of
inspectors and, in turn, train 5,496 school
• Highly systematic TLMs that use explicit phonics directors and 14,900 teachers.
and follow the linguistic structure of the languages • Piloted a revolutionary pre-service course
children speak and understand, with copious text on early grade reading in seven regional
teacher-training institutes, positioning it to
to allow for sufficient student practice and mastery scale nationwide.
before moving on to higher levels of reading • Introduced a new way of coaching based on
competences observation and constructive feedback,
with structured guides and tools, increasing
• Highly structured teaching and learning routines the coaching skills of 167 inspectors and
and lesson plans that follow this systematic 5,496 school directors.
approach and ensure that all children sufficiently • Conducted a randomized controlled trial of
coaching variants to address challenges with
practice skills first modeled by teachers new, cost-effective ways to help all
• Multiple modalities of training, continuous teachers.
professional development (CPD), and ongoing • Administered four EGRA assessments
(2017, 2018, 2019, 2021) to students in
reminders and motivational messaging for Grades 1 to 2 to track progress.
teachers, including in-person workshops, teacher • Introduced the Local Education Monitoring
learning circles, self-guided training modules, and Approach (LEMA) in 21 district offices for
rapid response.
push messaging via SMS and WhatsApp groups
• Coaching and supervision of teachers to support
their uptake of the new instructional practices and use of the TLMs as intended
• Criterion-referenced and statistically valid skills assessment, testing, and localized monitoring
approaches to inform classroom instruction, district-level planning and support, and MEN
policy
Additionally, our daara pilot successfully introduced early grade reading instruction in the
languages of Pulaar, Seereer, and Wolof into 64 daaras. Beyond the standard package provided
to all target primary schools (teacher training, coaching, and reading materials), Lecture Pour
Tous provided additional support to strengthen daara instructors’ classroom performance and
enhance daara directors’ ability to better support instruction and classroom management.
Studies of teacher knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) at the beginning, middle, and end of
the program also demonstrate the effect of interventions on teaching practices (child-centered
approaches to ensure sufficient student practice, remediation/evaluation techniques, and real use
Lecture Pour Tous demonstrably improved family KEY PARENT AND COMMUNITY
and community engagement to support their ACCOMPLISHMENTS
children’s reading skills (see box), and the results of • Forged a critical link between schools and the
the 2018 EGRA study strongly suggest that this communities they serve to improve student
outcomes.
additional engagement in the 20% of randomly • Increased the capacity and motivation of 4,798
selected school-communities increased student school management committee, or comité de
gestion de l’école (CGE), members through 70
outcomes more than in school-communities where different orientation sessions.
programming focused primarily on classroom • CGEs reached 210, 674 parents and caregivers
instruction. The program achieved these results by through practical sessions on parenting for
reading success.
helping the MEN plan and implement a multifaceted • 210,674 parents and caregivers attended
strategy of outreach initiatives centered around discussion sessions on the importance of early
grade reading and practice at home.
enhancing existing school committee action plans to • 18,099 parents and community members
mobilize parents and communities to support early engaged in community forums promoting the
grade reading, particularly for kids who needed the MEN’s reading reforms.
• 171 radio programs reinforcing these key
most follow-up. messages were broadcast by 27 community
radio stations.
In Year 3, the program modified its community-
engagement strategy, shifting to a more viable,
localized “community mobilizer” strategy increasingly managed by CGE. Through these efforts,
the MEN increased support from parents, caregivers, community members, and other local
actors to improve early grade reading performance in 764 school-communities.
• “Faisons ensemble” is
necessary. Program technical
assistants and MEN leadership
efforts to create a shared vision of the program objectives and create a “doing it together”
approach was critical to program success. The Minister named the program “Lecture Pour
Tous” at the launching and declared that it was MEN’s program – critical to achieving several
key objectives of the current national education strategy. And without collaboration and
shared vision between ministry leadership and personnel on one side and the program’s
technical assistance staff on the other, coming together to make one team – the successes
realized would never have been possible.
• “Faisons ensemble” is hard and must evolve over time. Achieving this level of
collaboration and consistent ministerial ownership is challenging for several reasons, including
limited human resources within the ministry, competing priorities among initiatives, high-
paced donor timelines, and staff and leadership turnover. Several factors can help mitigate
these challenges. For instance, systematic review, validation, and constant updating of
planning with the MEN was critical. It was also important to remain flexible and to support
the MEN in identifying alternative activities in case of obstacles. Over time, “doing things
together” must shift to ministry personnel doing everything independently. The G2G in St.
Louis proved a good test case for this; additional, systematic performance strengthening at
both the central and decentralized levels is yet needed, as well as possible organizational
reviews of certain units where more qualified staff and additional performance incentives may
be necessary for reform success.
• Politics matter. Introducing approaches that are technically sound – i.e., that adhere to the
international and local evidence base for the most efficient ways to get students reading – is
only part of the equation. Myriad other factors affect how much or how well ministry
personnel at all levels, and other education system actors, will adopt these technical
solutions. Further analysis of the political economy of bilingual reading reform in Senegal will
be critical to reform success and the ability of continued technical assistance to effectively
contribute.
In relation to improving reading instruction, program learning provides the following key insights:
• Text:
o Textbooks must contain large
amounts of text at each level
of a systematic scope and
sequence to ensure that
students have enough text to
thoroughly practice and
master incremental reading
skills before moving on to
higher levels of complexity.
o Structured, systematic lesson
plans are critical to guiding
this practice, and less-
structured plans — common
in later weeks of the
program’s Grade 2 materials
— may be partially
responsible for slower progress observed in Grade 2 students.
o Multiple titles and levels of decodable readers were confusing to teachers and
administrators, and alternative ways of printing and packaging these stories could
promote their use and improve management.
o Senegal’s scholastic publishing policy requires private publishers to produce the country’s
TLMs, and assessment of local publishers’ technical and organizational capacities show
that considerable additional investment is needed for them to be ready to produce highly
technical evidence-based reading TLMs in multiple languages. Additional partnerships
among Senegalese publishers and with international publishers should help in part.
• Time:
o Teachers can make enormous gains in time on task in the classroom with the help of
structured, systematic lesson plans and structure student materials to accompany them.
o Finding time for reading lessons in national language, however, has been challenging in a
school day already full of other subjects and with many schools already fitting in multiple
grade levels and two shifts of children. Establishing a new, realistic bilingual education
timetable under the MOHEBS and PNLSE will be critical.
o Teachers and students continue to miss several days of the school year, greatly reducing
overall instructional time in the classroom. More attention to supervision and follow-up
to increase the presence of educators and learners will be important under the new
reforms.
• Test:
o On-the-job capacity strengthening for the ministry unit responsible for assessment
requires the availability, commitment, and willingness of both technicians and managers.
INEADE is currently leading and engaged in so many different important initiatives with a
limited staff, rendering this quite difficult at times. Continued human and institutional
performance strengthening efforts will yet need to navigate these challenges and
potentially help the institution review its organizational capacities generally. While the
unit is already capable of so much, some additional effort is needed for INEADE to
independently conduct EGRA or similar assessments to international standards, with
particular emphasis on planning (sampling, instruments), enumerator training and data
quality assurance, full analysis EGRA data and in conjunction with SSME-like surveys
• Reading reform that sustains system improvements to deliver high student performance
requires many aspects of human and institutional capacity at multiple levels. Early
• Outcome 1: Early grade reading instruction in public primary schools and daaras improved
• Outcome 2: Delivery systems for early grade reading instruction improved
• Outcome 3: Parent and community engagement in early grade reading improved
To achieve these outcomes, the Lecture Pour Tous consortium included a diverse group of
partners contributing complementary expertise and sharing responsibilities: Chemonics
International Inc., Associates in Research and Education for Development (ARED), Cambridge
The program targeted Grades 1, 2, and 3 in six regions (Diourbel, Fatick, Kaffrine, Kaolack,
Louga, and Matam) using three national languages in EGR instruction (Pulaar, Sereer, and Wolof).
As illustrated in Figure 6 next page, USAID and the ministry used a phased implementation
approach and provided four years of direct support to classrooms in Fatick, Kaffrine, Kaolack,
and Matam, from 2017 to 2021, and three years of direct classroom support in Diourbel and
Louga, from 2018 to 2021. In addition, Lecture Pour Tous implemented a parent and community
component in 20% of school communities randomly selected across all target regions except for
Fatick, where another USAID implementing partner was already conducting this kind of work.
However, the program also directly implemented parent and community efforts in expanded
implementation to the region of Saint-Louis and provided additional technical assistance to the
region’s education offices as they expanded key aspects of program reforms under a
government-to-government (G2G) accord between USAID and the government of Senegal.
Additionally, the program helped pilot early grade reading reforms in 64 Quranic schools, or
daaras, in all six target regions and in two inclusive education schools in one region, introducing
Wolof materials and testing in Braille.
When the COVID-19 crisis caused the government of Senegal to close schools from March
through October 2020, Lecture Pour Tous swiftly shifted to support the MEN’s “Apprendre à la
maison (Learning at Home)” initiative to respond to the pandemic via radio instruction, educational
videos, and an innovative hybrid training package for teachers and school directors. Although the
ongoing public-health crisis continued to negatively affect the program’s final 21 months of
implementation, the team persevered and adapted activities and approaches as necessary to meet
as many program objectives as possible and ensure that students did not experience two “lost
years.”
The Lecture Pour Tous program was steered by the outcomes and outputs detailed in its
contractual results framework illustrated on the next page (Figure 7).
To achieve the outcomes and outputs in this results framework, Lecture Pour Tous designed
interventions around a theory of change (Figure 8, following page) based on USAID’s “Five T’s”
framework, which describes the core elements essential for high-quality, evidence-based early
grade reading reform. These elements are:
• Time spent on reading instruction, with a minimum of one hour per day
• Teaching in a Tongue, or language, that the children know and understand
• Texts, or enough teaching and learning materials based on evidence for how children learn
to read
• Teachers who are well-trained, coached, and supported
• Tests of reading skills carried out regularly at different levels and used to improve reading
instruction.
TOP-LEVEL RESULTS
Through its combined interventions under all three outcomes of the results framework and
other crosscutting efforts, Lecture Pour Tous greatly increased the percentage of targeted
second graders students who can read and understand grade-level text. 1
USAID and the MEN set an ambitious target for Lecture Pour Tous: at least 60% of Grade 2
students reading at grade level by the end of the 2020-2021 school year. Through early grade reading
assessment (EGRA), only 0.3% of second graders in six of Senegal’s 14 regions were reading at grade
level in a language they speak and understand at baseline in 2017, before any intervention. By the
midpoint of the program, 29% of the first program cohort of second graders met or exceeded this
benchmark — surpassing the midpoint goal by nearly 50% and demonstrating historic gains after just
two years of implementation. At endline, however, only 17.2% of second graders could read text at
grade level, likely due to the detrimental effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on Senegal’s
education system and program interventions. Figure 10 below shows baseline, midline, and endline
results for this measure, the highest, overall indicator of program performance.
In addition to these program indicator results and despite the pandemic, Lecture Pour Tous also
greatly increased the proportion of students meeting higher benchmarks in national standards
for early grade reading in national languages provisionally established with the program’s help.
Figure 9, next page, shows this improvement relative to the highest reading skills: oral reading
fluency and reading comprehension.
1
The activity-level outcome indicator for Lecture Pour Tous is defined as the percentage of learners who demonstrate reading
fluency and comprehension of grade level text by the end of two grades.
*EGRA administered in four of the six regions, as the program was only active in those regions at the time.
FIGURE 10: GRADE 2 STUDENTS ACHIEVING STANDARDS AT BASELINE, MIDLINE, AND ENDLINE
The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic devastated student learning gains and education systems
around the world, and Senegal was no exception. Program technical assistants and the ministry
expended remarkable energy and effort to rapidly pivot to high-quality alternative ways of
To achieve Lecture Pour Tous’ three expected outcomes, the program implemented several
essential crosscutting components: coordination, gender and inclusion, communications, the
daara pilot initiative, and monitoring, evaluation, and
learning (MEL). KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS
• From Lecture Pour Tous launch to close,
Through its inclusive, “faisons ensemble” partnership MEN leadership viewed the program as
approach, Lecture Pour Tous achieved a remarkable their own and used it to pilot key reforms
level of institutionalization of key reading reform at a large scale.
• Based partly on Lecture Pour Tous’
interventions within the MEN at all levels. In early 2017 success, Senegal launched long-awaited
when the program launched, former Minister of national bilingual education reforms (the
Education Serigne Mbaye Thiam named the program MOHEBS).
• The corresponding national reading
“Lecture Pour Tous” and announced that it was a program (PNSLE) is almost entirely based
ministerial initiative. He later proclaimed that the on the early grade reading instruction
ministry’s early grade reading reforms in Saint-Louis, model and reforms introduced by Lecture
Pour Tous.
financed through USAID’s G2G initiative, succeeded • These reforms incorporate key elements
largely due to the program’s sustained technical of gender equality and inclusion, including
assistance. introduction of evidence-based reading
materials and testing in Braille with stories,
images, and radio communications that
The Direction d’Enseignement Elementaire (DEE), led the empower children regardless of gender,
program for the MEN, and as such led coordination with background, or disability.
the other central-level directorates key to program
implementation (DALN, DFC, DPRE, DRH, DRTS, ID, INEADE, SIMEN) as well as regional and
departmental authorities (IAs, IEFs). Each structure was responsible for the technical execution
of the activities that fell within its purview, accompanied by Lecture Pour Tous’ technical
assistance team.
One of Lecture Pour Tous’ greatest legacies is helping the MEN finalize and validate its long-
awaited bilingual education reform framework, the Modèle Harmonisé de l’Education Bilingue du
Sénégal (MOHEBS). The program greatly advanced these efforts by financing critical meetings and
recruiting experts to develop a policy document and an operational framework for the reforms,
as well as through studies that helped refine its strategies. The MOHEBS core documents, shared
with numerous stakeholders, academics, and technical and financial partners, were fully validated
in April 2021. Subsequently, Lecture Pour Tous technical assistants continued to accompany the
MEN to help launch this historic educational reform, preparing Senegal to convert its primary
education cycle to a bilingual system and serving as a basis for children learning to read in their
mother tongue (see Output 2.4 for further details on how the program supported Senegal’s
national reading program). Lecture Pour Tous helped the MEN realize these accomplishments
through successfully technical coordination of all program implementation. Key features of this
approach included:
Regular coordination with other donor-supported initiatives allowed us to build synergies and
generate greater interest and investment in early grade reading while avoiding unhelpful overlap,
such as through feedback on the most recent Global Partnership for Education program in
Senegal. In addition, a valuable partnership with sister project USAID/Our Sisters Read (Nos
Enfants Lisent) leveraged their community mobilization networks in the region of Fatick to
increase the impact of Lecture Pour Tous’ radio programming during the COVID-19 crisis.
On December 9, 2021, Mr. Mamadou Talla, Minister of National Education, and the
USAID/Senegal Mission Director, Mr. Peter Trenchard, co-presided over a final event to
celebrate the historic impact of Lecture Pour Tous and bring it to a close. At the MEN’s new
offices in Diamnadio, the two were joined by the Secretary General, the Director of Elementary
Education, representatives of other central and regional education offices, USAID staff and other
technical and financial partners, and representatives of the Lecture Pour Tous technical
assistance team. Together, the participants surveyed the program’s quantitative and qualitative
achievements and shared testimonials. The minister emphasized that Lecture Pour Tous was the
MEN’s own program, and that beyond its immediate impact on hundreds of thousands of
students and their communities, its greatest legacy will be the MOHEBS bilingual reforms and the
new PNLSE it helped to launch. As the MEN now takes these historic reforms forward, the
evidence-based approaches, tools, and new mentalities introduced or strengthened by the
program will now be fully institutionalized and expanded nationwide.
Mr. Mamatou Talla, Minister of National Education, with Mr. Peter Trenchard, USAID/Senegal Mission Director speaking to the press
following the closing ceremony of Lecture Pour Tous.
Lecture Pour Tous helped the MEN promote gender equity and social inclusion in early grade
reading instruction in significant ways. Operating at full scale in six regions, the program
supported schools in both more and less isolated areas, and for students of all socioeconomic
backgrounds.
• Gender-sensitive images were used in all program early grade reading TLMs and all program
SBCC tools. Many existing textbooks initially reviewed by Lecture Pour Tous and ministry
gender equality staff had gender-harmful and socially exclusive images.
• The MEN staff responsible for regional communications and outreach received training on
how to create gender communication materials that promote gender equality.
• All parental and community engagement activities employed a gender-sensitive lens. The
program trained school management committee (comité de gestion d’école, CGE) members,
community mobilizers, and summer reading camp monitors to engage parents and caregivers
on gender equity. These stakeholders were thus empowered to promote girls’ education at all
community fora, debates, visits to students’ homes, and through messaging campaigns (poster,
radio).
• Both girls and boys have shown essentially equal performance improving their reading skills in
national languages, as show in EGRA midline and endline studies. This demonstrates that
attention to gender and inclusion has led to positive results for all children learning to read.
Expanding quality reading instruction to children with disabilities. To enhance social inclusion, Lecture
Pour Tous helped introduce Senegal’s first evidence-based early grade reading materials and
testing in national language with Braille students with low or no vision at two schools dedicated
to students with disabilities (see box, next page). To monitor the effectiveness of this
intervention, the program conducted two assessments.
To share the positive results achieved through USAID investments in Senegal’s early grade
reading reforms, Lecture Pour Tous developed a robust communications and outreach strategy.
This included communications materials such as brochures, articles, photos, and videos to
increase awareness of the program’s achievements (see box). Showcasing our work in strategic
ways, the team produced numerous articles for USAID’s social media networks related to
current events in education (such as World Teachers’ Day, International Day of Education, and
other relevant days designated by United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and United
Nations Economic, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). When the COVID-19
pandemic began, the program responded with text messaging and radio campaigns to curb the
transmission of the virus, encourage parents to support students’ reading while schools were
closed, and promote radio lesson listenership and reading clubs with physical distancing. See
Annex A for a compilation of success stories captured over the life of the program.
In support of EGR instruction in national languages, Lecture Pour Tous regularly sponsored events organized by
the MEN with marketing products and exhibitions of reading materials. Events included:
Students perform a skit illustrating the importance of parents reading with children at home,
National Elementary Education Week, Kaolack, May 2019.
Per its mandate, Lecture Pour Tous piloted EGR instruction using national languages in a limited
number of daaras — 64 in total — across all six target regions. Beginning with 18 daaras in
Kaffrine and Kaolack in 2017, the program expanded its reach to include 44 additional daaras in
the regions of Diourbel, Fatick, Louga, and Matam in 2018.
Over the three-year pilot, program technical assistance evolved to meet the unique needs of
daara stakeholders and improve learning conditions within daaras. Beyond the standard package
provided to all primary schools (teacher training, coaching, and reading materials), Lecture Pour
Tous provided additional support to strengthen daara instructors’ classroom performance and
enhance daara directors’ ability to better support instruction and improve daara management.
This support included increased supervision and supplemental training sessions for daara
instructors to revisit pedagogical approaches. See the box below for key takeaways from this
pilot initiative.
Key results:
• Reached 3,392 students (1,110 girls and 2,282 boys) across 86 classes
• Trained 290 (80 female, 210 male) instructors/directors in EGR pedagogy and 118 directors and resource persons
(14 female, 104 male) in coaching
• Distributed 10,379 reading materials
• At midline when daara students were tested, 38% of students demonstrated grade level competency in reading fluency
and text comprehension, 13% higher than the target of 25%.
Testimonials:
• “Thank you to those who brought us Lecture Pour Tous. Today, we have learned how to read in our mother tongue and in
French, thanks to them.” – Daara student
• “The integration of mother tongue in daaras has made it easier for students to learn to read in daaras; students today are
learning to read much faster than those who came before them and the Lecture Pour Tous program.” – Parent of daara
student, Malem Hodar IEF, Kaffrine
Takeaways:
• Stakeholders felt that the expansion of national reading reforms into daaras reaffirmed the Ministry’s commitment to
inclusive, quality education for a diverse set of students in different settings.
• Through Lecture Pour Tous’ support, daara stakeholders increased their advocacy with local government officials,
exposing the unique challenges facing daaras, especially their access to resources. Applying what they learned in
training, daara directors succeeded in securing small investments from local officials: 11% of communes provided
additional resources to daaras for school supplies, some for the first time.
• MEN inspectors noted positive changes in reading instruction in daaras, acknowledging that these types of programs
can succeed within the daara environment with the appropriate levels of support and guidance.
Partnership with RF MERL. Lecture Pour Tous’ collaboration with the Rapid Feedback Monitoring,
Evaluation, Research, and Learning (RF MERL) consortium proved to be key to the learning
agenda. The U.S. Global Development Lab in partnership with the Bureau for Policy, Planning and
Learning, funds the RF MERL initiative. With support from RF MERL’s research team and proven
evaluation methods, Lecture Pour Tous researched multiple topics including the following:
To tackle challenges with coaching, Lecture Pour Tous designed a small randomized controlled
trial (RCT) in the final year of implementation — its promising results are summarized under
Output 1.3 below.
Some of Lecture Pour Tous’ most significant legacies are its strong influence on the finalization of
Senegal’s harmonized model of bilingual education (MOHEBS) and its help to secure its
institutional validation in April 2021. The scope and scale of the program — implemented in all
schools in six academies — proved to be a catalyst for launching new reflections on policy
reform. Its early success proved the advantages of early grade reading in one’s first language (L1).
To move in this direction, the MEN committed itself to this major initiative by finalizing an
orientation document and developing an operational framework with a budget.
Despite the program’s intention to work seamlessly with ministry counterparts, certain aspects
of the approach proved challenging. In particular, when ministry staff were sometimes
unavailable, and coordination was difficult between different ministerial units. Sometimes Lecture
Pour Tous were unable to fully integrate program activities into the plans and processes of
different MEN offices. Lecture Pour Tous’ aggressive timeline at times forced activities to move
forward without high levels of ministerial engagement, particularly given that the MEN also
juggled other priorities. However, the validation of both the MOHEBS and the PNLSE now lays
the groundwork for much greater ministerial leadership of bilingual reading reforms.
The following narrative describes results achieved over the five years of Lecture Pour Tous to
deliver on the four expected outputs that led to improved early grade reading instruction.
Materials for students and teachers in public schools and daaras produced and distributed. The production
and distribution of TLMs present major challenges for many educational programs. Lecture Pour
Tous was no exception, given its mandate to support the MEN in promoting reading using national
languages and evidence-based approaches not widely known or understood. Over five years, the
program helped lead an inclusive and rigorous reflection that led to a final version of a complete set
of high-quality materials for early grade reading instruction: teacher’s guides; student textbooks; take-
home books; read-aloud stories; and decodable, leveled readers. These materials were appropriate
to the cultural context, aligned with Senegal’s education policy, and infused with the science of
reading and the international evidence base demonstrating the efficiency of an explicit, systematic,
and structured phonics
approach to reading
acquisition. Together, this
TLM package represents a
substantial contribution
to the approaches
codified in the PNLSE
national reading program
and the country’s new
early literacy curriculum,
which is currently being
finalized. In all, the
program printed and
distributed 3,119,710
TLMs, which benefitted
604,402 students/learners
in 3,900 schools and 64
daaras.
Student reading a book provided by Lecture Pour Tous, Diourbel.
Each year, the program took time to learn from the previous year of implementation (through
classroom observations, feedback provided by teachers and inspectors, and reviews of the
materials). As needed, the program adapted scopes and sequences, updated scripted routines,
Capacity of MEN and Senegalese publishers on evidence-based early grade reading material
development strengthened. To address publishing capacity issues and procurement challenges (see
box below), Lecture Pour Tous mobilized experts from consortium partner Scolibris Livre
Solidaire to better understand the needs and aspirations of Senegalese publishers related to
producing early literacy TLMs. The evidence-based approach to early grade reading instruction
was new and challenging for Senegalese publishers, and the scale of book orders was
overwhelming, particularly with the program’s rapid pace of deadlines. In 2019, Lecture Pour
Tous collaborated with the DEE and INEADE to design and deliver a capacity-building plan for
Senegalese publishers that addressed their technical and operational challenges and to create the
conditions for efficient production of quality early
STRATEGIC LEGACY: “DESIGN PACKAGE”
TO JUMP-START FUTURE EDITIONS OF grade reading materials.
GRADE 1-2 MATERIALS
To inform the ministry’s next edition of TLMs for early
The program’s support to INEADE’s textbook
literacy instruction in national languages, the program publishing procurement and oversight division
helped develop and validate a “design package” with (Division de l’Edition et des Manuels Scolaires, or
ready-to-go instructions and templates for new Grade
1 and 2 materials. This package will accelerate future
DEMS) contributed in sustainable ways to the
versions of reading materials in L1 that will align with development of an operational framework for a
the MOHEBS and PNLSE for early literacy reform textbook analysis and approval system. The
expanded to the whole country. In the final weeks of
Lecture Pour Tous, program technical assistants helped
program helped develop a capacity building plan
launch the revision of the new national curriculum for staff, with short-term, medium-term, and long-
based on proposed guidelines for L1 and a framework term goals. A critical mass of MEN staff gained
document for FSL based on the international — and
national — evidence base for literacy instruction.
substantial knowledge and experience during the
Senegal’s scholastic publishing policy stipulates that all textbooks be developed by the private sector through an open
bidding process. This proved to be a challenge during program implementation. National and international publishers alike
had little to no experience developing pedagogical materials in Senegalese languages, and national publishers were also
unfamiliar with the explicit, systematic, and structured phonics approach to reading. Furthermore, the program timeline
was extremely accelerated compared to industry norms for TLM development: Mere months were available to develop and
print multiple materials in three languages.
When initial calls for tender were unsuccessful due to the lack of qualified offerors, Lecture Pour Tous reached a
compromise with the MEN and USAID to establish an in-house materials production team to rapidly produce quality
reading materials while developing a capacity-strengthening program for local publishers. Following a book supply chain
analysis and local publisher needs assessment, Lecture Pour Tous delivered a series of five training sessions to 25 publishing
houses (70 individuals) as well as 12 MEN staff in 2019. The content covered all the major skills development topics
necessary to submit a valid proposal for early literacy TLMs and complete the work requirements. Skills included learning
to use SIL Lead’s Bloom book development software, a simple, open-source tool that helps craft decodable texts and
facilitates quick translation. The training also helped publishing houses consider strategic consortia and hiring practices that
could help meet serious human-resource and expertise needs.
After these hands-on training sessions, publishers expressed interest in further technical areas including decodability,
national language transcription, and early grade reading pedagogy. In response, Lecture Pour Tous helped develop a self-
training framework and kit (self-training guide, set of activities, and progress-monitoring tools), which it shared with
publishers in December 2020.
Because of the program training, some publishers may now be able to successfully bid on early literacy tenders. The
Association of Senegalese publishers has also become more vibrant and cohesive and has increased communication and
collaboration among members of a new sub-group of publishers that focus on TLMs for early grade reading instruction. All
of these advances have solidified the foundation for the considerable national reforms of the MOHEBS and PNLSE.
Output 1.2: Teachers’ skills in evidence-based early grade reading instruction improved
Improved teacher skills through in-service CPD. Training and ongoing CPD for existing teachers to
take up the reforms was a major component of Lecture Pour Tous’ technical assistance to the
MEN. Since startup, the program worked closely with ministry counterparts at the central level
(DEE, DFC) and decentralized level (IAs, IEFs) to plan and organize large-scale training sessions
on the new approaches and materials for early grade reading instruction in national languages for
Grade 1-3 teachers and their school directors. Participants benefited from modeling and
simulation sessions as well as practical exercises based on the “I do, we do, you do” direct
instruction and gradual release instructional approach (see Figure 12), with the majority of time
spent on individual student practice and constructive feedback benefitting all students.
The training model introduced by Lecture Pour Tous in many ways reflected this same approach,
and the structured lesson plans in the TLMs themselves: Trainers introduced new knowledge
and skills and then guided teachers in practicing these techniques and use of the TLMs. Although
Lecture Pour Tous technical staff were instrumental in helping to establish the MEN’s national
technical team of trainers for early grade reading innovations and early on served as members of
this team, over time, these master trainers became MEN personnel (generally inspectors). In
turn, the national technical team trained regional technical teams of inspectors and high-
performing school directors in each of the six regions, who then trained teachers in residential
workshops over several days — with one session at the beginning of the year and a follow-up to
refresh concepts and introduce additional content in the middle of the year.
Considering these original intentions and new challenges, Lecture Pour Tous helped introduce a
new multimodal CPD plan with multimedia self-guided distance training modules (formation à
distance), in-person professional development days, the revitalization of internal (school-based)
and external (cluster-based) teacher learning circles, continual coaching, and continual SMS and
WhatsApp messaging and follow-up. After Lecture Pour Tous tested and evaluated its first CPD
plan at the end of the 2019-2020 school year, which earned praise from educators, the program
honed the tools and helped roll out the plan in the final year of implementation.
Enhancing teacher CPD and coaching with ICT solutions. To enhance in-service training, the program
introduced multiple ICT solutions, working closely with the DEE, SIMEN, and DFC where
possible. This included:
sustainable alternative to Orange’s Mobile Training This partnership leveraged the following:
Everywhere platform, benefits of this innovative • Subsidized texting through a network of
education actors involved in reading reforms:
partnership far outweighed challenges. inspectors, school directors, teachers, and
• Two-way messaging via the alternative Telerivet technical assistants
platform (an off-the-shelf SMS gateway), which • Free phone calls within the network that
allowed stakeholders to receive and respond to promoted communication to implement the
new reforms
messages and surveys, bolstering the program’s • Internet credit that allowed education-system
reach through follow-up and learning based on actors to access online resources to improve
quick feedback. instructional practices
• Instructional audio messages and short videos for • Subsidized rates for SMS push messaging to all
educators and for SMS-based surveys for
teachers based on scenarios developed with MEN rapid monitoring and feedback
staff. These recordings proved essential
components of the teacher CPD package. The program leveraged a minimum of a 51:49
ratio of investment from this partnership, with
the company committing the larger share.
Stakeholders expresses enthusiasm and commitment Administrative aspects of the PPP were
for using these ICT tools, suggesting that they were challenging, particularly given that the
telecommunications operator had never engaged
well-received. Surveys conducted after training on the in this way with USAID and government actors.
ICT tools indicated that education-system actors But the experience serves as an example of non-
appreciated the opportunity to learn how ICT could traditional private sector engagement that
Senegal might pursue as it expands national
enhance teacher training, coaching, and supervision. bilingual reading reforms.
Additional rapid feedback research both showed how
push messaging and other aspects served educators
and allowed the program to hone messaging and other approaches. To sustain key aspects of
these efforts for the future reforms, the program prepared an ICT transfer plan with the SIMEN
and collaborated to identify the most cost-effective ICT solutions for the MEN to continue. This
includes, for instance, expanded WhatsApp groups now that more teachers have smartphones
and access to 3G networks than when the program began, reducing the need for SMS
communications in most cases. (However, some SMS communications may still be necessary for
Preparing the future through pre-service teacher training. Training student teachers before they enter
their classrooms is one of the most critical factors for sustaining reforms, ultimately reducing the
need for intensive CPD. Lecture Pour Tous therefore helped introduce Senegal’s very first pre-
service teacher training course for early grade reading instruction, piloting and refining new
modules in half of the country’s regional teacher training centers (CRFPE), including in Saint-Louis.
After an initial needs analysis, the team helped system actors draft training modules on reading
and expand existing modules on using national languages for instruction for CRFPEs first piloted
in Kaolack, Louga, and Saint-Louis. After an assessment of the first year of the pre-service pilot,
Lecture Pour Tous worked with MEN to refine the modules and expand the second year’s
cohort to include student teachers from all seven target CRFPEs (6 IAs from the program’s
intervention area plus Saint-Louis, G2G). For the third and final year of the pre-service pilot,
Lecture Pour Tous integrated a unit on the program’s bilingual grammar guides and lexicons. The
team also helped introduce distance learning with some of the same modules developed for CPD
(see box, next page). These proved so popular that many instructors maintained a “flipped”
model using the modules even when in-person classes resumed.
A final monitoring mission with the DFC and DEE revealed an adequate supply of teaching and
training materials in the teaching institutes; an effective implementation of the 18 pilot modules;
and a commitment from stakeholders to ensure the successful institutionalization of the
program. The draft framework document ready to be fully integrated and validated as part of the
pre-service teacher referentiel.
Student from Sibassor Elementary in Kaolack listening to an interactive radio lesson with his mother, August 2020.
When the COVID pandemic hit and CRFPEs closed for 3 months, the program introduced a “flipped
classroom” approach (a blended learning model in which students complete readings at home and work on
problem-solving during class) to avoid any loss of training time and ensure pedagogical continuity.
Results:
• Instructors conducted distance training over 12 weeks while teacher training centers were closed
• Once in-person classes resumed, instructors led hands-on activities to reinforce concepts and techniques
• According to an online survey of 526 student teachers, 84% said their understanding of reading instruction
had increased or increased a lot
• Collaborative materials development process made the COVID “pivot” easier to implement
• Ministry replicated the “flipped classroom” model for other pre-service training courses during the crisis
• Moving forward, instructors will continue using a hybrid model that includes distance training because they
find it effective, and it allows time to prioritize classroom simulation
Output 1.3: Coaching and supervision of the early grade reading instruction improved
Research shows that training alone is insufficient, and that instructional coaching and teacher
supervision is critical to reinforcing and sustaining quality instructional practice, especially when
new reforms are introduced. Lecture Pour Tous thus increased the emphasis on coaching using
more constructive and collaborative approaches and at a higher frequency than had been used
previously in Senegal. As a result, many educators and administrators credit the program with
revolutionizing Senegalese instructional coaching and the relationships between teachers and
their directors and inspectors.
To improve coaching and supervision of early grade reading instruction, Lecture Pour Tous assisted
the MEN to: develop a comprehensive training plan that includes coaching; design a coaching
Program and MEN staff discussed several alternative ways to address these challenges. Better
planning helped but was deemed insufficient. In one early pilot, providing coaches with tablets
that featured digitized observation tools and audio-visual
aids was shown to improve coaching data transmission,
but only about 50% of coaches used the tablets at all, and
very few used them with the teachers to enhance
coaching itself. The idea of recruiting additional resource
people was rejected as too costly for the ministry to
independently sustain.
collectifs des directeurs d’école (CODECs). The RCT studied the relative feasibility and impact of
both variants on teacher practice and compared to an updated standard model (see Figure 13).
FIGURE 13: COACHING VARIANTS TESTED IN THE RCT
In Year 5 at the end of the 2020-2021 school year, Lecture Pour Tous technical assistants staff
helped the DEE systematically review the experience with instructional coaching over the four
years of implementation and the results of the small-sample RCT. Although program staff have
suggested that additional testing of these or slightly adapted variants would be worthwhile at a
larger scale, the DEE has currently concluded that the standard model will remain for now.
Given that the DEE integrated instructional coaching into the PNLSE, more reflection and
planning will likely be needed for Senegal to stabilize an instructional coaching system that
consistently reaches all targeted teachers with the frequency and skill needed to introduce new
teaching methods and sustain good practice.
Prior to Lecture Pour Tous, INEADE, the evaluation arm of the MEN, was already well-versed in
the implementation of national reading assessments. Building on these assets, we further
improved early grade reading assessment by helping INEADE design the country’s first
instruments for large-scale EGRA in national languages; administer baseline, midline, and endline
L1 assessments and SSME studies in a representative sample of schools (including daaras); and
analyze and share study results with policymakers and educators. In addition, Lecture Pour Tous
helped introduce the Local Education Monitoring Approach (LEMA) in all target IEFs, improving
• Develop EGRA instruments in three national languages (Wolof, Pulaar, and Sereer with some
tasks also in French for Grade 2) for Grades 1 and 2, and SSME questionnaires targeting
teachers, directors, and students with contextual questions
• Implement four EGRA/SSME studies (2017, 2018, 2019, 2021) to assess student reading
performance and related contextual factors
As a result, the MEN and program technical assistants had objective and precise information on
student reading levels that informed program design and helped measure progress over time.
Additionally, INEADE and other key MEN actors have increased capacity in instrument
development, sampling strategies, Tangerine offline data collection, data cleaning and analysis, and
reporting — including establishing technical parameters for EGRA-type evaluations and
guidelines for conducting reading assessments in Grades 1-2. Finally, ministry actors used EGRA
results to develop the country’s first national norms and standards for student reading
performance (see Output 2.2 below for more).
“The [LEMA] data collected made it possible
LEMA for feasible, locally generated data for reform to set up an action plan to readjust the
supervision and management. To strengthen ministry shortcomings noted in the field, coaching
capacity at the department and regional level to track activities are planned and executed with the
implementation and effectiveness of reading reforms, support of other colleagues at the academy.”
the program supported the MEN to introduce LEMA at – IEF, Fatick
the IEF level. LEMA is an adaptation of a monitoring “Important aspects of its usefulness include:
approach known as Lot Quality Assurance Sampling an autonomous tool and transferable to other
(LQAS), which uses small sample sizes and binary activities, a random choice of students/
indicators to classify local areas as meeting or not schools, a control of the students’
meeting minimum performance standards. Prior to each achievements in L1 and of the teachings, a
review of the teaching and learning materials
of three LEMA phases (2018, 2019-20, and 2021), and an idea of the quality of its use, and an
program staff trained IEF inspectors on the approach, assessment of the skills of students and
data collection, data processing and reporting. teachers. Apart from the analysis of reading
performance, we drew other information on
For the final phase of LEMA, inspectors from two IEFs our staff (punctuality, attendance, regularity
targeted for more intensive support — Gossas and and rigor in work, etc.).”
– IEF, Bambey
Louga — collected data on learning outcomes, school
and classroom contexts, and fidelity of implementation
of key reform measures such as coaching. Supported by INEADE and program staff, these local
education managers then analyzed their monitoring data and developed reports with
recommendations that already informed IEF action plans around monitoring teacher
performance and increasing coaching activities. Lecture Pour Tous’ final report and updated
LEMA implementation manual will guide its anticipated expansion under the PNLSE and
MOHEBS reforms and overarching MEN monitoring and evaluation strategy.
Quarterly standardized evaluations for early grade reading designed and tested. As a final contribution
to the ministry’s evaluation strategy for early grade reading — beyond the program’s original
mandate — Lecture Pour Tous also helped identify a key opportunity to introduce formative
assessment into the MEN’s existing testing practices. At the end of every quarter, teachers in
elementary schools across Senegal assess every student with standardized tests linked to the
national curriculum. However, tests for Grade 1 and 2 students have not been designed to
capture early reading skills. By introducing a hybrid of group testing for oral elements and other
individual testing where needed, Lecture Pour Tous worked with INEADE and multiple other
The Activity Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Plan (AMELP) contained 11 indicators to track
and evaluate achievement of Outcome 1. The program met or exceeded life of project (LOP)
targets for eight of these and came within 90% of one more, as presented in Table 3 below. And
the program greatly surpassed several indicators. For the two learning indicators (1, covered
above, and 4, below), major challenges caused by the pandemic in the last two program years
and persistent challenges with the required coaching system took their toll. Despite this, Lecture
Pour Tous significantly improved early grade reading instruction in many ways, discussed below.
The multiple rounds of in-service teacher training, ICT-based follow-up, and some amount of
coaching and supervision — even without the intended frequency — led to high rates of
teachers observed applying the techniques and methods of evidence-based early grade reading
instruction. In keeping with the program’s theory of change, these teachers then used the newly
introduced TLMs — the explicit, systematic, structured, phonics-based lessons using national
languages, highly structured lesson plans, and ample text for student practice in school and at
home. The time for this instruction increased, with the MEN mandating a minimum of one hour
of reading instruction in L1 configured into official school timetables.
2
The USAID/All Children Reading (Lecture Pour Tous) task order contract refers to lot quality assurance sampling (LQAS), but
this term has been replaced by LEMA, which incorporates LQAS.
*After one year of the program. This is not a pre-intervention baseline. The Grade 1 EGRA at the end of Year 2 was
administered in four of the six regions where the program was active in the first implementation phase.
The following describes system strengthening results achieved across Years 1 to 5 to deliver the
five outputs that together achieve Outcome 2.
Output 2.1: Coordination and communication about early grade reading increased
Improved internal communications. With program support, the DFC carried out information,
awareness-raising and mobilization activities among MEN staff (central and decentralized level) to
improve their knowledge, attitudes and practices on the early grade reading activities
implemented by the MEN. The program supported the DFC in the planning, implementation and
monitoring of a specific action plan that included the following activities:
• Lecture Pour Tous increased skills and increased ownership of the communication strategies
at central and decentralized levels. The program trained IA- and IEF-based communications
staff to master key communications techniques for practical actions such as developing a
communication plan, producing press releases, and capturing success stories. This enabled
MEN communications officers to play an active part in the development and
operationalization of the MEN’s communications strategy around early grade reading.
• Communication campaigns mobilized local actors. The program supported the MEN to
develop and implement a communications campaign to build awareness of early grade reading
and to promote ongoing reforms. This campaign created a platform for interaction between
regional authorities, parent associations, and local media around promoting early grade
reading in national languages through public activities. The program helped produce radio and
TV advertisements as well as a program launch event at the central level and in each IA, with
mobile caravans distributing brochures and posters across regional capitals.
TABLE 6: SUMMARY OF KEY OUTPUTS FROM OUR PARTNERSHIP WITH COMMUNITY RADIOS
ACTIVITIES DESCRIPTION RESULTS
• Interactive programs • Communities (parents, families) are
hosted by MEN agents at informed, sensitized to support children’s
decentralized levels learning to read at home.
Production and broadcast of
(inspectors, school • 6 thematic programs produced
community radio programs
directors, teachers) • 324 broadcasts and reruns aired
• Included community
participation
• Reading lessons adapted • Students continued to benefit from distance
and delivered remotely learning during school closures
Production and broadcast of
via radio as part of the • 72 programs produced in Wolof, Pulaar,
interactive educational radio
response to COVID-19 and Sereer
programs (EEIR)
initiated by the program • 1,680 broadcasts and reruns aired
• 35 community and regional partner radios
Output 2.2: National standards for early grade reading adopted and applied
To fill this gap, Lecture Pour Tous supported the MEN to KEY STANDARDS RESULTS
define student performance standards for reading fluency and
• Student performance standards
comprehension for Grades 1 and 2 for the three national defined and aligned with the GPF
languages considered under the program (Pulaar, Wolof and for early grade reading
Sereer). After first helping to develop provisional standards • Teacher competency framework
for early grade reading instruction
based on endline and midline EGRA data, program technical to be integrated into the national
assistants then worked with INEADE and the DEE to update a teacher training institute
core set of standards linked to international and national framework
policy frameworks for early grade reading using rigorous
methods aligned with UNESCO’s Global Proficiency Framework (GPF). In addition, the program
worked with DEE and DFC to define teacher performance standards for teaching early grade
reading in national languages. Senegal’s investments in early grade reading are now better guided
and will yield a higher return on investment thanks to the minimum achievement standards
established after Lecture Pour Tous.
Following USAID’s decision to use the GPF 3, Lecture Pour Tous and the MEN adopted the
modified Angoff approach (a widely used standard-setting technique to determine the passing
percentage for a test) to update student performance benchmarks. We supported INEADE and
DEE to accomplish the following:
3
Adopted by UNESCO in November 2019, the GPF defines the international minimum proficiency levels learners
are expected to obtain for both reading and mathematics by the end of each of year in Grades 2-6. It thus provides
detailed minimum proficiency expectations (called Global Proficiency Descriptors, or GPDs) that countries, along
with regional and international assessment organizations, can use as a foundation for linking existing and future
reading and mathematics assessments via benchmarks. This allows comparison of results from different assessments
both within and across countries, and for reporting on SDG 4.1.1.
The program also disseminated student performance benchmarks. Lecture Pour Tous supported
national and regional trainer teams to train thousands of teachers, school directors, and
inspectors on its provisional performance benchmarks. With the MEN, we also incorporated the
draft performance benchmarks into teacher guides and produced a booklet on the draft
performance benchmarks, which presented the roles and responsibilities of inspectors, school
directors, and teachers in the operationalization and use of provisional performance benchmarks.
As discussed under Output 1.4, the program also helped INEADE develop and test quarterly
reading assessments for the first time. Schools and administrators will thus be able to track
progress against early grade reading standards in the future.
Teacher performance standards developed. Lecture Pour Tous supported the DEE, DFC, and
DALN to develop a teacher competency framework for teaching early grade reading in national
languages. This framework, which defined the minimum instructional skills that a teacher should
have to teach reading, was the basis for the set of 18 early grade reading training modules
developed for the pre-service training pilot. Through a stock-taking exercise organized with
MEN counterparts, the program concluded that student teachers were developing the skills
described in the competency framework. The MEN is integrating the competency framework to
the national CRFPE teacher preparation framework, which marks a key step toward sustaining
early grade reading reforms. This document will also be critical for operationalizing the
MOHEBS. Teachers, inspectors, and CRFPEs are now aware of the specific skills needed to teach
Output 2.3: Research on early grade reading in Senegal produced and disseminated
To address the need for additional, local evidence to KEY RESEARCH RESULTS
improve student reading in Senegal, Lecture Pour Tous
• 23 studies informed intervention
helped develop annual research agendas and sponsor design, implementation, and policy
studies that yielded information the MEN used to develop • The MEN is now actively engaged in
policies that improved early grade reading performance. promoting action research as a key
pillar for evidence-based education
Lecture Pour Tous supported action research and other planning and implementation
studies with two main objectives:
• Test new approaches, guide program implementation with research into specific areas, and
provide evidence for adapting implementation
• Inform policy development to promote early grade reading in national languages
The program conducted action research and other studies to inform policy development. Research
activities conducted with Lecture Pour Tous support played an instrumental role in the process
of developing evidence-based policies to improve early grade reading performance. These
activities included a study on teacher mobility, which laid the foundations for the revision of the
teacher mobility guide MIRADOR, and a language mapping protocol to determine which of the
three national languages to use in the program schools (both studies are described further under
Output 2.4 below). Another important output was a study on students’ oral vocabulary mastery
in French at school entry and in the early grades. This critical study informed the MEN’s
decisions around the most appropriate timing for introducing French as a second language in the
MOHEBS (see Lessons Learned section for key findings). These studies and research activities
systematically involved technical staff from INEADE and staff at IA or IEF levels, thus contributing
to strengthening their capacities in research design, qualitative and quantitative data collection
and analysis.
Action research informed program implementation. Lecture Pour Tous conducted studies to
measure the knowledge, attitudes and practices of MEN staff, teachers, and parents and
community members. The KAP studies, along with other monitoring and rapid feedback
research, enabled the program to assess the impact of various interventions over time and adjust
programming accordingly.
Supported the MEN in the dissemination and application of research results. Lecture Pour Tous
prepared action research briefs to help disseminate key findings of some of its most important
studies: the teacher KAP studies, the study on students’ mastery of oral vocabulary in French,
and Community KAP studies. In addition, as part of its learning agenda, Lecture Pour Tous held
webinars with MEN counterparts and the educational community to share results of these
studies. These fora supplied MEN actors with relevant and actionable information that guided the
development of critical policies that promote improved early grade reading performance.
Strengthened local capacities to conduct research in education. MEN staff were systematically
involved in the design and implementation of the program’s research activities. INEADE led this
workstream and is now better equipped to implement education research. For example, the
MEN in 2020 and 2021 led language mapping to select the national language of instruction in
school-communities, with no support from Lecture Pour Tous, showing that INEADE is now
able to independently train local staff at the IEF level to implement the survey protocol. For the
full accounting of major research activities supported by Lecture Pour Tous, including their key
findings and impact on policy and practice, please see Annex A.
Output 2.4: Policies in support of evidenced-based early grade reading instruction implemented
The protocol developed with Lecture Pour Tous support will prove instrumental in
implementing MOHEBS at the national level. As stated by the INEADE director during the
Adapted teacher mobility to bilingual education needs. This policy reform process was politically
sensitive and required building consensus with teachers’ unions to avoid delays during
implementation. Lecture Pour Tous worked closely with the MEN’s Department of Human
Resources, the DRH, and in collaboration with other key stakeholders to update the teacher
mobility guide (“Guide du Mouvement”). This revision improved the overall teacher deployment
and transfer by considering the national languages mastered by the teachers. Based on the
revised guide, Lecture Pour Tous supported the reprogramming of the MIRADOR, the platform
MEN uses to manage the annual teacher mobility program.
The process of revising the teacher mobility guide inspired significant change in the way the MEN
(mainly through the DRH) and teachers unions work together. This activity smoothed
relationships between the key stakeholders, which will allow them to continue transparent
dialogues on upcoming reforms. Moreover, the revision made to the Teacher Mobility Guide and
the reprogramming of MIRADOR will be key to operationalize the MOHEBS, ensuring that
teachers assigned to a specific school have the language skills necessary to teach in the
corresponding national language.
Identified best practices and procedures for book production and distribution. Lecture Pour Tous
collected evidence to inform the development of a policy aimed at improving the planning,
budgeting, development, editing, procurement, and transport of TLMs, as well as corresponding
management systems and procedures. The program then analyzed the costs of producing,
editing, and distributing textbooks and studied the way the MEN managed budget planning,
procurement, distribution, and audit procedures for textbook acquisition. The program also
selected best practices from Lecture Pour Tous’ innovative support, notably for production,
distribution, storage, and reconditioning of textbooks at the school level.
A document capturing the conclusions of these analyses is now in the hands of the DAGE and
INEADE. The document provides the MEN with strategies to help improve the textbook supply
chain without radically changing the current national policy on school textbooks. Instead, it
strengthens this policy by identifying new methods for the planning, design, procurement, and
distribution of TLMs.
To strengthen the MEN’s capacity to sustain and scale early KEY MINISTRY STAFF
grade reading activities, Lecture Pour Tous took a phased PERFORMANCE RESULTS
approach to performance improvement. This began with • A sustainability and scale-up plan that
helping ministry focal points from key MEN units to anchored evidence-based methods
comprehensively assess the human and institutional capacity into policy and practice
• A bilingual education policy and
of these offices to deliver early grade reading success. The comprehensive reading program that
program streamlined this component to plan priority clearly indicate roles and
actions to sustain early grade reading reforms. Then, the responsibilities, and include
monitoring frameworks to track
program helped prepare the ministry for program close-out progress
with a final sustainability plan, scale-up plan, and assessment
of achievement.
Phase 1: Assess existing capacity and needs. For the first two years of programming, Lecture Pour
Tous used a human and institutional capacity development (HICD) approach to help key MEN
offices assess their performance and identify incentives to improve delivery of early grade
reading. We helped the MEN establish an HICD framework and draft tools to assess
performance and plan for institutional and staffing capacity strengthening. Next, we helped
outline roles and responsibilities of ministerial units needed for delivering and sustaining
improved reading. In joint workshops, the program guided participants to identify any gaps, their
main causes, and appropriate solutions. Lecture Pour Tous thus assisted the first cohort of
targeted MEN directorates to develop performance improvement plans and roadmaps for
implementation and monitoring.
Phase 2: Identify priority actions to sustain early grade reading reforms. In Year 3, Lecture Pour Tous
brought together ministry actors to refine the priority actions needed to support the
sustainability and scale up of early grade reading reforms. Through working sessions, we
identified the top priorities for capacity strengthening, determined through a structured analysis
of the importance of each focus area in relation to the early grade reading reform theory of
change, as well as analysis of the capacity needs, political space, availability of human and other
resources, and the authority to address capacity building in this area. This process was adapted
from the Triple A tool used in problem-derived iterative adaptation.
A preliminary Sustainability and Scale Up Plan (SSP) drafted in Year 3 set clear targets for each
ministry directorate. Its accompanying Priority Actions Plan (PAP) defined an annual set of
actions and deliverables to achieve key performance indicators for each priority area. The
actions were linked to the program’s work plans to allow for tailored technical support from
Lecture Pour Tous and ensure that all activities were implemented with sustainability in mind.
MEN actors, guided by a task force, reviewed progress against the plan and updated priority
actions as needed. After the finalization of the MOHEBS and National Reading Program, the task
As part of the effort to define performance criteria specific to early grade reading delivery and
link them to the performance indicator framework of the education sector, Lecture Pour Tous
also initiated efforts with the DPRE to include targets specific to early grade reading in the annual
performance reporting of the MEN for the sector program “Programme d’Amélioration de la
Qualité, de l’Egalité et de la Transparence (PAQUET)”. In collaboration with the DEE, the DPRE
anticipates integrating early grade reading performance indicators into the ministry’s statistical
database to allow the MEN to track and publish annual outputs and outcomes, particularly on
the number of TLMs for reading distributed, the number of teachers trained on early grade
reading, and the number of children who learn to read in each of the three national languages.
Phase 3: Prepare for program phase-out. In the last year of implementation, Lecture Pour Tous
supported the MEN task force to prepare a final SSP. This updated plan sought to solidify the
evidence-based methods that Lecture Pour Tous introduced into the policies and practices of
the education system.
This section analyzes the impact of activities to improve delivery of early grade reading
instruction in Senegal. As with Outcome 1, this includes performance on program indicators as
well as other measures from studies, analyses, and testimonials from key stakeholders.
4The final AMELP did not have an indicator for research outputs under Output 2.3.
5
The original target was four, with the fourth set of standards for Grade 3. However, USAID eliminated this from the Lecture
Pour Tous contract as no data were available for policy-linked standards-setting for Grade 3.
Lecture Pour Tous demonstrably improved family and KEY PARENT AND COMMUNITY
community engagement to support their children’s ACCOMPLISHMENTS
reading skills (see box), and the results of the 2018 • Forged a critical link between schools and
EGRA study strongly suggest that this additional the communities they serve to improve
student outcomes.
engagement in the 20% of randomly selected school-
• Increased the capacity and motivation of
communities increased student outcomes more than 4,768 school management committee, or
in school-communities where programming focused comité de gestion de l’école (CGE), members
through 70 different orientation sessions.
primarily on classroom instruction. The program
• CGEs reached 210,674 parents and
achieved these results by helping the MEN plan and caregivers through practical sessions on
implement a multifaceted strategy of outreach parenting for reading success.
initiatives centered around enhancing existing school • 210,674 parents attended discussion sessions
on the importance of early grade reading and
committee action plans to mobilize parents and practice at home.
communities to support early grade reading, • 78,099 parents and community members
particularly for kids who needed the most follow-up. engaged in community forums promoting the
MEN’s reading reforms.
Once schools were selected, regional program staff • 171 radio programs reinforcing these key
messages were broadcast by 27 community
supported IEF counterparts to conduct annual, radio stations.
participatory, school-community mapping exercises.
This information proved essential with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing the team
Overall, the program achieved Outcome 3 through evidence-based interventions reflecting the
following logic:
IF parents and caregivers have exposure to a multi-faceted SBCC campaign that increases their
beliefs that: 1) reading success in L1 will ensure reading success in L2; 2) parents can play an
important role in ensuring their child’s reading success, even if illiterate, and 3) the two keys to
reading success are good teaching at school and practice at home
THEN demand for high-quality reading instruction will increase (Output 3.1); and
IF this demand is met with targeted community-led early grade reading activities, increased
access to extracurricular reading materials and at-home support tools that increase parents’
confidence and ability to help their children in reading (Outputs 3.2 and 3.3)
AND mechanisms are put in place to improve parent and community monitoring of student
achievement (Output 3.4)
THEN parent and community engagement around early grade reading will improve,
leading to better reading outcomes for children in grades 1-3.
Furthermore, a keen understanding of the different system actors, roles, and dynamics also
informed the program approach, as illustrated in Figure 16 below.
The following describes improved parent and community engagement results achieved from Years
1 to 5 across the four outputs of the program results framework.
Output 3.1: Parent and community demand for high- KEY DEMAND-SIDE RESULTS
quality early grade reading instruction increased
• Increased parental and community
expectations for reading outcomes
To increase awareness of and demand for improved
• A Community Literacy Support Plan
delivery of early grade reading instruction, Lecture Pour guiding interventions and SBCC
Tous reviewed relevant research on patterns of effective • A mini-video series documenting key
community engagement, and then developed and activities to engage parents and
implemented an SBCC campaign in collaboration with communities around EGR
local partners.
Planned, meaningful SBCC. The program’s Community Literacy Support Plan (CLSP) drew on
approaches and interventions based on lessons learned from previous and ongoing community-
Measuring success and capturing lessons learned. The final version of the CLSP reflected
recommendations from three important research studies: the Community KAP baseline and
midline surveys, and an independent study conducted by our USAID-funded learning partner, RF
MERL. The findings of the baseline community KAP survey influenced the design of community-
based SBCC materials, and training content for CGE members and CMs. The midline survey
gauged progress towards key indicators measuring changes in knowledge, behavior and attitudes
(see Impact section below), allowing the team to further tailor parent engagement efforts to
maximize results at the community level. We engaged a local research firm, LARTES, to collect
data for these studies; IEF inspectors helped coordinate logistics and liaised with school directors
and CGE members to ensure smooth implementation. LARTES collected data from both
households in school-communities supported by Lecture Pour Tous as well as those who didn’t,
which enabled the program to systematically study the question: “Do parent and community
engagement activities (Outcome 3 activities as a whole) reinforce Lecture Pour Tous’ activities
to improve early grade reading in primary schools (Outcome 1 activities as a whole)?” Findings
are presented throughout this section of the final report.
Implementing grassroots SBCC plan. Building on USAID’s previous work in behavior change in
Senegal, the program’s grassroots SBCC plan provided a multi-faceted approach designed to
positively influence the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of parents. The plan not only included
key communication interventions to change parents’ behavior, but also introduced additional
strategies to ensure that desired behaviors were adopted. The grassroots SBCC plan went
beyond the concept of “sensitization” (awareness-raising) and used more targeted, effective
SBCC approaches that involved not only parents, but members of the broader school
community.
The community KAP baseline showed that an impressive number of parents (86%) were already
aware that they had some role to play in helping their child read. To reinforce this positive
finding, Lecture Pour Tous created a mass communication campaign coupled with more
community-led interventions to provide parents with simple strategies to contribute to their
children’s success in school.
After determining the key barriers facing families, Lecture Pour Tous developed a series of key
messages that were communicated through the mass communication campaign:
To reinforce these messages, Lecture Pour Tous strengthened the capacity of CGE members,
CMs, and other community volunteers to model the desired behaviors to parents to encourage
positive attitudes and begin to develop an intention to adopt these behaviors for themselves.
Once parents were introduced to the appropriate tools through practical parenting dialogues,
they were triggered to make an initial attempt to support their child as they read at home.
When enough change their practices, then social norms begin to shift within the community.
These interventions and successes are addressed under Outputs 3.2, 3.3 and 3.4.
Produced a mini-video series (linked here) to capture best practices in parent and community
engagement in early grade reading. In the final year of implementation, the program collected
photos and videos from CMs, Supervisors, and CGE members that captured flagship early grade
reading parent and community engagement activities. The short video series provides the MEN
with a visual representation and explanation of those parent and community engagement best
practices outlined in the CGE Guide (see Output 3.2).
To achieve this output, Lecture Pour Tous identified and collaborate KEY AT-HOME RESULTS
with local partners to develop materials for routine, home-school • Guided more than
communication on early grade reading instruction, provide training 115,000 parents via in-
and support for parents and caregivers, and regularly review person and virtual
progress and adjust as needed. sessions to support
reading at home
• Distributed 27,500
Guided parents and caregivers to support children in early grade reading copies of a school-
at home. A key strategy in our SBCC plan was to provide parents home communications
with the opportunity to learn, in a small group setting, about tool to bridge the gap
effective approaches to support their children’s reading at home. between teachers and
These sessions were led by CMs, with the support of their CGEs, parents
using materials adapted from the USAID-funded EdData II research
project. These materials employed a cartoon format, with illustrations depicting parents and
caregivers engaging children in early grade reading support activities. Over the life of the
program, CMs delivered 9,430 practical parenting sessions across the six target regions, reaching
115,851 parents (including 27,667 men).
In a creative response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Years 4-5, program staff and stakeholders
moved dialogue sessions to WhatsApp. A total of 1,626 virtual sessions reached 13,707
participants, including 4,837 men. Interestingly, women participated in these online forums at
twice the rate of men, yet men increased their level of participation when sessions shifted to a
virtual format. While parents in very rural communities were unable to participate due to
To achieve this output, Lecture Pour Tous worked with local KEY COMMUNITY
partners to organize community forums to discuss how using MONITORING RESULTS
languages that students speak and understand supports early grade Parents and communities
reading acquisition, and share results of reading assessments. increased their ability to
monitor student reading
Supported CGEs to convene community forums to share best practices in performance through:
parental engagement and results of classroom-based reading • 78,099 parents and
assessments. Over the course of the program, CGEs organized community members
4,537 forums, reaching 78,099 parents and community members. engaged through 4,537
community forums
These forums served two primary functions: first, as a means of • 209 CGE exchanges
introducing Senegal’s national reading reforms and Lecture Pour organized for 2,444
Tous initiatives to the broader community and solicit their support; participants
and second, a to share student early grade reading results and
progress at critical moments during the school year. CMs and CGE
members worked together to create simple visuals, such as pie charts and graphs (see box) to
“For the first time in the history of the school, student results were
shared in a way that parents could easily understand. This motivates us
and encourages us to continue supporting our children at home with
their reading.”
– Parent, Kouthia primary school, IEF Kaffrine
CGE exchanges encouraged. In collaboration with the MEN actors, organize exchange
opportunities for UCGEs and CGEs to share best practices and challenges around parent and
community engagement. To encourage the sharing of best practices and lessons learned, Lecture
Pour Tous organized 221 inter-CGE and UCGE exchanges, involving 2,779 CGE members.
Though these exchanges were limited in Years 4 and 5 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they
independently continued through inter-CGE WhatsApp forums, a testament to the importance
CGE members attributed to the connection with their peers.
This section analyzes the impact of activities to improve parental and community engagement in
early grade reading, per both program performance indicators and other measures from studies,
analyses, and stakeholder testimonials.
By program midline, Lecture Pour Tous surpassed its LOP target the percentage of targeted
households showing demand for high-quality early grade reading instruction (Indicator 18). The
2019 study of the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of parents and communities on early grade
reading instruction indicated that nearly 90% of targeted households surveyed (1,192)
demonstrated an interest in early grade reading instruction, compared to only 30% surveyed at
baseline.
Also, by 2019, the program already exceeded the percentage of targeted households where
parents or other caretakers regularly undertake activities to support their students’ reading skills
(Indicator 20). The midline Community KAP study also indicated that 76.0% of households
surveyed demonstrated an interest in early grade reading instruction, compared to only 2.2% of
households surveyed (14 of 643 of households) at baseline (2018).
Finally, Lecture Pour Tous far surpassed its LOP target for the number of community-based
events to increase students’ engagement in and enjoyment of reading (Indicator 19), and over
200,000 parents engaged in multiple other community and targeted activities to boost reading, as
detailed in the prior section.
Other Evidence of Impact in Achieving Outcome 3
Lecture Pour Tous effectively raised parents’ awareness on the importance of reading in national
languages. The Community KAP midline showed an increase of 20 percentage points (from 70%
at baseline to 90% at the beginning of Year 4) in parent’s understanding of national reading
reforms and approval of its’ goal to improve early grade reading outcomes through the teaching
of national languages.
Research with RF MERL showed a high level of confidence that the program’s community-based
interventions had positive effects on parent and child awareness of and participation in activities related
to early grade reading. The study found a 90-100% probability that the community engagement
activities had a positive impact on several outcome measures in this domain, including:
participating in forums or school meetings; awareness of the national language early grade
reading curriculum; agreement that children should learn to read in their national languages; and
child participation in community reading activities.
Poster and radio announcement campaigns had a spillover effect in non-Outcome 3 communities. Most
non-Outcome 3 communities surveyed in the study conducted with RF MERL reported hearing
about or listening to Lecture Pour Tous radio announcements. Some directors interviewed
volontariste axé vers la qualité (PAV-Q), focused “During COVID-19, we realized that we could forge ahead
on activities that improved student without the support of the program thanks to the training
achievement. Lecture Pour Tous helped CGE we had received. I am convinced that I will continue to
engage parents and my community in these activities, as I
shift this dynamic. An informal survey did during COVID-19.”
conducted by regional PCE liaisons showed – Alassane Demba Konaté, CM Bapalel, Matam
that over 80% of CGEs have PAV-Q that
include early grade reading activities.
There is a high likelihood that parent and community engagement activities are contributing to the
improvement of decoding skills. The 2019 midterm study with RF MERL, which compared data
from the Community KAP midline with the EGRA midline, found that there was a high likelihood
(80% probability) that the program’s community engagement interventions improved children’s
ability to read invented words by a meaningful amount. The study also found that there was a
moderate likelihood (60% probability) that they improved children’s abilities to identify correct
letter sounds, words in their native language, and French words by a meaningful amount.
Practical parenting sessions had a positive impact on parent attitudes and behaviors. Field monitoring
visits revealed that parenting sessions were very popular with parents and CGE members, and
they had an impact on how parents approached early grade reading support with their children.
The RF MERL mid-term evaluation showed that Outcome 3 parents understood that even
illiterate parents can and should help Parents telling stories to their children at home, by
children while reading at home. This is participation in practical parenting sessions
compared to non-Outcome 3
communities who continued to believe
that parents needed to be educated and
literate to provide support. The
Community KAP midline showed that
after less than a year of
implementation, parents attending
these sessions engaged in storytelling
more often than those who had not,
one of the strategies included in
parenting sessions.
• “Faisons ensemble” is hard and must evolve over time. Achieving this level of
collaboration and consistent ministerial ownership is challenging for several reasons:
o Limited human resources within the ministry: The number of personnel in key
units like the INEADE, DEE, DFC, and elsewhere is very limited compared to the
volume of work required for major reform efforts. Additionally, not all staff have
the technical or managerial profile required. As a result, program technical
assistants often find themselves moving forward without full input from ministry
technicians, relying instead on ministerial review and validation. While this aids
with ownership, it reduces opportunities for full learning and reaching autonomy.
o Competing priorities: MEN staff have multiple simultaneous programs and
projects, and while reading is a top priority, is it not the only one. Personnel
must constantly navigate all of their initiatives and are not available for reading
reform at all times.
o High-paced donor timelines: Aggressive timelines such as those under Lecture
Pour Tous to complete large volumes of highly technical work in a short amount
of time puts additional strain on limited ministerial resources and the ability to
consistently do everything together. These timelines can also rush decision-
making or processes that can make it hard to bring all stakeholders along and
result in frustrations.
o Staff turnover: Key ministerial leadership and other personnel such as national
directors of departments change over the duration of the program, requiring
constant relationship-building and time to get new people up to speed as relates
Several factors can help mitigate these challenges. For instance, systematic
review, validation, and constant updating of planning with the MEN was critical. It
was also important to remain flexible and to support the MEN in identifying
alternative activities in case of obstacles. Over time, “doing things together”
must shift to ministry personnel doing everything independently. The G2G in St.
Louis proved a good test case for this; additional, systematic performance
strengthening at both the central and decentralized levels is yet needed, as well
as possible organizational reviews of certain units where more qualified staff and
additional performance incentives may be necessary for reform success.
• Politics matter. Introducing approaches that are technically sound – i.e., that
adhere to the international and local evidence base for the most efficient ways to
get students reading – is only part of the equation. Myriad other factors affect
how much or how well ministry personnel at all levels, and other education
system actors, will adopt these technical solutions. For instance, while school-
based teacher learning circles (CAP interne) are critical for correct teacher up-
take of new practices, school directors and teachers currently have little
incentive to hold these sessions, especially as compared to cluster-based sessions
that they are required to attend to receive their salaries. In another example,
ample evidence shows that current coaching modalities are not working and that
there are promising alternatives, but making the switch requires new
investments and new roles for system actors that might not be welcomed by all.
Finally, while other evidence strongly suggests the need to make important
changes to the national curriculum for early literacy, many important
stakeholders have not yet had the chance to fully process all of the evidence or
engage in the revision process. Further analysis of the political economy of
bilingual reading reform in Senegal will be critical to reform success and the
ability of continued technical assistance to effectively contribute.
In relation to improving reading instruction, program learning provides the following key
insights:
Text:
o Textbooks must contain large amounts of text at each level of a systematic
scope and sequence to ensure that students have enough text to thoroughly
practice and master incremental reading skills before moving on to higher levels
of complexity.
Time:
o Teachers can make enormous
gains in time on task in the
classroom with the help of
structured, systematic lesson
plans and structure student
materials to accompany them.
o Finding time for reading lessons
in national language, however,
has been challenging in a school
day already full of other subjects
and with many schools already
fitting in multiple grade levels and
two shifts of children.
Establishing a new, realistic bilingual education timetable under the MOHEBS and
PNLSE will be critical.
o Teachers and students continue to miss several days of the school year, greatly
reducing overall instructional time in the classroom. More attention to
supervision and follow-up to increase the presence of educators and learners will
be important under the new reforms.
Test:
o On-the-job capacity strengthening for the ministry unit responsible for
assessment requires the availability, commitment, and willingness of both
technicians and managers. INEADE is currently leading and engaged in so many
different important initiatives with a limited staff, rendering this quite difficult at
times. Continued human and institutional performance strengthening efforts will
yet need to navigate these challenges and potentially help the institution review
its organizational capacities generally. While the unit is already capable of so
much, some additional effort is needed for INEADE to independently conduct
EGRA or similar assessments to international standards, with particular emphasis
on planning (sampling, instruments), enumerator training and data quality
assurance, full analysis EGRA data and in conjunction with SSME-like surveys
and/or teacher observation data, report writing, and the presentation of key
findings to different audiences.
• Home-environment factors
— whether a student has
books at home or a parent
who reads — were most
strongly correlated with
student reading outcomes.
Given this and the positive
effects on student reading from
efforts to increase parent and
community engagement and
provide extracurricular reading
materials, additional
investment in this area is
critical — illustrating the
connection between adult
literacy and student literacy
reforms.
• School-management committees can plan and mobilize their own actions to
support reading. With the help of multiple tools and training, CGEs could integrate
reading activities into their routine action plans and identify and engage their own
community mobilizers to follow up with families. This created the critical link
between classroom instruction and practice at home, which built a culture of reading
in the community and contributed to higher student reading achievement.
• Community mobilizers are appreciated by parents and are a key component of
future sustainability of parent and community engagement in early grade reading.
Schools, parents, and students are best served by dynamic individuals living within
ADDITIONAL LEARNING
INTEGRATING EARLY GRADE READING REFORM INTO DAARAS
The results of the daara pilot revealed several factors necessary for successful
multilingual reading reform in these schools. Key recommendations to increase the
sustainability of pilot interventions:
• Adopt the systematic and structured early grade reading approaches and teacher
coaching system within the curriculum for modern daaras.
• Accelerate the process to formalize Comités de gestion des daara to streamline
inclusive management and improve collective decisions within daaras.
• Promote a coordination mechanism to encourage regular exchanges between daara
directors so that they may easily share best practices and find solutions to challenges
related to teaching conditions and student early grade reading.
• Organize additional face-to-face meetings with daara stakeholders to share and
discuss pilot evaluation results, lessons learned and recommendations.
• Encourage daara directors and other stakeholders to pursue additional opportunities
through IEFs, including promoting the transfer of student performance from L1 to L2
through the continuation of other donor-supported reform programs or taking
advantage of accelerated learning opportunities through the DALN.
• Promote and maintain student achievement in L1 by facilitating the integration of
daara students into the formal education system through bridge programs.
As part of its research agenda, Lecture Pour Tous supported the MEN to gather existing
data on the incidence of disabilities among early grade learners that could impede the
development of strong reading skills. Ultimately, the research team found little
quantitative data available on incidence of disability among children in Senegal and, as far
as they could determine, no data about incidence of disability specifically among children
in Grades 1, 2 or 3. One prior study found that 49.7% of children with disabilities
surveyed do not attend school, of which 34.2% dropped out for reasons including
physical inaccessibility and absence of adapted teaching materials. Given this, there is an
urgent need to understand the prevalence of children with disabilities in Senegal and
ensure that schools are equipped to welcome them through inclusive instruction and
adaptations to the school environment. Though some tools for measuring incidence of
disability have been developed in recent years (e.g., the Washington Group/UNICEF
Module on Child Functioning and Disability), the research team did not find any
indication that these tools have been used in Senegal. Furthermore, such tools would
likely need to be adapted to the context and needs of Senegalese children, their families,
and policymakers. To improve inclusive education in Senegal specifically to promote
early literacy for all children, it will be important for the government and its partners to:
The basic education curriculum Develop proposed DEE plans the updating of the CEB to The DEE has proposed evidence-based
(CEB) takes into account the guidelines with scopes reflect the recommendations of the guidelines for updating the Language and
explicit, systematic and and sequences and MOHEBS and the PNLSE framework Communication component of the CEB
structured phonics approach activity timetables for document, incorporating in L1 and L2, as part of MOHEBS and
for teaching and learning reading-writing in L1 recommendations emanating from PNLSE reforms, reinforced by a webinar
reading and the bilingual for CI and CP, i.e., Lecture Pour Tous for national technical team members
Etape 1 of the Language
approach for teaching in the
and Communication
first classes of elementary
component of the CEB,
LANGUAGE (TONGUE)
National languages A national policy for bilingual Support finalizing the The DEE actively focuses on finalizing The MOHEBS is validated and serves as
are used as education is validated bilingual model adopted the MOHEBS, incorporating the a key political moment that triggers
evidence base historic reforms to transform the
There is a general awareness Support the completion DFC, DRTS, SIMEN and DEE use their Communication strategy for the
among agents of the education of all communication communication channels to promote program validated and completed
system, as well as politicians campaigns and help reading instruction using national
and parliamentarians, parents MEN entities integrate languages More than 8,000 copies of the "Echoes
and communities about the information about the of LPT" newsletter distributed
importance of the use of program into its Communication officers at the IA and
website, newsletter, IEF levels oversee the implementation Website for Lecture Pour Tous is
national languages, the function functional and managed by SIMEN; it
and other of regional communication strategies
of bilingual education and the now needs to be converted for PNLSE
communication tools;
most effective approaches to advocate for a and MOHEBS implementation elements;
learning and teaching reading communications
TEXT
Early grade The MEN is able to define Reinforce the MEN’s INEADE, DEE, and the DALN will have The reference document on the
reading materials pedagogical and technical capacities to define trained technicians available to refine production of technical specifications
of high quality and specifications for reading specifications and to and stabilize the specifications for and on the editing and evaluation of
in national material in national languages evaluate EGR teaching future editions of national language educational tools is available
languages are and to manage quality control and learning materials reading materials
developed and are and the supply chain efficiently in L1 based on the INEADE and DAGE staff have the good
explicit, systematic and INEADE and DEE technicians study the practice document with proposed
available in and effectively.
structured phonics materials with the program's technicalrevisions to the evaluation grid and
sufficient quantity
approach with assistants and discuss the use of these
other procurement tools and have begun
attention to inclusion resources to identify opportunities for
and gender equality. incorporating these recommendations
DEE works with INEADE on a plan to into procurement policies and
Refine the technical and disseminate the reference document on
procedures
pedagogical how to prepare technical specifications
Senegalese publishers are able Finalize and complete INEADE capitalizes on the training Evaluation report on the training for
to replicate and develop the initial capacity provided by LPT to prepare a training editors
evidence-based teaching and building program for plan for continued capacity
learning materials for early local publishers on EGR development of publishers The training and capacity development
grade reading in national and national language plan for national publishers (with
languages that adhere to the teaching and learning modules) is available and delivered along
materials with a publisher training evaluation
evidence-base for reading and
Support self-selected report that demonstrates growth in
all other updated pedagogical
publishers to develop a knowledge and some publisher capacity
and technical specifications,
remediation
TEACHING
All classes The Ministry has a teacher Support for the The DRH updates the guidance manual The guide on teacher mobility has been
implementing mobility policy that takes into reprogramming of for the “mouvement national” to take updated and the MIRADOR has been
reading reforms account the national language MIRADOR to take into account information on the reprogrammed
and using national skills of teachers and inspectors account of national national languages spoken by the
languages have and promotes more women languages in teacher teachers Training sessions on the use of the guide
quality human within the educational system, mobility for human resources managers at the
The SIMEN updates the MIRADOR deconcentrated level have been held
resources particularly in rural areas.
based on this updated guidance manual
(directors, The most recent round of teacher
on time for the 2020/2021 teacher
teachers, (re)deployment was conducted with the
mobility round
supervisors) for new version of the MIRADOR and the
effective early new guide
grade reading
instruction The training standards for Support the drafting The DFC guides the stabilization of the A guidance document on initial reading
student teachers in all CRFPEs and implementation reference document and creates instruction in the national languages is
include a specific module on policy guidelines aimed conditions that allow all CRFPEs to available and updated for use in all the
teaching reading in the national to institutionalize and manage the training of student-teachers CRFPEs; this document contains
language and universal design scale up teacher on the teaching of reading in national modules as well as a framework of
for learning, so that all teachers training on EGR languages competencies ready to be integrated
leaving the CRFPEs have the
necessary skills to teach early
The FASTEF offers training Support for the The FASTEF leads in integrating Not realized: Training program showing
modules for future inspectors development, modules on EGR in national languages modules on EGR in national languages;
on teaching EGR in national sustainability and into the training program for future no work completed on this action
languages scaling up of specific inspectors
training modules for
the teaching of reading
in national languages
Coaching practices and tools Promote better IA and IEF integrates coaching into their Guide and tools on coaching methods
are integrated into standard IEF planning and annual calendar, provide trainings to available and well mastered by MEN
and school operations monitoring of coaching school directors and inspectors, and trainers
and supervision head inspectors monitor coaching to
The MEN knows how to use activities ensure regular sessions/visits Observed mentality shift towards a
ICTs to support teacher constructive approach to coaching
coaching activities Assist in developing DEE leads the effort to integrate
and testing different clearer requirements for regular Coaching was the subject of a ministerial
variants of coaching coaching of teachers – and sharing of note instructing all IEFs and RNs to
TIME
Timetables ensure Reading time is monitored by Provide the DEE and The DEE and DFC take the necessary Tools available
adequate time for the school directors and DFC with tools to measure to monitor reading time and
Updated timetables available and are in
teaching reading in inspectors monitor time for time on task of teachers
reading in national place in all public elementary schools
national languages
Measures for the respect of the languages in the across the seven target regions
hourly quota and schedules are classrooms Remaining: Monitoring systems in
reinforced
implementation with inspection reports
showing respect of reading time
The timetables are updated
based on the validated
MOHEBS and the revised CEB
TEST AND STANDARDS
Student MEN staff are able to conduct Strengthen MEN's INEADE collaborates with LPT on data INEADE independently conducted EGRA
performance regular assessments of students' capacities to implement analysis of EGRA endline conducted in in St. Louis
thresholds for reading scores in national EGRA/SSME studies the 6 LPT regions
reading in national languages and use the results to and LEMA INEADE (and DEE) validated data
languages are take corrective action 2 target IEFs engage in the LEMA analysis
aligned with process from beginning to end, include
national and using data to make decisions to better 2 target IEFs collected LEMA data and
support schools for EGR instruction conduct data analysis and initiated
international decision-making with program support
policy and used
for regular Policy-linked performance Certify technicians Key INEADE and DEE agents and other The new standards and performance
standards for students in CI and within the MEN and local resource persons follow the thresholds for CI and CP students are
Teachers have the tools and Assist in the INEADE supports IAs and IEFs in Report on pilot of quarterly assessments
guidance to analyze the results development and piloting standardized quarterly of EGR in national languages
of the quarterly assessment and testing of new assessment for early grade reading in
to take corrective measures quarterly standardized national languages Refined tools and protocol for
assessment instruments standardized quarterly assessments of
and protocols MEN puts in place the regulatory EGR in national languages available
provisions to authorize standardized
Help develop
quarterly assessments for reading in Remaining: Regulatory provisions
intermediate
(quarterly) standards national languages adopted to scale up the new quarterly
and benchmarks to standardized testing for early grade
monitor the INEADE supports IAs and IEFs in the reading
performance of CI, CP implementation of standardized
and CE1 students for quarterly assessments for reading in Remaining: Quarterly standards fully
the standardized national languages developed and validated
quarterly assessments
PARENTAL AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Parents and The support system for school Update Community The DEE takes the lead on updating the Updated CLSP available
communities management committees Literacy Support Plan CLSP
support children (CGE) put in place by the DEE (CLSP) Practical orientation guide available
in reading in includes measures to support The DEE takes the lead on updating the
national languages parents and communities for Share results from the practical orientation guide for CGE on The Voluntary Action Plans of CGE
Community KAP parental and community engagement show activities promoting parental and
(2017, 2018, 2019 and second graders essentially could not gains in reading and strong
2021): Comprehensive read at all, with only 0.3% meeting evidence that program reforms
student reading assessment minimum standards; there were no were having measurable impact at
with cross-sectional significant differences between girls large scale
sampling over multiple years and boys, with generally minimal • Motivated ministry to pursue a
for CI and CP students with differences between languages national reading program to
multiple subtasks in Wolof, • At midline, nearly 30% of CI institutionalize all key program
Pulaar, and Serer and one students on average were reading components and plan nationwide
or two subtasks in French. with comprehension; at-home scale-up together with MOHEBS
The complement SSME factors like parental literacy and • Strong correlations between
study included structured having books available correlated home-related factors and student
questionnaire interviews the strongest with student outcomes encourage continuation
with teachers, school outcomes; some differences and expansion of parental and
directors, and students between language groups and community engagement and
geographies were observed
Making the best of a After schools abruptly closed in March 2020 due to the COVID-
19 pandemic — and remained so until November 2021 —
difficult year with everyone knew the 2020-2021 school year would be difficult.
remote and in-person The Lecture Pour Tous program supported the ministry to
training help teachers deliver catch-up lessons to make up for lost
instructional time. Though the pandemic initially prevented
the USAID-funded program from organizing face-to-face
training, teachers could still benefit from distance training
modules and instructional coaching.
“The first distance training module came right on time,” said
Mariétou Diagne, a second-grade teacher at Ndiebel
Elementary School in Fatick. “I had been worried about how
to start my reading lessons and had asked my school director
for support. Then I received the first module the next day.”
The Lecture Pour Tous program’s distance-training modules
are self-guided, demonstrating how to teach key reading skills
such as associating sounds with letters and blending sounds at
a child’s pace. Mariétou adds, “these modules have helped me
digest important concepts and improve my teaching.”
Mariétou Diagne, 2nd grade
teacher, Ndiebel Elementary
When in-person meeting became possible, the program
School, Fatick region, Senegal, organized small teacher professional development days in
June 2021. April 2021 to reinforce distance training. Mariétou said, “I
found this face-to-face workshop to be very beneficial! My
group of teachers was able to discuss and solve problems
commonly faced when delivering reading lessons. Some things
we had tried to discuss during school-based teacher learning
circles, but we were only able to clarify our common doubts
with the bigger group at the workshop.”
Lecture Pour Tous also worked with the ministry to provide
coaching, which Mariétou found beneficial: “When teaching, we
can’t pay attention to everything we’re doing. We miss things.
When my director comes into my class, he sees things I don’t.
For example, he noted I wasn’t circulating enough throughout
my classroom to encourage students to point to words as they
read. This has helped me improve my classroom management.”
Selected to participate in a stock-taking meeting in June 2021
because of her distinguished performance and motivation,
Mariétou Diagne delivers a Mariétou helped Lecture Pour Tous reflect upon what worked
reading lesson in her 2nd grade
class, June 2021.
and what could be improved in teacher continuous professional
development for the 2021-2022 school year. This reflection will
inform the ministry’s updated teacher training plan.
Future teachers’ new Since 2017, the USAID-funded Lecture Pour Tous program has
supported Senegal’s Ministry of Education to boost reading
skills boost student scores in Grades 1 to 3 by training teachers to deliver reading
reading performance lessons in three national languages (Pulaar, Sereer, and Wolof).
To maximize results, the program has employed a dual
approach: building the instructional capacity of teachers already
teaching through in-service training, as well as training student
teachers who have yet to be certified (pre-service training).
“If we train teachers already posted to schools but ignore
student teachers, then we’ll never be able to change the
system,” said Djiby Ndiaye, director of the regional teacher
training center in Saint-Louis. Developing future teachers helps
Djiby Ndiaye, director of the
regional teacher training center,
sustain the program’s innovative approach to teaching reading.
Saint-Louis, Senegal, June 2021.
Lecture Pour Tous also assisted six other regional teacher
training centers: Diourbel, Fatick, Kaffrine, Kaolack, Louga,
and Matam. The program has helped develop the reading
instructional skills of more than 2,800 student teachers.
According to Fatimata Sow, a student teacher at the Saint-Louis
training center, the program’s training materials add tremendous
value. “The modules have helped us learn how to teach reading
in national languages, in languages children already understand.”
When training centers closed because of the COVID-19
pandemic, student teachers could continue their studies
without interruption thanks to Lecture Pour Tous’ rapid
response. The program shifted lessons to distance training and
created online learning communities via WhatsApp. “Once our
training center reopened, student teachers then had the chance
to simulate classroom instruction together, applying concepts
learned from their online training,” Djiby said.
Student teacher Fatimata Sow in
class at the regional teacher
training center in Saint-Louis,
Thinking ahead, Djiby adds, “We helped develop these
Senegal, June 2021. reading instruction training materials and are determined to
continue using them even after the program phases out.”
With USAID’s support, the ministry is launching a national
bilingual education system in which elementary students in all
of Senegal’s regions will first start learning to read in a range
of national languages they understand before shifting to
French instruction. Fatimata said, “This approach is helping
students learn to read. It should continue and even be
adapted for other languages like Jola and Mandinka.”
Book club for learners in Grades 758 CGEs have benefited from grants and capacity building in
1-3 organized by the school the management of these funds and in community
management committee, Louga mobilization activities around the teaching and learning of
region, September 2020
early grade reading in the six intervention regions. And this
CGE commitment to sustainability after Lecture Pour Tous
demonstrates a positive sign for the future.
CONTRACTUAL DELIVERABLES
F.6.15 Short-term consultant reports, technical briefs and reports, special and external reports
F.6.20 Inventory
YEAR 1, QUARTER 2
Atelier de Saly
Atelier de Validation
Atelier SBCC
Table Ronde
YEAR 1, QUARTER 3
YEAR 2, QUARTER 1
Rapport General de l’Atelier sur les Normes de Performance des Elèves (November 2017)
Visites des écoles élémentaires de Ndiafatt Seereer et de Guédel Mbodj (November 2017)
Notes sur le voyage d’étude au Mali auprès du projet de Lecture de l’USAID / Mali SIRA(November2017)
YEAR 2, QUARTER 2
Cahiers de Charges
Questionnaire Enseignant(e)
YEAR 2, QUARTER 3
Référentiel harmonisé
YEAR 3, QUARTER 1
YEAR 3, QUARTER 2
CR validation 16 mai
Formulaire de travail
Printing and Distribution of Student and Teacher Materials Public Schools Daaras
YEAR 4, QUARTER 1
Activité 6 Livrable 6.3 a_Rapport final plan de renforcement édition Sénégal 2019 V2
YEAR 4, QUARTER 2
EGRA Brochure
YEAR 4, QUARTER 3
SMS Survey
YEAR 5, QUARTER 1
YEAR 5, QUARTER 2
YEAR 5, QUARTER 3
LEMA (ADSE)
JP activity report
CGE guide
CAP MEN (waiting on final version from CE)
YEAR 5, QUARTER 3
Apprendre à lire-écrire en français langue seconde au sénégal1 : Le cas des élèves wolophones