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Session Submission Summary

Uzbekistan Education for Excellence Program: Supporting Sustainable Educational Reforms in The Republic of Uzbekistan

Wed, February 22, 9:45 to 11:15am EST (9:45 to 11:15am EST), Grand Hyatt Washington, Floor: Constitution Level (3B), Constitution E

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

This panel focuses on the activities, research, and outcomes of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded Uzbekistan Education for Excellence Program (2019-2023) in the context of educational reforms taking place in the Republic of Uzbekistan. In tune with the CIES 2023 theme, we present on the process of engaging international donors and local government, policymakers, and teachers to examine current practices and design desired changes to bring about innovation in teaching, learning, and technological infrastructure to sustain continuous improvement in education.

In the era of global epidemics, we have learned a lot about adaptability and collaboration, and have developed skills to work together virtually, using technology to share resources and learn from each other across continents. In face of many challenges, the Program has created increased opportunities for teaching and learning.

The Ministry of Public Education in the Republic of Uzbekistan is committed to an ambitious program of systematic and comprehensive educational reforms. The country aims to create an education system that can produce graduates with the critical thinking, problem solving, and practical skills that will enable them to succeed in a globalized world. Launched in December 2019, the Uzbekistan Education for Excellence Program is a four-year initiative, funded by USAID to support the goal of sustainably improving the Uzbek Language Arts (ULA), Mathematics, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), and English as a Foreign Language (EFL) skills of students in the country’s public schools.

The Program is implemented by RTI International in partnership with Florida State University (FSU) and Mississippi State University (MSU) to provide the expertise and experience needed to help the Ministry achieve and sustain the anticipated outcomes of the Program. Program activities entail reviewing current teaching practices, standards, and materials; developing and refining standards for ULA, Math, ICT, and EFL; developing student textbooks and teacher’s guides for each target subject; designing and implementing continuous teacher professional development (TPD) and supporting activities for teachers and school leaders; and conducting Program and impact evaluation research. Cross-cutting efforts of the Program include a commitment to gender equity and social inclusion (GESI), transparency and local ownership and sustainability.

The USAID-funded Uzbekistan Education for Excellence Program designed a multi-phased Status of Instruction Study (SIS) to better understand existing instructional resources and common practices among teachers in Uzbekistan schools.
Findings of the Study informed the customization and development of student textbooks, teacher’s guides, and TPD approaches. In this presentation we will share the findings of the first online survey distributed to teachers of ULA, Mathematics, ICT, and EFL in general primary and secondary schools;1 the SIS study includesTeachers’ feedback on resources they use and the time they spend in lesson planning; available resources in schools and classrooms to support instruction in the relevant subjects; common instructional techniques used by teachers; and teachers’ engagement in activities congruent with a school-based community of practice. SIS Round 1 reached 9,400 teacher respondents; SIS Round 2 reached 4,477 respondents, including, methodologists (131 persons) and school directors (183 persons). The Program adapted the Framework for Teaching (FFT) developed by The Danielson Group (2019) which provided useful domains and components to devise the instruments and allow for harmonization of relevant items across the four targeted subjects.

The Program also conducted the Teacher Support System Study (TSSS) to examine the existing teacher support system in Uzbekistan and identify teacher support challenges and opportunities. The Program used one of the four main domains of teaching from the Framework for Teaching to guide the TSSS: Domain 4: Principled Teaching—specifically Domain 4e: Growing and Developing Professionally. The TSSS explored teachers’ self-directed and school-level professional development activities, including instructional coaching, peer-to-peer support, and training. In addition, the TSSS examined the professional development activities of methodologists and other teacher support actors. The TSSS survey was designed and administered between May and October 2021 using the online survey system Voxco. The survey was completed by more than 4,100 teachers, 183 school directors, and 131 methodologists from all regions of Uzbekistan, including the Republic of Karakalpak Stan and Tashkent City.

The Program in partnership with the Ministry of Public Education, has developed student learning standards, textbooks and workbooks, and teachers’ guides for ULA, Math, ICT, and EFL. The standards are the learning goals that students should know and be able to do in each target subject at each grade level. Standards also guide assessment and related expectations of learning for all students, so that the standards are fair, measurable, and useful to teachers, students, and parents.

One of the objectives of the Program is to strengthen English instruction in Uzbekistan’s public schools. Developing EFL standards of learning is a major step towards the Uzbekistan’s vision of an English-speaking nation by 2030. The EFL standards were developed utilizing the Common European Framework for Reference of Languages (CEFR), which has been used in Uzbekistan prior to the implementation of the Program. The CEFR is a performance framework of reference that utilizes benchmarks based on “can-do statements.” These statements describe what language learners can typically do with the language at various levels and in different contexts. The use of the CEFR provides a meaningful and useful point of reference that is understood globally and informs both instruction and assessment. The standards can serve as a reference for the development of teaching and learning materials and assessment of students’ learning.

The Program has trained approximately 800 teachers and customized 33 English books for grades 1–11, which the ministry will distribute nationwide in the 2022-2023 academic year. These new materials will ensure that over six million students in Uzbekistan will have access to high quality textbooks, and tens of thousands of teachers will use high quality teacher’s guides for English as a foreign language instruction.

The Program also supported the development of an educational digital platform hosted by the Republican Education Center (REC) at the Ministry of Public Education to store teaching and learning materials and supplementary resources for ULA, Math, ICT, and EFL.

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