Rapid Literacy Assessment

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The Comprehensive Rapid
Literacy Assessment
CIES 2022
April 20, 2022
Mitch Rakusin, Senior Education Research Analyst, RTI International
Email: mrakusin@rti.org
Janice Perez, Learning Resource Specialist, ABC+
Email: jperez@abcplus.rti.org
Experience from the development and implementation
of a teacher-led formative assessment in the
Philippines

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Outline
o Overview and Rationale
o Structure and content
o Co-design/development process
o Pilot experience
o Scale and expansion
o Lessons learnt and next steps
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ABC+ is a project of the Department of Education
(DepEd) in partnership with the U.S. Agency for
International Development (USAID) and implemented by
RTI International, together with The Asia Foundation, SIL
LEAD and Florida State University.
It also works in partnership with the Ministry of Basic,
Higher and Technical Education (MBHTE) in
Maguindanao, and the and UP NISMED for numeracy.
ABC+ project aims to benefit up to two million students
in its target implementing areas.
• Region V (Bicol)
• Region VI (Western
Visayas)
• Maguindanao,
Cotabato City
Target Area
Timeline
July 2019 – June 2024
4 school years
SY 2020-2021 to SY 2023-
2024

4. The Genesis of the CRLA
The Challenge
o At the beginning of SY 2020-2021,
children had 32 weeks of extended
break due to the Pandemic.
o Teachers needed a formative
assessment tool to quickly identify
their learners’ reading proficiency
levels to target reading interventions
at their level
o Links to national guidance on
assessment in the Pandemic
Design Requirements
o Valid and reliable
o Rapid (10 minutes or less) and easy
to administer
o Teacher-led, teacher-scored
o Low tech, multi-modal (online, face to
face)
o Standardized and Benchmarked
against the most essential learning
competencies (MELCs)
o Replicable, scalable and sustainable

5. Beginning and End of School Year CRLAs
Beginning of School Year
o Grade 1: Phonological and
Phonemic Awareness (L1 only)
o Grade 2: Word recognition and
sentence reading in L1 and L2
o Grade 3: Word recognition and
sentence reading in L1, L2 and
L3
End of School Year
o Grade 1:
 L1 Reading fluency and
comprehension
 L2 Listening Comprehension
o Grade 2:
• L1 & L2 Reading fluency and
comprehension
• L3 listening comprehension
o Grade 3:
• L1-L3 reading fluency and
comprehension
Grade 1 – Mother Tongue
Grade 2 – Mother Tongue and Filipino
Grade 3 – Mother Tongue, Filipino, and English

6. Proficiency Levels and Rubrics
o BoSY CRLA
• Full Refresher
• Moderate Refresher
• Light Refresher
• Grade Ready
o Proficiency levels depend on
a unique set of rubrics for
each grade level
o Number of letters and/or
words correctly read
o End of School Year CRLA
• Full intervention
• Moderate intervention
• Light intervention
• Meets expectations

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Anecdotal Results of the Pilot CRLAs
(Beginning and End of School Years)
Pilot Phase Grade Teaching
# of Participating
Teachers
# Learners
Assessed
% of Learners
Assessed
% Assessed
Remotely
Beginning of
School Year Grade 1 40 1,197 96% 53%
8 Schools Grade 2 42 1,313 95% 53%
Two Regions Grade 3 42 1,406 98% 55%
BoSY Totals 124 3,916 96% 54%
End of School Year Grade 1 8 253 100% 51%
8 Schools Grade 2 8 265 99% 59%
Two Regions Grade 3 8 283 100% 45%
EoSY Totals 24 801 100% 52%

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Feedback from the Pilot Experiences
Pilot
CRLA
Average No.
Minutes?
How useful? How Easy? Remote vs F2F
Modality
Recommend to
other teachers?
Beginning
of SY
6.3
88% very useful
12% somewhat
useful
33% very easy
59% somewhat easy
8% difficult
48% remote is
just as good
99% Yes
End of SY 9.8
92% Very useful
8% somewhat
useful
50% very easy
46% somewhat easy
4% difficult
16% remote is
just as good
100% Yes

10. o In summer 2021, ABC+ supported regions
issued memoranda for all G1-G3 teachers to
administer the beginning of school year CRLA
o ABC+ provided tools for data reporting and
technical assistance to regions and division
offices on data management and use,
including online dashboards that visualize and
summarize results
o In Fall of 2021, DepEd Central issued call for
non ABC+ regions to participate in CRLA
o ABC+ worked with Regions V and VI, as well
as with UNICEF in Region VIII to support the
development of the BoSY CRLA in an
additional 25 languages
Scale Up and Expansion of the CRLA
• Languages developed to date:
1. Hiligaynon
2. Central Bikol
3. S. Binisaya
4. Tagalog
5. Rinconada
6. Minasbate
7. English
8. Filipino
9. Waray
10. Inabaknon
11. Kinaray-a
12. Chavacano
13. Akeanon
14. Magindanawn

11. 2/28/2023
FOOTER GOES HERE
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Snapshot of Returns at Scale to Date

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Lessons Learned and other Key Takeaways from Development,
Pilot and Scale Experiences
o The co-development, quality assurance and field-testing processes took longer than expected but paid dividends in
terms of buy-in, ownership and scale-up
o The length, format and purpose of the tool, along with the assorted guiding resources, facilitated ease and
willingness of use for both teachers and the learners.
o All (BoSY) CRLA languages to date had been developed via online workshops, which proved challenging from a
facilitation standpoint, and relying on native language speakers to encode and QA accurately
o The pilot experience paved the way to the development of guiding resources, like the detailed administration
guides, simulation videos and automated scoresheets, that make the nature and purpose of the CRLA clearer and
much easier to understand for the teachers and the parents.
o The main challenge for ABC+ is coping with the increasing interest and demand for CRLA development and
administration of technical assistance.
o The CRLA is also now part of DepEd’s Regional Monitoring, Evaluation and Adjustment processes and the results
are being used in ABC+ supported regions to identify schools and learners for priority and remedial support
12 2/28/2023
FOOTER GOES HERE

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Takeaway Thought / Testimonial
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The CRLA made me look at assessment
differently. Since it is not graded, my focus
was on identifying the gaps in my students’
learning so I can help them. It is not about
my performance as a teacher. It is not
about how intelligent my students are. It is
about what and how else can they learn.
There is less pressure on my students and
their parents. I use the data for our
remedial program.
– Teacher Mila (translated from
the original Hiligaynon)

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Thank You!
Mitch Rakusin | Email: mrakusin@rti.org
Janice Perez| Email: jperez@abcplus.rti.org
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