Informations et ressources scientifiques
sur le développement des zones arides et semi-arides

Innovations for Poverty Action

Titre : Evaluating Strategies to Improve Children’s Reading Skills in Kenya

Région /Pays : Kenya

Date : 2010-2012

Résumé
Many students in Sub-Saharan Africa are not learning to read in their first years of school and literacy rates remain low in the region. Researchers partnered with the Kenyan Ministry of Education to evaluate the impact of two strategies aimed at improving the literacy skills of school children in Kenya : enhanced literacy instruction, through teacher training and text message support, and child-to-child reading groups. Results showed that the enhanced literacy instruction improved children’s reading skills in both Swahili and English and reduced the school dropout rate by 50 percent. The reading groups led to a small improvement in children’s attitudes about reading, but did not significantly improve their reading skills.

Présentation
Although most children in Sub-Saharan Africa have gained access to free primary education over the last two decades, literacy rates remain low in the region. Across the continent, 47 percent of adults and 28 percent of young people aged 15-24 are illiterate.1 Data suggests that the problem originates in the first years of schooling ; in many countries across the region children fail to achieve functional literacy in the first three grades of school. This research contributes to the evidence base on school-based approaches to tackle this issue. The most direct way that education policy can influence literacy development is through classroom instruction. Schools can also play a role in encouraging children to read more and to help each other to read. This evaluation examined both of those strategies for improving learning.

Taille de l’échantillon  : 101 government schools

Innovation for Poverty Action (IPA)