Elementary Grades

Malawi primary schools face issues of large classes, high repetition rates, and teachers who resort to lectures and other marginally effective rote learning techniques to teach crowded classrooms. The Malawi Tikwere! (Let’s go up!) program uses interactive radio instruction (IRI) broadcasts to address these issues and bring student-centered instruction to primary schools countrywide.

This project provides logistical and substantive support to the IMD, TPC, and DR-K12 grantees funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Working collaboratively with the principal investigators and NSF program officers over a five-year period, EDC has coordinated four of five annual Principal Investigators conferences and is establishing a knowledge-transfer network that includes developing print and Web-based resources to ensure ongoing, high-quality dialogue and sharing among grantees.

CC&F offers training-of-trainers events to build a team of qualified professionals who can provide Early Language and Literacy Classroom Observation (ELLCO) training nationwide. During these events, participants learn foundational information about the ELLCO, practice ELLCO scoring using written scenarios and video vignettes, and prepare to train others to use the ELLCO.

USAID’s Decentralized Basic Education (DBE) Program Objective 2 seeks to improve the quality of teaching and learning in Indonesia’s public and private sector primary schools. DBE 2 builds upon successful aspects of recent initiatives in Indonesia to improve educational quality through new attention to strengthening teacher training and improving school learning environments. The DBE 2 Partnership works with public and private sector partners to develop a more comprehensive system of teacher professional development.

The Zambia QUESTT Project aims to improve the quality of basic education delivery systems and to mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS on children’s educational experiences (both in and out of government schools). To accomplish these objectives, QUESTT is leading several initiatives to improve teacher practice through the integration of Interactive Radio Instruction (IRI) in government schools and technology-based interventions. These interventions include the use of video and cell phone communication for both in-service and preservice teacher support.

The Connecticut Health Foundation’s (CHF) 10 year strategic plan included a goal to decrease the number of children and youth (ages 6-14) from entering the Juvenile Justice System and/or the most intensive level of mental health treatment. To accomplish this goal, CHF created a grant program to support and promote a comprehensive community-based system of early screening, assessment, identification, and brief intervention.

The Radio Instruction to Strengthen Education (RISE) project builds on the success of the Department of Labor-funded Mambo Elimu Interactive Radio Instruction (IRI) program that began in 2002 and was completed in 2006. RISE expands and deepens the application of IRI through a pre-primary IRI series accompanied with classroom kits and a standard One and Two IRI series for Zanzibar. The program targets under-served children in some of the poorest and most isolated communities.

During this three-year project, funded by the National Science Foundation, CSE is examining and comparing the quality and quantity of science instruction provided by classroom generalists to that of science specialists to determine the degree to which there are meaningful differences, and if there are differences, whether they are associated with student outcomes. The study is documenting the financial and human resources each model of science teaching requires.