Improvements in reading skills in Kenya

Abstract

This paper describes an experimental reading improvement trial in the Malindi District in Kenya, carried out by the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) and RTI International. The project was funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) under the Education for Marginalized Children in Kenya (EMACK II) and EdData II projects and used a randomized assignment of schools into treatment and control schools, with both pre- and post-treatment measurements relying on the Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) tool as an assessment vehicle.1 After less than a year of reading interventions, rather large improvements in some reading scores—as much as 80%—were noted.