What do my Students Know? Using Early Grade Assessment Data to Inform Teaching in the Kingdom of Eswatini

It is a Tuesday morning at Mphakamela Primary School in Manzini, in the Kingdom of Eswatini. Ms. Hlengiwe Dlamini assigns a writing assignment to the students in her Grade 1 classroom. As they work, she proceeds to call students one by one to sit with her outside the room for a quick assessment of their understanding of the siSwati lesson. In her hands, she holds a packet of assessment tools provided by the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET). Ms. Dlamini has just enough time to assess five students now, so she plans to assess another five in the afternoon. She will do this throughout the week until she has gone through the entire class and noted areas where each student is struggling. Moving forward, she will carefully adjust her teaching keeping in mind each student's needs. By identifying learning gaps early, Ms. Dlamini is helping her students keep pace with the curriculum-she is helping to lay the foundation for their future learning, and ability to stay in school and build the skills they will need in the labor market years from now.

Before MoET provided her with these formative assessment tools, Ms. Dlamini would have had to wait until the end of term assessments to understand how much her students had learned. By then, it would have been too late to provide targeted support, and many students would have fallen too far behind to catch up within the school year. Having received training on how to use the assessment tools to strengthen English, mathematics, and siSwati lessons, Ms. Dlamini now uses these with her students regularly. She also supports other teachers in her school and region to use the assessments to inform their classroom instruction.

The formative assessments Ms. Dlamini uses were developed under the Strengthening Early Childhood Development and Basic Education Systems to Support Human Capital Development Project, under which the MoET is aiming to transform and strengthen early grade learning in the Kingdom. The project reflects the World Bank Group's commitment to place employment at the center of development-recognizing that stronger foundational learning today translates into young people with the skills and jobs they need to thrive in the future.

The project began by conducting a standardized early grade learning assessment of Grade 3 learners, notably the first one to be conducted in the country. The assessment indicates that learning outcomes are low, with students reading only 3 correct words per minute (cwpm) in English and 8cwpm in siSwati. However, MoET management is boldly embracing these results as baseline findings, as they embark on a series of actions to boost learning. Strengthening literacy and numeracy at this early stage is essential to ensuring that children remain in school and have adequate skills to continue learning.

Project activities include training, coaching, and support to teachers, a review and update of existing teaching and learning materials in lower primary grades, and an engagement plan to bring parents into the fold as active partners in student learning. By investing in teachers' skills and equipping them with better tools, the project is also strengthening the education workforce itself-an important pillar of the country's human capital base. Having conducted a review of existing teaching and learning materials and identified gaps, MoET has alredy led the development of supplementary material to support instruction and is currently piloting these materials in schools. Through funding from the World Bank Group's Accelerator Program, MoET technical teams are exploring the possibility of implementing evidence based remediation approaches in Eswatini, starting with observation of the Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) program in neighboring South Africa. They are looking to countries such as Rwanda to learn more about innovative approaches to train and support the teacher workforce, systems used to conduct standardized learning assessments regularly, and effective practices to support struggling learners.

Recognizing that students should enter lower primary grades prepared to learn, MoET in collaboration with the Deputy Prime Minister's Office, is focusing on ensuring that pre-primary learners are well supported; the project has delivered teaching and learning materials to 340 Grade 0 classrooms across the country, allowing hands-on learning for the youngest students. Read@Home funds are ensuring that children have books at home. Preprimary teachers will be trained in effective pedagogical approaches and the preprimary curriculum and teaching and learning materials have all been reviewed and updated. These early investments are critical: when children build strong cognitive and socio-emotional skills from the start, they are more likely to complete school, continue to higher levels of education, and access better jobs in the future.

In a country where foundational learning levels are low and dropout is high, the project will help realize the goals of the MoET for Emaswati children.

Dr. Tholakele Mngometulu-Dlamini, the Director of Education, MoET shared, "This project is allowing us to take a close look at the state of basic education in Eswatini. Through this partnership with World Bank and GPE, we have been able to identify areas that need support, and are ensuring that we are able to provide that support."

Honorable Owen Nxumalo, the Minister of Education is committed to ensuring that Emaswati students have a strong foundation to build upon in order to strengthen Eswatini in the region and globally.

In the classroom, Ms. Hlengiwe Dlamini feels a renewed hope for her Grade 1 students, "With regular information about how my students are doing, I feel better equipped to help them succeed day by day. I am confident that my students will leave my classroom with a solid base which will help them to perform well next year and beyond."

Regular assessment of students is a first, essential step towards improved learning outcomes for all Emaswati children, which will ultimately build the country's human capital and transform the economic and social landscape of the Kingdom overall.

This feature was written by Saima S. Malik, Senior Education Specialist, World Bank and Vusi S. Simelane, Primary Education Inspector, Ministry of Education and Training, Eswatini