Building System Capacity for Foundational Learning: Lessons from Odisha

• In Event: Demystifying System strengthening: Measuring, embedding, and sustaining education reform at scale

Proposal

Odisha is a state in Eastern India with 36,000 primary schools and 1.5 million children enrolled in the early primary grades. Like most other parts of India, Odisha faces an early learning crisis. The crisis is sharpest in the early grades. Odisha’s foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN) assessment in 2023 showed that only 32% of Grade 2 children could read grade-level text, and just 48% could solve a two-digit subtraction problem. These foundational deficits mean children enter higher grades already behind in their learning journey.

The state government is taking several initiatives to improve children’s foundational learning, especially their reading skills. including a reading campaign, adding a pre-primary class in every primary school for building strong emergent reading, support from teacher mentors for conducting differentiated reading activities, regular formative assessment of reading skills, followed by remediation activities, and community engagement to promote reading practice and habit outside schools. In addition, monthly cluster-level meetings of teachers focus on the demonstration and practice of new pedagogical practices.

Enhancing system capacity to ensure sustainability should be an important objective of reform for FLN programs. Yet, most measurements remain tied to short-term learning improvements since achieving FLN learning outcomes is a national and state priority. The system’s ability to sustain these changes, through stronger state and district-level academic institutions and institutionalized academic support and monitoring, is still a work in progress. System strengthening is a commonly used phrase, but it is rarely defined well. Without embedding reforms into the state’s administrative backbone, there is a risk that progress will taper when program funding or leadership shifts. The Government of Odisha is taking the following steps to ensure longer-term sustainability of learning improvements: (a) Strengthening SCERT and DIETs (state and district-level academic institutions) as hubs of continuous academic research, material development, and training, (b) Creating a cadre of academic mentors at cluster and block levels to provide ongoing support to teachers and (c) Institutionalizing peer learning so that teachers can learn from each other’s good practices and innovations.

The dimension of academic support to teachers through cluster-level teacher mentors has been a focus of the reform agenda of the state government. Cluster resource teachers and head teachers are being trained not only to observe classrooms but to coach teachers through feedback conversations, co-plan lessons, and model instructional practices. This shift, from inspection to mentoring, helps teachers internalize new pedagogy and sustain improvements. Structured tools for classroom observation and spot assessments are now being used, and reflective meetings at the cluster level encourage collective problem-solving.

Measuring Systemic Improvement: Apart from student learning outcomes, the state has initiated work on measuring (a) Teacher outcomes: uptake of new pedagogical techniques, capacity to conduct differentiated instruction, and participation in peer-learning forums and (b) Mid-tier administrator outcomes: fidelity of monitoring, effectiveness of mentoring, timeliness of delivery of teaching and learning materials etc.
By expanding measurement beyond student test scores to the capacity of teachers and administrators, Odisha will attempt to ensure reforms do not fade once a fixed program cycle ends.

Author

• Ananya Das, Odisha School Education Program Authority