The middle tier and improving foundational literacy outcomes: new evidence from best practice districts in Rwanda

• In Event: Leading from the middle: new evidence about the role of the middle tier of education systems to improve foundational learning outcomes

Proposal

This study supports the global need for more evidence on the middle tier of education systems. In the Rwandan context, this study supports the Rwandan Foundational Learning Strategy (2022/23 – 2027/28) and the government’s recent investments to improve education delivery. The Ministry, in partnership with its implementation agency, the Rwandan Education Board (REB), has made significant investments at the district level to deepen the focus on foundational literacy and improve the delivery of instructional leadership and coaching to schools, but these efforts are not yet yielding the desired outcomes.

This study utilized a positive deviance approach by identifying two districts that are exhibiting strong leadership for foundational literacy and effective support to schools to improve instruction and literacy outcomes - despite constrained resources. The study identified the capacities, behaviours, and processes demonstrated by districts that are exhibiting strong leadership and support to schools to improve foundational literacy outcomes. More specifically, the study addresses the following questions:

• What are the characteristics and behaviours of effective districts with respect to improving foundational literacy outcomes?
• What policy reforms, programs, or technical assistance efforts have facilitated or inhibited the development of effective instructional leaders in the middle tier?
• How can these characteristics and behaviours be replicated in the Rwanda system or in other education systems?

In keeping with a positive deviance approach, the study is exploratory in nature and utilized appreciative inquiry methods with a mix of qualitative and quantitative data collection.​ The study captured phenomena not previously identified in prevalent theories of change about strengthening the middle tier of education systems. To complement the exploratory stance, the study also measured domains commonly identified as relevant to improving the functioning of the middle tier, including Leadership & Management, Knowledge & Skills, Responsibilities & Norms, Accountability & Incentives, Influence & Decision Making, Engagement with Data and Resources & Time Use.
The sample within each district is multi-level, capturing information from high-level political leadership, mid-level technical and functional actors, and school-facing support personnel. Twenty-three semi-structured interviews and seventy surveys administered to district, sector and school staff and parental representatives, representing nine distinct respondent roles at the district/sector level (e.g., Mayor, Vice Mayor, District Director of Education, Sector Education Inspector) and three distinct respondent roles at the school level (Head Teachers, School-based Mentors, and Teachers).

Importantly, the study pioneered new measures: an adapted social network analysis tailored to middle-tier instructional leadership for foundational literacy, and a time tracking survey for school-facing support staff.
Findings from this study include a discussion about how districts came to prioritize foundational literacy and the role that different actors have in setting and executing on those priorities, the accountability and influence norms shaping actors’ orientation, the level and nature of instructional support provided to schools and how that has shaped teachers’ instructional delivery and support for students. A discussion about how the findings triangulate across layers of the middle tier and the actors within the middle tier and considerations about how to replicate the strengths identified by the study is included.

Authors

• Christine Beggs, Alternatives in Development

• Sheena Bell, O.I.S.E. University of Toronto