USAID/Morocco Reading for Success Final Report

The USAID/Morocco Reading for Success (RFS) umbrella project was developed to address the challenges that the Moroccan education system faces in Arabic reading instruction and the system’s documented lack of reading results. Following the first research phase of RFS, USAID launched the second phase of RFS: the Reading for Success – Small-Scale Experimentation (RFS – SSE) activity.

From September 2015 to March 2018, Chemonics worked in close partnership with the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (MNEVT) to implement RFS – SSE. This early grade reading pilot program was designed to develop and test the most effective approaches to strengthening Grade 1 and Grade 2 students’ Arabic reading skills in targeted primary schools and focused on the following activities:

• Piloting a new approach to Arabic reading lessons based on the syllabic method — developed and tested via an Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) of Grade I and Grade 2 students in targeted pilot schools
• Developing new Arabic reading materials in the forms of training and teacher guidebooks, student exercise books, and teacher tool kits to reinforce the new approach in classrooms
• Reducing summer learning loss by supporting civil society organizations (CSOs), funded through RFS – SSE’s grants program, to develop summer reading enrichment activities for Grade 1 and Grade 2 students