International Literacy Day 2011
The importance of being able to read is widely accepted. The ability to read is associated with improved quality of life, not only for the individual but also for families and communities. Students who learn to read within the first few grades of school have a greater chance of succeeding in and completing primary school.
RTI International has been leading the way to help countries improve reading and learning outcomes. Recent accomplishments and lessons learned have been featured in a series of briefs published under the EdData II project, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by RTI. They include:
- What Works to Improve Reading
- Improved Learning Outcomes in Donor-Financed Education Projects: RTI's Experience
- Assessing Early Grade Reading Skills in Africa
- Assessing for Results: Early Grade Reading Assessments for Learning Improvement
- Assessing Early Grade Reading Skills in Latin America and the Caribbean
- Improving Learning Outcomes Through Mother Tongue-based Education
Watch a video on the success of an early grade reading intervention in Liberia, where students' reading performance nearly tripled between 2008 and 2010. The video shows that significant improvements in reading are possible in a relatively short time period, and offers tips to parents on what they can do to assist teachers in improving their children's reading performance. A shorter, 1-minute video, also showcases successes of several students from Grades 2 and 3 at the Lankama Public Community School in Kolahun district, in Lofa County, Liberia.
On September 8, to mark International Literacy Day, RTI will participate in an event hosted by the Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution, the Education for All-Fast Track Initiative, and USAID.
Dr. Sylvia Linan-Thompson will present during a session entitled "Practitioners Taking Action" in which she will highlight RTI's accomplishments in assessing and improving reading around the world. Since first piloting the Early Grade Reading Assessment in 2007, RTI has collaborated government and counterparts in more than 20 countries around the world to assess children's early reading skills and provide recommendations for improving teaching and learning. RTI's reading programs in several countries, including Liberia and Egypt, have produced significant gains in learning achievement—on the order of hundreds of percent improvement in some cases. For more information on this event, please visit www.brookings.edu/events/2011/0908_international_literacy.aspx.
For more information on RTI's many education projects around the world, see International Education.
Related Information
- Education for a Better Future in Senegal (Where in the World is RTI newsletter feature: July/August 2011)
- Test Day for Ghana's Schools: A Behind-the-Scenes Look (Where in the World is RTI newsletter feature: July/August 2011)
- Publication: Revised edition of the Early Reading: Igniting Education for All report (May 2011) includes new results from recent initiatives to improve student reading in the early primary grades.
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Conferences: RTI recently participated and presented at several leading education conferences, including the
- Comparative and International Education Society Annual Conference: "Education Is That Which Liberates" (May 1-5, 2011)
- East Asia and Pacific Early Grade Reading Assessments Conference (April 12-14, 2011)
- American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting: "Inciting the Social Imagination: Education Research for the Public Good" (April 8-12, 2011)