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Towards the Design and Implementation of Comprehensive Primary Grade Literacy and Numeracy Programs A Working Paper by the Global Reading Network

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On the cover:

"Education" by Rindra Ramasomanana

Comprehensive Primary Grade Literacy and Numeracy Programs |

Towards the Design and Implementation of Comprehensive Primary Grade Literacy and

Numeracy Programs

A Working Paper by the Global Reading Network

Norma Evans Norma Evans and Associates

Deepa Srikantaiah World Learning Inc.

Amy Pallangyo Reading within Reach

Mary Sugrue Education Development Center

Yasmin Sitabkhan RTI International

February 2019

This paper was made possible by the support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The paper was prepared for USAID’s Building Evidence and Supporting Innovation to Improve Primary Grade Reading Assistance for the Office of Education (E3/ED), University Research Co., LLC, Contract No. AID-

OAA-M-14-00001, MOBIS#: GS-10F-0182T.

Comprehensive Primary Grade Literacy and Numeracy Programs |

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Suggested citation: Evans, N., Srikantaiah, D., Pallangyo, A., Sugrue, M., and Sitabkhan, Y. (2019). Towards the design and implementation of comprehensive primary grade literacy and numeracy programs. A Working Paper by the Global Reading Network. Prepared by University Research Co., LLC. (URC) under the Reading within REACH initiative for USAID’s Building Evidence and Supporting Innovation to Improve Primary Grade Assistance for the Office of Education (E3/ED). Available at www.globalreadingnetwork.net.

Comprehensive Primary Grade Literacy and Numeracy Programs | i

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments iii

List of Acronyms iv

List of Tables, Diagrams and Case Studies v

Executive Summary viii

Purpose and Structure of this Paper xi

Literacy and Numeracy Reform in International Basic Education 1

CHAPTER A: Literacy and Numeracy in a Child’s Early Years 5

A1. Before School Begins… 5

A2. The Transition to Formal Literacy and Numeracy Learning 5

CHAPTER B: The Mosaic Framework and the Design of Comprehensive, Learning- Focused Literacy and Numeracy Programs 12

The Importance of Maintaining a Focus on Learning and Pedagogy in Educational Interventions 13

MOSAIC: A Framework to Guide the Development of Comprehensive Literacy and Numeracy Programming 14

B1. Policies that Create an Enabling Environment for Learning 19

B2. High-Quality Texts and Materials 24

Essential Materials 25

Design Principles 26

Materials for Dual Literacy-Math Programs 30

Teacher’s guides 30

Children’s materials 30

B3. Effective Teachers and School Leaders 35

Teacher Beliefs and Attitudes 36

Types of Teacher Knowledge 38

2a. Teacher content knowledge - CK (or “what to teach in literacy and numeracy”) 40

2b. Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) – (or “how to teach literacy and numeracy”) 41

Element One: Knowledge that the way content is structured affects how learning is delivered 41

Comprehensive Primary Grade Literacy and Numeracy Programs | ii

Element Two: Effective instructional models 42

Element Three: Effective instructional practices for each discipline 45

Discipline-Specific Instructional Practices: Numeracy Spotlight 51

2c. Teacher Technological Pedagogical Knowledge (TPK, or “using literacy/numeracy teaching tools”) 52

Literacy TPK 52

Numeracy TPK 53

3. Effective School Leaders 55

4. Nature, Dosage and Duration of Teacher and School Leader Trainings 58

5. Coaching and Mentoring 61

6. Continuous Student Assessment that Informs Practice 65

7. Regular Practice Outside of School 69

8. Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL) Activities 75

CHAPTER C: Issues to Consider When Designing Comprehensive Programs 76

1. Using the MOSAIC to Identify Gaps and Opportunities with Respect to Each Component 76

2. Distributing Resources Across the Two Disciplines 78

CHAPTER D: Informing the way Forward: An Initial Research Agenda in Primary Grade Numeracy 81

BIBLIOGRAPHY 83

GLOSSARY 95

APPENDIX A: Higher-order Thinking Skills and Examples of Their Application in Early Grade Literacy and Numeracy Classes 99

Comprehensive Primary Grade Literacy and Numeracy Programs | iii

Acknowledgments his document, Towards the Design and Implementation of Comprehensive Primary Grade Literacy and Numeracy Programs: A working paper from the Global Reading Network, was developed for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). It is intended to support all stakeholders involved in designing, implementing or overseeing early grades literacy and numeracy program development and implementation. It provides a wealth of information about the synergies and unique characteristics of early grades literacy and early grades numeracy programs. It is our hope that implementers will find it useful in their work, as they strive to provide quality education for all young learners, and set them on a strong foundational pathway toward future learning.

Reading within Reach (REACH) is supported by USAID and serves as the Secretariat for the Global Reading Network (GRN), an interactive hub and resource repository to connect and mobilize stakeholders interested in increasing the impact, scale and sustainability of early grade reading programs. REACH/GRN would like to acknowledge the contributions of this document’s authors and GRN members for their commitment to the learning of young people around the world. This includes lead author Norma Evans, who updated the initial White Paper to recommend a roadmap for designing comprehensive reading and mathematics programming; Deepa Srikantaiah, Mary Sugrue and Yasmin Sitabkhan for the initial White Paper and convening of GRN to explore the connection between early literacy and early mathematics learning and outcomes and implications for a comprehensive approach;

and Amy Pallangyo for restructuring and providing additional input on reading program design.

In addition, other GRN members contributed to the knowledge base that is shared within this important document, including Save the Children (Carol daSilva), Education Development Center (Rachel Christina), Chemonics (Jordene Hale), Creative Associates (Karen Tietjen), Juarez and Associates (Stefany Thangavelu), FHI 360 (Julia Frazier) and School to School International (Candace Debnam and Mark Lynd). And finally, the REACH team at University Research Co. LLC, including John Micklos and Kurt Mulholland, edited and readied this document quickly for publication.

T

Comprehensive Primary Grade Literacy and Numeracy Programs | iv

LIST OF ACRONYMS

BMLK Big Math for Little Kids program

CK Content knowledge

CPA Content, Pictorial, Abstract or Symbolic

EDC Education Development Center

EGMA Early Grade Mathematics Assessment

EGRA Early Grade Reading Assessment

ESSP Education Sector Strategic Plans

GRN Global Reading Network

IDB Inter-American Development Bank

LMIC Low- and Middle-Income Countries

LMT Learning Mathematics for Teaching project

MERL Monitoring, evaluation, research and learning

MKT Mathematics knowledge for teaching

OECD Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development

OEI Organization of Ibero-American States

ORF Oral reading fluency

PCK Pedagogical content knowledge

PIRLS Progress in International Reading Literacy Study

TIMSS Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study

TK Technological knowledge

TPTK Teacher pedagogical technological knowledge

UN United Nations

UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

USAID United States Agency for International Development

WASH Water, sanitation and hygiene

Comprehensive Primary Grade Literacy and Numeracy Programs | v

List of Tables, Diagrams and Case Studies

TABLES

Table 1: Literacy and Numeracy Domains 6

Table 2: Essential Instructional Materials for Literacy and Numeracy 25

Table 3: Principles and Characteristics of Quality Primary Literacy and Numeracy Materials 27

Table 4: Content-Specific Home-School Activities 71

DIAGRAMS

Diagram 1: The Three Phases (or Stages) of Numeracy Concept Acquisition 7

Diagram 2: The MOSAIC 15

Diagram 3: Three Aspects of Teacher Knowledge for Literacy and Numeracy 38

CASE STUDIES

Case Study 1: Using Local Language and the Three Phases of Concept Development 10 (Concrete, Pictorial, Abstract or CPA) to Support Improved Numeracy Skills—Akshare Ganitha Program

Case Study 2: Infusing Language, Thought and Meaning into Literacy and 18 Numeracy Teaching in Rwanda—Education Development Center

Case Study 3: Using Mother Tongue to Strengthen Mathematical Thinking in Paraguay: 22 The Tikichuela Early Childhood Mathematics Program— Education Development Center

Comprehensive Primary Grade Literacy and Numeracy Programs | vi

Case Study 4: Using Math Stories in Community Math Clubs to Promote Conceptual 32 Understanding—Save the Children

Case Study 5: Using Read Aloud Books to Engage Children in Problem 33 Solving in Nigeria—FHI 360

Case Study 6: Building Teachers’ PCK/MKT in Ghana—School to School International 47

Case Study 7: Extending Conversations in Kenya—RTI International 50

Case Study 8: Training Teachers to Manage, Distribute and Use Learning 54 Materials in Kenya—RTI International

Case Study 9: Implementing School-based Numeracy Coaching in Ghana— 64 School to School International

Case Study 10: Encouraging Math Talk at Home and in the Community—Save the Children 74

Comprehensive Primary Grade Literacy and Numeracy Programs | vii

MOSAIC

Towards the Design and Implementation of Comprehensive Primary Grade Literacy and

Numeracy Programs

Comprehensive (adj.): Complete; including all or nearly all elements or aspects of something

Comprehensive Primary Grade Literacy and Numeracy Programs | viii

Literate & Numerate Children

1. Enabling Policies and Standards

2. High-Quality

Texts and Materials

3. Effective

Teachers and School

Leaders

4. Effective

Teacher Coaching and

Mentoring

5. Continuous Assessments that Inform Instruction

6. Regular Practice

Outside of School

Executive Summary ver the last decade, the international donor community has focused considerable resources on increasing literacy levels in the early grades as a means of improving learners’ overall academic success.

Learners’ early grade reading skills predict their reading abilities in later grades (Butler et al., 1985; Stainthorp & Hughes, 2004; Wagner et al., 1997) as well as their overall future academic performance (Francis et al., 1996; Juel, 1988;

Lipson & Wixson, 1997; Snider & Tarver, 1987;

Wharton-McDonald et al., 1998). However, learners’ overall academic success is also predicated on their early numeracy skills. These skills predict the likelihood learners will repeat a grade (Duncan-Magnuson, 2011), their later achievement in numeracy, and their reading abilities (Duncan et al., 2007, Watts et al., 2014; Claessens & Engel, 2013).

Given the strong predictive relationship between early numeracy and literacy skills and overall academic success, it is clear that learners need to develop strong skills in both these disciplines. The most promising means of achieving this goal in low- and middle-income countries is via interventions that are “pedagogy and learning focused” (Crouch & DeStefano, 2017), i.e., that direct resources to aspects of educational systems that have a direct bearing on the quality of teaching and learning. The MOSAIC framework described in this paper is a tool to assist interventions in meeting the standards for “pedagogy and learning focused” large-scale and comprehensive literacy and numeracy programs.

The six components of the MOSAIC framework are:

1. Enabling Policies and Standards: Ensuring that the content and pacing of learning in literacy and numeracy curricula respect research-based learning progressions in each discipline, that there are clear standards and benchmarks in place for assessing learners’ progress and that the policies needed to enable improved learning in both disciplines (minimal instructional time, delivering instruction in a language learners understand and are able to use, monitoring learners’ progress with respect to standards and assessment, etc.) are in place.

2. High-Quality Texts and Materials: Teachers and learners need access to high-quality print and non-print literacy and numeracy instructional materials that align with evidence-based instructional models and practices for each discipline, both print and non-print (reading primers, math work/text books, etc.). In the case of numeracy, a critical component of high-quality materials is the use of

O The MOSAIC Framework

Comprehensive Primary Grade Literacy and Numeracy Programs | ix appropriate and accurate mathematical models (manipulatives, objects, diagrams, etc.) to represent and explain abstract ideas.

3. Effective Teachers and School Leaders: Merely providing learners with learning resources is not sufficient to improve learning outcomes (McEwan, 2015; Tilson et.al., 2013b, cited in Kim et al., 2016). Learning outcomes improve when learners have access to learning resources AND teachers receive training on the use of those resources (RTI, 2015, cited in Kim et al., 2016). Investing in good teacher education at both the preservice and in-service level is in fact the most research-based strategy available to programs focused on improving learning outcomes (Allington 2002).

Learning-focused literacy and numeracy interventions need to equip teachers with discipline-specific, cross-disciplinary, pedagogical and content-related knowledge and skills required to deliver effective instruction, as well as the technological knowledge required to use evidence-based literacy and numeracy instructional materials appropriately. Finally, school leadership accounts for about a quarter of the total of all school effects on children’s learning outcomes (Leithwood et al., 2004). Learners in schools where head teachers adopt effective leadership practices have higher learning outcomes than those in schools where head teachers do not (Seashore Louis et al., 2010;

Leithwood et al., 2004). Learning-focused interventions need to ensure that school leaders understand school and classroom-based decisions and actions that result in improved literacy and numeracy learning outcomes and have the skills and tools necessary to implement them.

4. Effective Teacher Coaching and Mentoring: Training, when accompanied by ongoing coaching or mentoring, offers the maximum possibility of teachers implementing new practices, and subsequently of children improving their learning outcomes (Joyce & Showers, 1982, Cilliers & Taylor, 2017). For that reason, learning-focused interventions need to ensure that coaches or mentors knowledgeable in effective literacy and numeracy instructional practices provide ongoing support to teachers and head teachers. This includes modeling for teachers how to implement discipline-specific and cross-disciplinary instructional models, as well as how to use new instructional materials effectively, and providing teachers with focused feedback on their classroom practices. Coaches or mentors also need to provide school leaders with focused feedback on the quality of their school and classroom-based initiatives to improve learning outcomes.

5. Continuous Assessments that Inform Instruction: Learners whose teachers assess their performance on a regular basis, and with respect to performance standards and benchmarks, have better learning outcomes (Piper & Korda, 2011, cited in Popova et al., 2018). When that information is used to guide future instruction and identify remediation efforts at the class or individual learner level, learning outcomes improve (Black & William, 1998). For that reason, comprehensive, learning-focused literacy and numeracy interventions need to ensure that all levels of the education system, from the classroom to the national level, have the tools and skills necessary to gather informal and formal data on learners’ literacy and numeracy progress and performance with respect to established standards and benchmarks, and to implement appropriate remediation efforts for those in need.

6. Regular Practice Outside of School: There is a direct correlation between the total amount of time learners spend practicing skills in context and children’s learning achievement (Allington, Comprehensive Primary Grade Literacy and Numeracy Programs | x

2014; Cunningham & Stanovich, 1998; Krashen, 2004). One way to increase the amount of literacy and numeracy learning time is to ensure that children have opportunities to engage in authentic and context-embedded numeracy and literacy learning activities outside the boundaries of the classroom and school.

Each of the six components addresses elements critical to improving classroom teaching and learning in low- and middle-resource countries (see Kim et al., 2016). All six, when implemented in a cohesive, integrated and synergistic manner, result in a comprehensive, learning-focused intervention identified by Crouch & DeStefano (2017) as holding the greatest potential to produce large-scale improvements in learning outcomes.

The six components are necessary to produce optimal gains. However, the level of attention or resources that need to be directed to different components of the MOSAIC framework, or to literacy versus numeracy, to produce desired results is context dependent. In certain contexts, some of the MOSAIC components may already be in place – or will soon be in place thanks to support from other donors. In such contexts, resources can be directed to those components requiring additional support. In other contexts, it may be necessary to distribute resources across all six components, and for both literacy and numeracy. Undertaking a data-driven process to map the existing environment with respect to the six MOSAIC components is a first step to identifying existing gaps, and by extension how best to distribute available resources.

Finally, although the evidence base for the design, delivery and monitoring of literacy programs is considerable and growing, the same cannot be said of numeracy. There is a need for a more extensive and systematic evidence base for the design and delivery of effective primary numeracy programs in low- and middle-income contexts, as well as programs that have a dual focus on literacy and numeracy. Among the research gaps is a need to better understand teachers' application of key evidence-based numeracy instructional strategies, including their use of problem-solving-based instructional models and of manipulatives to represent abstract concepts. There is also a need to better understand effective ways of increasing teachers’ numeracy pedagogical content knowledge.

numeracy instruction was important. In the L3 Program, one common lens was identifying how to more reflective of the types of mathematical situations they encounter in their everyday lives. The flipped problems also created meaningful contexts for children to use their oral language skills in math class.

Comprehensive Primary Grade Literacy and Numeracy Programs | xi

Purpose and Structure of this Paper his paper seeks to advance the international education community’s reflections on how to design primary grade literacy and numeracy programs that bring an efficient and effective dual approach to the teaching of both essential skills. It proposes an overall planning framework that is “pedagogy and learning focused,” and that lends itself to the implementation of comprehensive and system-wide reform. The framework, known as the MOSAIC, identifies the essential components of sustainable, scalable programs (cf. Crouch & DeStefano, 2017; Fullan, 2000; Moore et al., 2017) and describes how they can be actualized in literacy and numeracy initiatives for the primary grades. Using the MOSAIC framework can assist program developers in designing context-appropriate interventions that honor the integrity of both disciplines, while leveraging the natural connections between them.

This paper contains four chapters, plus a glossary and appendix:

Chapter A summarizes foundational literacy and numeracy skills that children begin to acquire before, and just after, enrolling in formal schooling.

Chapter B examines the key components of a comprehensive, learner-focused program design within the context of the MOSAIC framework and how each is actualized in primary grade literacy and numeracy programs.

Chapter C addresses comprehensive literacy-numeracy program design from a broader programmatic level. It presents considerations to guide deliberations on optimal weighting of resources for each MOSAIC component within country-specific contexts. It also presents issues to consider when determine how to distribute resources across literacy and numeracy initiatives, including in cases when resources for one or both disciplines are limited.

Chapter D outlines an initial research agenda to inform the future design and implementation of evidence-based primary numeracy programs.

The ideas and potential decision pathways presented are intended to assist a wide range of education stakeholders—including ministries of education, their diverse partners, education officers of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and members of civil society—to make informed choices about how to design and implement comprehensive literacy and numeracy programs. They are also intended to guide decision-making around how to use resources in a cost-efficient manner and in a way that has the potential to result in optimal learning gains.

The information and discussions included in this paper are supported by illustrative case studies and examples from different numeracy-related inventions in low- and middle-income contexts, to help the reader place new ideas in context. The decision to focus the illustrative examples exclusively on numeracy interventions recognizes that numeracy is a relatively new area of focus for many readers.

T

Comprehensive Primary Grade Literacy and Numeracy Programs | 1

Literacy and Numeracy Reform in International Basic Education

“Well-begun is half done.”

~Louise Fox, Chief Economist at USAID, speaking about the Agency’s work to improve learning outcomes in reading

Over the last decade, the international donor community has focused considerable resources on increasing literacy levels in early grades as a means of improving learners’ overall academic success.

The decision to concentrate efforts on improving primary literacy levels acknowledged the fact that learners in low- and middle-resource countries were completing primary school without the most basic literacy levels required to take advantage of the considerable benefits of higher education, including

MAIN IDEAS

Early success in reading is predictive of children’s later reading skills.

Early success in numeracy is predictive of future academic successes in all disciplines, including in reading & literacy.

The strong, predictive ability of early grade literacy and numeracy means that learners need powerful learning experiences in BOTH these disciplines.

The many early grade literacy interventions launched in low- and middle-income contexts over the past decade has produced a considerable research base to inform future programming.

There have been fewer numeracy-focused interventions in such contexts, or interventions with a dual focus on literacy and numeracy, and as a result a significantly smaller research-base to guide future decision making.

Comprehensive Primary Grade Literacy and Numeracy Programs | 2 increased professional and financial opportunities (Graham & Kelly, 2018; Gove & Cvelich, 2011; Platas et al., 2016).

Armed with the substantial global research base indicating that children’s reading skills in early primary predict their reading abilities in later grades (Butler et al., 1985; Stainthorp & Hughes, 2004; Wagner et al., 1997), and that children who develop at least minimal reading proficiency levels by the end of early primary have the foundational skills required to support their learning through the end of primary and beyond, the global community committed to ensuring that children in low- and middle-income countries acquire strong literacy skills by the end of early primary.

This consensus was reinforced by research suggesting that how well children read in the early grades predicts their overall future academic performance (Francis et al., 1996; Juel, 1988; Lipson & Wixson, 1991; Snider & Tarver, 1987; Wharton-McDonald et al., 1998). Simply put, children who are better readers in the early grades go on to become more successful learners.

The above findings confirmed the urgency of directing resources toward the improvement of early grade reading skills. Donor agencies responded accordingly. Over the past decade, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has been a leader in the global effort to improve literacy levels, funding early-grade reading programs in over 40 low- and middle-resource countries around the globe.

As a result of global efforts to improve primary reading skills, there has been a significant increase in the evidence-base for literacy acquisition and instruction in low- and middle-income countries. The recent Landscape Report on Early Grade Literacy1 (Kim et al., 2016) summarized evidence collected over the past decade on the design and implementation of early grade literacy programs in such contexts, identifying what has worked, which practices show promise, and the gaps in the evidence base. Among the research consensus is that if children are to develop strong literacy/reading skills, they need to learn to read in a language they use and understand and that learning needs to take place in an instructional and materials-rich environment, using a systematic, phonics-based approach (Moore et al., 2017).

Although the evidence base for effective primary literacy/reading programming is considerable and continues to grow each year, USAID recognizes that much remains to be done to raise literacy/reading levels to desirable standards.

1 Literacy, as used in this paper, is defined as the ability to read, write and communicate effectively using the language of a particular community. Reading, writing, listening, speaking and representing are used when referring to the component skills required to be literate.

Comprehensive Primary Grade Literacy and Numeracy Programs | 3

Considerably less is known about the design and delivery of effective numeracy2 programs in low- and middle-resource contexts, despite the poor performance of children from these contexts on international assessments (see Textbox 1) and the substantive global research base demonstrating that early numeracy skills predict:

1. children’s overall academic success in higher grades (Watts et al., 2014; Claessens & Engel, 2013, Duncan et al., 2007; Bodovski & Youn, 2012; Duncan & Magnuson, 2011);

2. the likelihood they will repeat a grade (Duncan & Magnuson, 2011);

3. their later achievement in numeracy (Watts et al., 2014;

Claessens & Engel, 2013; Broberg et al., 1997;

Campbell et al., 2001; Peisner-Feinberg et al., 2001;

Duncan et al., 2007); and

4. their ability to read (Duncan et al., 2007; Purpura et al., 2011; Duncan & Magnuson, 2011).3

Given the strong predictive value of early numeracy skills, and of early numeracy and literacy skills on children’s overall academic success, it is obvious that children need powerful early learning experiences in both these disciplines.

This paper outlines evidence-based considerations for the design of interventions to improve learning outcomes in both disciplines. It is hoped that the information garnered from the implementation of such programs will provide the evidence base needed to further refine best-practice in both primary literacy and numeracy, as well as in the design and delivery of dual focus programs.

2 Numeracy, as used in this paper, is defined as being able to reason with numbers and other mathematical concepts, and to apply these concepts in a range of contexts to solve problems. Number and number operations, geometry, measurement, data analysis/probability and algebra are the domains associated with numeracy.

3 Early reading skills are strong predictors of children’s later reading achievement, but they do not predict children’s later numeracy abilities (Lerkkanen et al., 2005). Children who develop strong reading skills in the early grades go on to be more accomplished readers in the higher grades. However, they do not necessarily go on to develop strong numeracy skills (ibid.). Early numeracy skills predict later reading skills but early reading skills do not predict later numeracy skills.

TEXTBOX 1:

Differential Performance of Low and Middle/high Resource Countries on

International Assessments

Low-resource countries consistently score at the bottom of international assessments. The average performing student in low-resource countries scores lower on international assessments (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study [PIRLS] or Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study [TIMSS]) than 95% of ALL of the learners in Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) high-resource countries (Crouch & Gove, in press).

Comprehensive Primary Grade Literacy and Numeracy Programs | 4

MAIN IDEAS

Foundational learning in early literacy and numeracy takes place before children enroll in school.

In formal schooling, literacy learning and numeracy learning both proceed through learning phases or stages, each progressively more difficult or challenging then the last.

In both disciplines, children need to master a broad range of increasingly more difficult skills, each associated with a particular literacy or numeracy content area or domain.

In numeracy instruction, children must develop process-related skills, in addition to content-specific skills.

Scaffolded, gradual-release instructional models have been proven to be effective in both literacy and numeracy.

The type of scaffolded, gradual-release model best suited for instruction depends upon the discipline (literacy versus numeracy), as well as the skill being addressed.

Comprehensive Primary Grade Literacy and Numeracy Programs | 5

CHAPTER A:

Literacy and Numeracy in a Child’s Early Years

A1. Before School Begins… nder the right circumstances, children begin to develop foundational literacy and numeracy skills at home and in the community long before they start school. In the case of literacy, young children who engage in meaningful, rich language experiences—like shared book reading, listening to and telling stories, playing word games, singing songs, and making up rhymes—begin to develop phonological awareness, meaning the ability to isolate and manipulate sounds in oral language, and print awareness (Hart & Risley, 1995).

Similarly, in math, infants are born with an inherent number sense that is increasingly developed through interactions with the environment and other people. Young children begin understanding the concept of quantity from an early age (Dehaene, 1997; Devlin 2010; Sousa, 2008). Studies with infants, for example, show that they can discriminate between set sizes, for example between sets of two objects and sets that have more or fewer than two objects (Lipton & Spelke, 2003; Xu, 2003; Xu & Spelke, 2000; Xu, Spelke & Goddard, 2005). Children also start to formalize concepts of number by watching or hearing adults or older siblings perform household or other community-related activities involving basic mathematics concepts, such as buying items in the market. All these experiences are important to children developing their conceptual understanding of numbers. As a result of their innate skills, and the mathematics they learn from playing games with friends or chores at home (Saxe, 1991; Davis & Ginsburg, 1993; Guberman, 1999; Khan, 1999; Clarke et al., 2006; Bodovski & Farkas, 2007;

Sitabkhan, 2009, 2015; and Taylor, 2012), children come to school already knowing how to “do mathematics”.

Starting out behind: In low and middle-income contexts, children may not have had early exposure to letter sounds or formal number concepts. This can negatively affect their progress when they transition to the formal school system (Brantlinger, 1993; DiMaggio & Mohr, 1985; Lareau, 1989; McDonough, 1997; Srikantaiah, 2008; Useem, 1992). The gap is further compounded when children in low- and middle-income contexts do not have access to pre-school or kindergarten, and hence have little or no preparation for the transition to formal literacy and numeracy skills (Srikantaiah & Ralaingita, 2014).

Programs focused in early grade literacy and numeracy need to acknowledge the degree to which young children have had opportunities to develop essential pre-literacy and pre-numeracy skills prior to entering the formal school system and, if necessary, devote sufficient time to these skills before introducing formal literacy and numeracy skills.

A2. The Transition to Formal Literacy and Numeracy Learning

When children transition to primary school, they begin to develop, more explicitly and consistently, the broad range of skills that will enable them to become literate and numerate. The skills children need to

U

Comprehensive Primary Grade Literacy and Numeracy Programs | 6 develop are generally grouped by content domains in both literacy and numeracy. Table 1 below lists and defines the principal content domains for literacy and numeracy. Although these domains have been identified and defined in Western academies, they are context-agnostic; there is no educational program in the world, including in circumstances of conflict and crisis, where their instruction in the early years of school is irrelevant.

Table 1: Literacy and Numeracy Domains

Literacy Domains4 Numeracy Domains

Oral Language – Understanding oral language and communicating orally

Phonological Awareness – Isolating and manipulating sounds in oral language. (Stanovich, 1992); for example, being able to identify that the word “rain” starts with the sound /r/, that the word “elephant” has three syllables or that the word “hat” rhymes with “cat.” Phonemic awareness is part of phonological awareness and refers to the skill of being able to isolate individual letter sounds in spoken words.

Alphabetic Awareness – Recognizing letters and the sounds they make; using this to read syllables and words accurately. For example, reading the word “bat” by sounding out each letter - /b/. /a/. /t/ and then blending the sounds together to produce the word /bat/. Learning to read words by associating sounds to letters is referred to as the study of Phonics.

Vocabulary – Understanding the meaning of words

Fluency – Reading at an appropriate pace, accurately and with appropriate expression

Comprehension – Understanding the ideas presented in written texts

Writing – Being able to express ideas in various written forms, with acceptable technical conventions

Number Concepts – Representing, estimating and describing number quantities; place value;

the relative size of number quantities or the relationships among numbers/quantities, and number systems.

Number Operations and Algebraic Thinking – Describing the meaning of operations and how they relate to one another; estimating the results of operations; carrying operations out accurately using a variety of strategies (including mentally);

understanding and describing patterns, relations, and functions

Geometry and Spatial Awareness– Analyzing the properties of two- and three-dimensional geometric shapes and developing mathematical arguments about geometric relationships

Measurement - Understanding measurable attributes of objects and the units, systems, and processes of measurement

Data and probability – Formulating and answering questions by collecting, organizing, and displaying relevant data

Carefully sequenced instruction that respects the phases or stages of learning: In both disciplines, the learning process needs to be carefully sequenced so that children progress from simpler to increasingly

4 It is important to note that, while print awareness and listening comprehension are not generally included when discussing the core elements of literacy, they are critical to early grades literacy skills development. Print awareness is an early text access skill, where learners gain basic understanding of the purpose and manipulation of print, including concepts of parts of a book, text direction, and basic physical use of text. Listening comprehension, also an early access skill, helps learners understand that they can listen and comprehend what they hear. By developing listening comprehension, learners are better able to access and understand content, communicate in response to new oral ideas, and can transfer this skill into the more challenging domain of reading comprehension over time.

Comprehensive Primary Grade Literacy and Numeracy Programs | 7 more complex skills. Teachers, and the materials and assessments they use, must carefully structure the learning process so that children master skills as efficiently as possible.

In both literacy and numeracy, learning progresses through phases or stages. In literacy, children first learn that there are predictable relationships between sounds and letters (alphabetic awareness), and that they can use these relationships to read both familiar and unfamiliar words. Once they can read words, they can begin to read with fluency. And fluency is a bridge to comprehension. Once children can read the words in a text with a minimal level of fluency, they can begin unlocking the ideas presented. These stages of reading acquisition have often been codified, using typologies such as: pre-reader, emergent reader, transitional reader, and fluent reader (Fountas & Pinnell, 1996; Mooney, 1998;

Taberski, 2000).

In numeracy, children in early primary begin by learning numbers and number operations and important geometric relationships, such as spatial sense. Instruction is carefully sequenced to explicitly guide young children through the three phases or stages of numeracy concept development: concrete-pictorial-abstract (C-P-A). These phases, which have long been a central tenet of children’s conceptual development in numeracy (Bruner, 1964, and Dienes, 1971) and a conceptual framework for organizing instruction in numeracy classes, are defined as follows:

Concrete: Where children represent a numeracy concept with objects; for example, representing the quantity “3” by grouping tangible objects they can hold or place on their desks or on the floor (i.e. blocks, stones, or counting sticks).

Pictorial: Where children begin representing numeracy concepts with a picture. For example, they draw three lines to represent the number “3.”

Abstract: Where children begin to represent numeracy concepts with symbols that represent the concepts. For example, they write a “3” or spell t-h-r-e-e to represent the quantity “3.”

The diagram that follows provides a visual representation of these phases.

Diagram 1: The Three Phases (or Stages) of Numeracy Concept Acquisition

Concrete C Pictorial (P) Abstract/ Symbolic (A)

Counters or Objects Drawings/Diagrams Symbols

∙ ∙ ∙ ||| 3

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Primary-level numeracy instruction is unique in that in addition to skills related to the different content domains, teachers must also nurture in their learners a number of mathematical process skills. These are the higher-level thinking skills required to do mathematics and include problem solving, reasoning, constructing viable arguments and critiquing the reasoning of others, connecting ideas, and representing mathematical ideas or concepts with models (NCTM, 2000). Children acquire mathematical process skills when teachers give them rich problems or tasks to solve, and then incorporate opportunities for them to explain their thinking or solutions or respond to the thinking or solutions of other learners (see Chapter B3 for further discussion of mathematical process skills and how to develop them). This parallel and equal focus on content and process-related skills that starts in early primary and continues throughout children’s formal study of mathematics means that how children learn mathematics is as important as what they learn.

Scaffolded instruction: One of the most important advances in educational theory and practice in the last decades has been the development of an extensive body of research, much of it grounded in neurological science, about the instructional models that are most effective in helping learners build skills in the multiple literacy and numeracy competency domains. The use of scaffolded, gradual-release instructional models in early primary facilitates the acquisition of the essential skills in both literacy and numeracy (Pearson & Gallagher, 1983). When teachers used such instructional models, they structure the learning activity so that the responsibility for completing a task or demonstrating a skill is gradually transferred from the teacher to the learner. This includes the responsibility for determining whether or not the learner is applying the skill or completing the tasks correctly or appropriately, i.e., self-monitoring (ibid).

In literacy, one evidence-based, scaffolded, gradual-release model that has proven highly effective is the “I do, We do, You do,” model. With this model, the teacher begins by modeling a literacy skill (I do), the teacher and learners then do the skill together (We do), and then the learner is asked to do the skill independently (You do). The “I do, We do, You do,” model allows teachers to do direct, explicit instruction of foundational reading skills, like associating sounds with letters. It also allows them to ensure that learners can do those skills independently before progressing to the next, slightly more difficult skill. However, the “I do, we do, you do” model needs to be adapted when addressing more complex skills, like reading comprehension.

In numeracy instruction, scaffolded or gradual-release instructional models need to be problem solving-based to allow children to develop the process-related skills described above.

Similarities and differences in recommended, scaffolded, gradual-release instructional models for literacy and numeracy are discussed in Chapter B3 – Teacher Knowledge.

TEXTBOX 2:

Link Between Mathematical Process

Skills and Literacy Skills

Learners with strong oral comprehension and verbal skills, or who are able to understand and communicate in the language used to teach mathematics, are more likely to be able to engage in the type of numeracy-related discussions, debates and dialogues needed to develop strong process skills.

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From this brief description of the stages and phases of literacy and numeracy acquisition, and of the instructional models that facilitate learners’ progress through them, it is possible to infer:

That teachers need to be able to:

recognize, child-by-child and class-by-class, at what stage or phase their learners are;

explicitly facilitate their transition, as individuals and groups, to the next stage or stages, and;

adjust their application of scaffolded, gradual-release models according to the discipline area (literacy or numeracy) and domain-related skills they are seeking to build. A scaffolded, gradual-release instructional model for literacy may not be appropriate for numeracy. As well, a gradual-release instructional model that works well for certain literacy domains (alphabetic awareness, for example), may not be appropriate for other domains (comprehension, for example).

That, because of the above, the task of teaching literacy and numeracy skills is complex and ever-changing. Therefore, teachers who do not have a deep or rich understanding of literacy or numeracy concepts, or how to best present them to learners, will struggle to structure, deliver, and adjust instruction for their diverse learners. This point will be further explored in Chapter B3, in the section focusing on teacher pedagogical content knowledge.

That systems and education stakeholders from the local to the national levels have a critical role to play in providing the policy support, materials, training, coaching, assessment, and home-based/community inputs that promote the implementation of evidence-based, scaffolded, and direct instruction targeting these skill areas and domains. All of these points are critical components of the MOSAIC framework introduced in the next chapter.

That the pace at which factors affecting literacy and numeracy instruction are introduced in a given context or political economy will vary greatly, and that these variations in pacing must be considered when using the MOSAIC framework to design interventions. We will take a closer look at these issues in Chapter C.

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CASE STUDY 1:

USING LOCAL LANGUAGE AND THE THREE PHASES OF CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT

(CONCRETE, PICTORIAL, ABSTRACT OR CPA)

TO SUPPORT IMPROVED NUMERACY SKILLS

AKSHARA GANITHA PROGRAM, BANGALORE, INDIA

The Akshara Foundation, a non-profit organization located in Bangalore, India, has worked extensively in the state of Karnataka to support early grade numeracy programs delivered in in local languages and using innovative, locally available materials to support children’s progression through the three phases of numeracy concept development: concrete, pictorial, and abstract.

The Akshara Foundation recognized that despite a significant increase in the resources spent on primary schooling in India, improvements in numeracy learning have been difficult to achieve.

To address this issue, they developed the Akshara Ganitha primary numeracy program.

The grades 1 to 5 program provides hands-on experiences in numeracy teaching and learning with the aid of tactile and concrete teaching-learning materials. The program carefully structures learning to move children through the three phases of numeracy concept development:

concrete (using objects or manipulatives), pictorial (using pictures, diagrams or symbols), and abstract (using symbols).

Concepts are introduced first by using having children use concrete tools or objects like counting boards, number grids, counters, dice, number lines, place value mats, and money. This is a departure from conventional direct instruction using the blackboard method. Once children can represent their understanding using concrete objects, they are gradually introduced to how to represent their understanding using pictures, and finally abstract symbols. All instruction is delivered in the local language and done in coordination with public/government schools. One of Akshara Ganitha’s biggest successes is that it makes numeracy accessible and exciting for children.

Comprehensive Primary Grade Literacy and Numeracy Programs | 11

CASE STUDY 1 (CONT.)

IMPACT: The impact evaluation used a combination of both qualitative and quantitative methods and a controlled before-and-after design, in which beneficiaries of Akshara Ganitha (10 treatment schools) were compared with non-beneficiaries (11 control schools). Treatment schools scored better than control schools across all grades in all the three years of the study.