Translating evidence to practice in the LAC region- Practical EGL tools for development practitioners

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

The COVID-19 pandemic has had disastrous effects on the world’s education systems and particularly those in lower and middle income countries. Latin America and the Caribbean is the region where school closures are lasting the longest. More than 170 million students at all levels have been affected (World Bank, 2021). According to UNICEF, 13 million children in Latin America and the Caribbean have had to put their education on hold as a result of the pandemic and the challenges of transitioning to virtual learning. The pandemic has brought about multiple challenges to education systems, among them the lack of connectivity and electronic devices; the low digital literacy of teachers, students and parents; the lack of pedagogical strategies to develop children’s early literacy skills remotely; and multiple socioemotional situations caused by stress, lack of motivation and uncertainty (LRCP, 2020).

In 2019, the education systems in LAC faced an already dire situation: 51% of 10 year olds could not read and understand a text (World Bank, 2019). During the transition period from pencil and paper classroom-based learning to distance learning (virtual settings, worksheets, learning guides, TV and radio), teachers have struggled to develop children’s initial literacy skills. According to UNESCO, it is anticipated that the advances in the development of basic reading skills, obtained in the last two decades, have disappeared in spite of the efforts made by public policy in the region. Furthermore, according to the World Bank, currently 40% of third grade students and 51% of 15-year-old students in Latin America and the Caribbean do not understand what they read. This difference is more significant when socio-economic levels are compared, as students from the lowest socio-economic levels tend to have the worst results.

The learning crisis exacerbated by the pandemic is an opportunity to transform evidence-based educational practices, moving from research and theory to concrete action. This panel will present some reflections, lessons learned and concrete tools that the USAID LAC Reads Capacity Program and its partner RedLEI have developed over the last 8 years. The session seeks to provide development practitioners, Ministries of Education, teacher trainers, and educators, particularly those focused on early literacy development within the LAC region, with practical tools and advice on how to move beyond the current way of thinking and doing and generate a transformation in the teaching and learning of EGL in Central America and the Caribbean.

The panel will be very interactive and will focus on three main topics: (1) the development of local evidence to support capacity development in LAC; (2) the creation of evidence-based pedagogical tools for early literacy – with concrete examples such as our EnseñaLees toolkit; and (3) how to communicate evidence to reach your audience – with concrete examples such as our podcast.

Sub Unit

• Global Literacy SIG

Chair

• Fernando Rubio, Juarez

Individual Presentations

• Developing capacity in LAC to produce high quality EGL evidence - Paola Alejandra Andrade Calderon, Universidad Del Valle De Guatemala; Mariela Zelada, Universidad Del Valle De Guatemala

• Developing EGL pedagogical tools to transform evidence into practice - Maria Josefina Vijil, Juarez; Juan Luis Cordova, Juárez

• Communication channels for bridging the evidence to practice divide - Mariela Zelada, Universidad Del Valle De Guatemala; Valentina Duque, American Institutes for Research

Discussant

• Juan Luis Cordova, Juárez