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Numeracy Boost: Improving early grades math

outcomes in primary schools

in Bangladesh

Moazzem Hossain, Senior Education Manager

Save the Children in Bangladesh

Presentation Outline

Background information

Numeracy Boost and its

potentials

Insights from one year

results

Emerging issues and

further scopes

Bangladesh Primary Education Overview

Completion rate 70.3%

Total dropout rate 29.7%

Average repetition rate 10.44% but in grade four 14.2%

Source: Bangladesh Primary Education Annual Sector Performance Report [ASPR-2012]

Overview of current state of math

education in Bangladesh primary schools

33% students did not acquire relevant competencies at the end of

grade 3 (NSA 2011)

75% students did not acquire relevant competencies at the end of

grade 5 (NSA 2011)

Only 1% students mastered all Learning Outcome Category

(LOC) for Grade 3 Maths and 3.1% for Grade 5 Maths (NSA

2008)

Large proportion of children do not attain basic competence

(measured in terms of primary school curriculum based test on

numeracy) upon completing primary schooling. (Asadullah and

Chaudhury, 2012)

Paradigm shift in Math Curriculum and Primary

Education Development Program (PEDP3)

Govt. is shifting towards a competency based

curriculum

Simple curriculum and coherent textbooks for early

learners

Achievable grade-wise and subject-wise expected

learning outcomes and terminal competencies

Each Child Learns flagship project under PEDP III

through improving reading and School and Classroom

Based Assessment

What is Numeracy Boost?

Numeracy Boost is a

research-based toolkit

for teachers, students and

the entire community

that focuses on the basic

math skills for early

graders (I-II) they need to

thrive in daily life.

Numeracy Boost Cycle

monthly

Initial math assessment Assess children from grades 2, gather

background, math environment and

math basic skills data.

Intervention design Adapt Numeracy Boost teacher

sessions and community action using

math assessment results, context,

national curriculum and local strengths.

Summative math assessment Reassess children’s math to measure

progress and adjust teacher and

community strategies for the coming

school year.

Pro

gra

m level

Sch

oo

l/co

mm

un

ity level

Monthly follow-up support Supervisors foster community

participation, observe teachers,

community actions, offer feedback and

lead reflection/planning meetings to

meet challenges.

Ongoing math assessment Teachers use open questions as

formative assessment in the classroom

and adjust instruction of math and

inform community strategies to

community volunteers.

Intervention Train and support both teachers and

community members in strategies to

advance children’s daily math skills.

Create materials to support these

activities.

academic year

3 pronged approach-inside and

outside the classroom

Focus on the early grades

Number and Operations

Geometry

Measurement

Building math knowledge through

activities and discussion

Math is relevant and useful

Content and process skills

The Numeracy Boost

Approach

Numeracy Boost Assessment Components

Tool

Component

Information Captured Test for grade two children

1. Student

Background

Characteristics, Education,

SES, CLE, Time, & Health

30-40 questions

2. Counting Numbers & Operations

Skills

Count aloud to 100, one-to-one

correspondence, skip count by 10s, skip

count by 5s, count backward 10 - 1

3. Number

Awareness

Numbers & Operations

Skills

12 number IDs

5-6 quantity discrimination problems

8-12 missing number problems

4. Operations Numbers & Operations

Skills

10 timed addition and subtraction problems

3 authentic addition and subtraction problems

5 word problems

5. Measurement Measurement skills 4 stick measurement questions

3 time of day questions

days of week and months of year

6. Shapes Geometry Skills 9 questions

Teachers Training

Main focus:

Numbers and Operations

Geometry

Measurement

“This training has helped

me to open up to using a variety

of methods in which we can

illustrate and explain concepts.”

- Ministry Assistant Director during

NB TOT

Adaptation of the training manual aligning with local context and material creation

TOT for ministry master trainers

Grade I-II Math teachers training on 5 modules in 1-1.5 month interval

Class observation and follow up

Operational strategy:

Community Action

“Children need both explicit and direct

instruction as well as time to explore, play

and connect math to the real world.”

(Ginsberg, Lee and Boyd, 2008)

• Monthly parents awareness session

• Weekly Math Camps- after school activities

• School Management Committee (SMC) and Community Core Group (CCG) engagement Math story books in Math Camps Reading Buddy

Math Camps for Children

Math Kit and Facilitator’s Guide

Math Story Books,

manipulatives and

Volunteers Guides

1. Attendance

circle and Graph

2. Math story Read

aloud

3. Reinforcing

activity

4. Reflection and

Discussion

5. Mental Math

An enumerator’s thoughts during

NB Assessment

“Save the Children strikes our thinking while we

assessed children’s Math ability from different

aspects. We always had fear on math as a subject.

Teachers encouraged us math memorization at

our early grades for which we never confident

enough taking Science curriculum. Our Math

teacher uses mostly traditional way of teaching and

the missing part is bridging the content with

our day to day experience. We found most of

the children are struggling with math while simple

question asked in a different way. Without this

involvement we never could realize that how

vulnerable these early grades children are in

terms of facing math difficulties!”

- Nushrat, NB Enumerator – University Student

Commitment from a Math teacher

“This is a big opportunity for me to be a

part of Numeracy Boost piloting and I

myself feel fortunate enough that Save the

Children selected our school in this

journey. After realizing the importance of

activity based math classes I do believe

we would work hard collectively to

achieve its goal. After participating such

good training sessions we understand

how it contributes school success and

how it enhances teaching performance.”

- Ayesha Begum, Asst. teacher, Govipur Govt. Primary School

Counting and Number Recognition Skill Profile

One to one correspondence: 2013 Baseline n= 1531 2014 Endline n=1257

Number Operations Skill Profile

Number Operations Fluency Skill Profile

Measurement and Geometry Skill Profile

Interesting Findings

64%

6%

21%

68%

2% 0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Practicing/studyingnumbers, counting,

addition,subtraction, etc

Reading/studyingtextbooks/math

books

Practice/study withteacher or at

school

Practice/study withfamily/community

member or athome

Practice/study ineveryday activity

% g

ivin

g re

spo

nse

What do you do most frequently to learn maths?

Reinforcing Math Camp Activity

Math Manipulatives Acceptance

Lessons Learned so far

Material creations and main training manual adaptation demand

additional time, dedication and ministry counterpart involvement

from very beginning for further uptake

Entire data collection and analysis process were rigorous that causes

delay in sharing of the expected benchmarks to the stakeholders (e.g.

teachers, community action volunteers)

Training curriculum contextualization bridging with daily lessons and

national textbook need to be prepared before starting the program

Formative assessment need to be reviewed aligning with summative

assessment skill areas to refine the art of instruction progressively

Centralized training gives minimum scope of classroom follow up

Some conclusions

More time is needed for

interventions to take root

and for teachers to

introduce new practices

Stronger on site support is

required to assist teachers in

implementing NB practices

Integral to have materials in

the daily lesson and in the

hands of children

Emerging Issues

Motivating teachers/schools through

peer review, more class observation

and idea sharing

Adding more trainings to already

packed in-service training calendars

Counterpart ministry participation,

buy-in and support

Identifying the ideal implementation

model

Working with MoPME particularly

pre-service institutions (Dip-in-Ed)

BIG Picture: What’s next?

Numeracy Boost and other learning-focused

interventions to become a core part of all

sponsorship-funded programming

Save the Children members integrating

children’s Numeracy Boost approaches into

their basic education programs

Partnerships with other NGOs (e.g., World

Vision) to bring Numeracy Boost benefits to

more children in more countries

Start working on writing & testing

Thank you!

For questions/comments/ideas please contact:

moazzem.hossain@savethechildren.org

slutfeali@savechildren.org

www.savethechildren.org