Bangladesh: READ

Duration:

2013 2017

Phase:

2014 Baseline

Theory of
Change:

If we strengthen teachers ability to teach early grades reading, encourage teachers and
schools to assess children's reading skills, improve children's access to relevant reading
materials, including digital ones, and mobilize parents and communities to support
children's learning, we expect children's reading skills to improve in formal government
primary schools.

Literacy
Principles:

50%

Literacy Profile: Average Skills in Grade 2

Readers

Nonreaders

FEMALE

7.8

69
85

71
AVERAGE AGE

2.0

Letters
Correct (%)

24

% Reader or
Nonreader

Fluency
(WCPM)

Whole sample (n = 1013)

SES
(Average # of
possessions, of 6)

32

31

Accuracy (%)

Reading
Comprehension
(%)

Readers Only (n = 319)

Reading with Comprehension

Grade 2 (n = 1013, 6 questions)

22%

Nonreaders

Beginners

Readers with comprehension

BOOKS
(% with childrens
books at home)

17%

69%

30%
1%

18 REPEAT

(% who repeated a
grade)

8 Principles for Effective Literacy Programming

E

Start Early

Ensure Teachers Can Teach Reading

Language Matters

More and Better Books

Reading Practice (Practice, Practice, Practice)

Engage Parents and Communities

Assess and Track

Policy

For more detail on each principle, please see the complete Principles of
Effective Reading Programs document on OneNet.

Interpreting Reading Skills Profiles

Blue headings indicate
endline data

Red headings indicate

midline or endline data

The blue box summarizes key demographic

characteristics of the sample.

The first graph summarizes students

skills in letter identification, fluency,
accuracy, and reading comprehension.

This bar displays the % of letters read

correctly (or in some cases, % of words
read correctly).

3
This stacked bar displays the %
of students who were classified
as readers, defined as those
who could read at least 5 words
correctly in 30 seconds. The gray
portion of the bar represents
non-readers.

5
Fluency, accuracy, and reading
comprehension levels are displayed only
for the students who were classified as
readers. If multiple languages were
assessed, these skills are displayed in
separate graph.

The second graph displays the percentage of students who

read at each level of comprehension. The procedure for
classifying students as Nonreaders, Beginners, or Readers
with comprehension is explained in the Methodology
section.
4

Methodology
The tables and graphs on the following pages were created using project assessment
data from 2013 or 2014. The data were collected using a range of assessment tools.
Many projects used the Literacy Boost assessment tool, while some used
UWEZO/ASER tools or shorter versions of the Literacy Boost tool. Project staff were
asked to share data that measures the following four core reading skills:
1.
2.

Knowledge of letters: Percent of letters each student identified correctly.

Reading fluency: Number of words in a reading passage that a student read
correctly in one minute.
Reading accuracy: Percent of words in a reading passage that a student read
correctly.
Reading comprehension: Percent of questions about a reading passage that a
student answered correctly.

3.
4.

Where baseline assessment data were collected, the data presented are from Grade 2
unless otherwise noted. Data were analyzed for all students who were assessed at
baseline. Where endline data were collected, only students who were part of the
project interventions were included in the analysesstudents from comparison groups
were omitted. Unless otherwise noted, readers are students who could read at least
ten words of the reading passage correctly in one minute (or five words in 30 seconds).
In the demographic statistics, the gender ratio refers to that of the sample, not the
population.
The Reading with Comprehension graph was created by combining the data on
fluency with the data on percent of comprehension questions answered correctly. Only
literal comprehension questions (questions that ask students to describe specific details
from the story) were used for this analysis. The criteria for the reading with
comprehension tiers are as follows:
Nonreaders are students who could not read five words of the reading passage
correctly within 30 seconds.
Beginners are readers who answered fewer than 75% of the comprehension
questions correctly. The actual threshold varies according to the number of
comprehension questions that were in the assessment.
Readers with comprehension are readers who answered approximately 75% or
more of the comprehension questions correctly. The actual threshold varies
according to the number of comprehension questions that were in the assessment.