The USAID Let’s Read project partners with the Zambian Ministry of Education to improve reading outcomes for more than 1.4 million children in pre-primary (kindergarten) through Grade 3. The project reaches over 4,900 public and community schools in Eastern, Muchinga, North-Western, Southern, and Western provinces. The goal is to strengthen the education system to ensure students can read with comprehension and fluency in one of Zambia’s seven official local languages of instruction. This contributes to a foundation for sustained economic growth.
Learning to read in the early grades is the foundation for learner success across all subjects. USAID Let’s Read supports the development and implementation of the Ministry’s Primary Literacy Program curriculum, which applies evidence-based instruction in phonics to build early fluency and comprehension in languages that children speak and understand.
GOALS
goal one
Provide literacy teaching and learning materials in the seven local languages for all community and public schools in five provinces.
goal two
Build capacity of teachers, administrators, and education officials in literacy instruction; supervision, coaching, and mentorship; and data utilization.
goal three
Track learner performance through standardized literacy assessments and digital data platforms.
KEY RESULTS FOR 2023
As of December 2023, 56% of Grade 2 learners were reading at the minimum proficiency level based on the National Standardized Literacy Assessments in the five target provinces.
Ninety-six percent of the 5,000 schools are regularly tracking and reporting the results of Standardized Literacy Assessments results in grades 1-3 on the publicly-available web-based Performance Tracking System dashboard that allows for parents, teachers and education leadership to view progress of their schools.
Expanded private sector partnerships in education to fill the gap in teaching and learning materials and local language classroom libraries. Private partners Cambridge University Press supported the $2.4 million acquisition and distribution of over 1.4 million local language supplementary readers to schools while Tyre King procured and distributed 6,000 readers to 30 schools in 10 districts in Eastern province.
Over 24,700 Ministry of Education administrators and educators received training on literacy instruction, coaching, supportive supervision, and data utilization.
Peer-to-peer learning between Provincial Education Officers in target and non-target provinces (Luapula, Copperbelt, Central, Lusaka, and Northern provinces) to scale the literacy program to all schools.
The Teaching Council of Zambia accredited USAID Let’s Read training, so that teachers receive continuous learning points to maintain their teaching license when they successfully complete the training.
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