Think Creative - Issue 7

Even without a traditional classroom, well-equipped teachers can make a strong impact on a student’s learning.

this approach is that it equips the most import- ant people in a child’s life with strategies they can incorporate into their homes, classrooms and communities. “The cool thing about the toolkit is that it brings together lots of stakeholders with the common goal of supporting the child’s wellbeing,” says READ II Project ManagerMegan Schug. As part of the project’s grants initiative, schools select several modules from the toolkit and make an implementation plan in order to receive grant funding fromREAD II to carry them out. One such module is the Early Warning System that identifies students at risk of dropping out using readily available data about student attendance, behavior and performance and triggers a series of timely responses to help them stay in school and thrive. Other modules focus on back-to-school campaigns to encour- age re-entry of students who have dropped out, creating child-friendly school environments, supporting gender equitable schools, and more. Literate or not, all parents and commu- nity members can support education Many factors influence student performance, and among the most important are parental involvement and support. Parents and care- givers are a child’s first educators. They are crucial in building the linguistic foundations for their children’s future school success. According to 2017 World Bank data, nearly 40 percent of adults inMozambique are illiterate and many feel they cannot participate in their children’s education. Rural families typically do not have reading material at home and most children’s first experience with a book is when they receive their grade 1 textbook at school. Corrie Blankenbeckler, Creative’s Senior Technical Advisor, and her team designed the Conversemos!/Let’s Talk! approach for USAID’s Vamos Ler !/Let’s Read! It works to encourage parents of all literacy levels to un- derstand their role as educators and support their children’s learning. A staple of Let’s Talk’s community-based ap- proach is promoting “nutritious talk” between parents and students outside of the formal

Felix Francisco and his 5-year-old son Atanásio participating in the Let’s Talk! activity in Mozambique.

Creative began implementing its Whole Child approach in a project in Zambia that integrated health and education.

The toolkit, which is part of the project’s wid- er literacy initiatives, consists of eight mod- ules that address school dropout, inclusive education and gender-based violence, among other concerns. Promoted to tend to vulnerable students, the toolkit casts a wide net that delivers useful best practices to support all students. The power in

“If their social-emotional development isn’t being attended to, it’s hard for students to learn,” says Shriberg. To address these issues, the USAID READ II project in Ethiopia developed a Student Success and Support Toolkit for schools and communities to holistically meet the needs of at-risk and vulnerable primary school students.

Photo by JimHuylebroek (top); Valdimar da Fonesca (middle); David Snyder (bottom)

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