Moroccan Sign Language: Assistive Technology Evaluation Report

In collaboration with IDRT, School-to-School International (STS) developed and administered an early grade reading and sign language assessment (EGRSLA)—an adapted version of the Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA)—to assess the MSA and MSL skills of students who are deaf or hard of hearing in Morocco. Using a reflexive-comparison research design, STS conducted two assessments: a baseline in December 2017 and January 2018, and an endline in May 2018. Results from the assessments served to answer the project’s key research question, How did the MSA reading skills and MSL comprehension of students whose teachers had access to the MSL Clip and Create software change over the course of an academic year?

STS also conducted additional qualitative research to respond to three supplemental research questions common to all ACR GCD grantees:

1. How successful was the rollout of the project?

2. How did the project influence or impact adults’—teachers, parents, community members—knowledge, skills, or attitudes regarding children’s ability to learn to read and sign?

3. How did the project influence certain subsets of the student population more than others, based on identifiable contextual factors?

The following project evaluation report answers these research questions by presenting an overview of the current policies and practices guiding early grade education for students who are deaf or hard of hearing in Morocco, a description of IDRT’s project, quantitative and qualitative findings, and lessons learned.