The Critical Importance of Early Grade Reading and Assessment

Two Early Grade Reading Assessments (EGRA) have been undertaken in Indonesia with the support of USAID. Although the two EGRAs reveal that children are reading at a relatively high level, significant improvement in the teaching of reading is required, if all Indonesian children are to reach the target of reading with comprehension by the end of grade 2. Research analyzing the link between dropout and the literacy skills of 4,000 students in the United States found that students who are unable to read proficiently by the end of the third grade are four times more likely to leave school without a diploma than proficient readers. Research suggests that poor readers are more likely to experience behavioural and social problems in subsequent grades and are more likely to repeat them,  affecting the social and economic wellbeing of these children in future life. This paper was prepared under the Education Sector Analytical and Capacity Development Partnership (ACDP). 

About ACDP

The Government of Indonesia (represented by the Ministry of Education and Culture, the Ministry of Religious Affairs and the Ministry of National Development Planning/ BAPPENAS), the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), the European Union (EU) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have established ACDP as a facility to promote policy dialogue and institutional and organizational reform of the education sector to underpin policy implementation and help reduce disparities in provincial and district education performance.