24. Percentage of students who by the end of two grades of primary schooling demonstrate ability to read and understand grade-level text

24. Percentage of students who by the end of two grades of primary schooling demonstrate ability to read and understand grade-level text

VERSION

V4.0 - 2026.03 — Existing

INDICATOR CODE

24

TECHNICAL OWNER

SBP

INDICATOR TYPE

Country Level Outcome Indicator

INDICATOR CLASSIFICATION

Complementary

INDICATOR SCOPE

Programme specific

APPLICABILITY

The selection of this indicator is recommended against the following sub-activities in CSPs logframes. Selection of the below sub-activities will NOT trigger the mandatory selection of this indicator:

1. School Meals Programme On Site (SF_ONS)

2. School Meals Programme Take Home Incentives (SF_THI)

UNIT OF MEASUREMENT & ANALYSIS

Percentage

DEFINITION

This indicator aims to measure the Proportion of students who attain the specified threshold at the end of two grades of primary schooling, the beginning of the third year of primary schooling, or the equivalent levels of accelerated learning programs. Students and learners in formal and non-formal education programs should be included. Measures of the indicator will be determined in consultation with the country, and informed by national (or regional, if applicable) curriculum standards, and by international experience. Illustrative examples include country-specific benchmarks on national assessments that have satisfactory psychometric validity and reliability and limited corruption issues or levels of oral fluency based on acceptable oral assessments, e.g., demonstrating satisfactory levels of comprehension as measured by comprehension questions on grade 2 texts or reading a country-determined number of correct words per minute.

RATIONALE

For girls and boys to have the opportunity to achieve their full potential, it is essential that they have better access to education but also measured improvement in learning. School feeding activities can be designed to improve literacy as part of a holistic approach to ensure that school-age children are physically, nutritionally, and cognitively fit to succeed in school. These activities typically address the quality of literacy instruction and improve teacher effectiveness by providing continuous support, training, and coaching. Additionally, activities improve the quality, appropriateness, availability, and effective use of reading materials. Thus, based on programme objectives and design, WFP collaborates with education and literacy actors and other partners to ensure that the meals as well as complementary interventions contribute to tangible learning results. This indicator covers the quality of primary education and enhanced ability to benefit from learning opportunities usually delivered by WFP through school feeding and partners.

DATA COLLECTION TOOL

For students and learners in both formal and non-formal education programs, data will be generated through early grade reading assessments (most likely oral). Assessments should be done at baseline and endline, and possibly at midline as well, using comparable assessments given at the same grades or their equivalents (at the end of grade two, the beginning of grade 3, or at the equivalent level of accelerated learning programs). These assessments may be carried out by or in partnership with host governments or other national or international organizations.

Proficiency standards do not exist systematically within countries; learning partners should identify/adopt a core set of standards that are designed with reference to global standards, where they exist. Please refer to guidance for support: Principles of Good Practice in Learning Assessment is a good reference for data quality on learning outcomes (UIS and ACER, 2017).

SAMPLING REQUIREMENTS

A statistical sample that is representative of that population is required at the level of WFP interventions. For more information, consult Technical Note for Sampling for School Feeding Programme (to be issued).

INDICATOR CALCULATION FOR REPORTING

Percentage of students who demonstrate ability to read and understand grade level text:

Where:

X: Number of students reading with enough understanding at the end of the first two grades of primary schooling

Y: Total number of students at the end of the first two grades of primary schooling

DATA ENTRY AND DISAGGREGATION IN CORPORATE SYSTEMS

Values are recorded in the logframe. Each value has a reporting combination which is created based on:

• Sub-activity

• Country

• Target Group

Follow-up value is reported as: One number overall

BASELINE

1. Baselines are set only once for the entire CSP.

2. No pre-assistance baseline is needed; the first programme value is considered the baseline.

3. If a new CSP begins and the activity continues from the previous CSP, the last reported value from the previous CSP becomes the baseline for the new cycle.

Note: Any change in target, location, and/or modality that creates a new reporting combination for an existing indicator requires a separate baseline.

TARGET SETTING

Annual targets:

Context specific

End of CSP target:

Context specific

FREQUENCY OF DATA COLLECTION

In a 5-years programme, assessments should be done at baseline and end line, and possibly at midline. Application should be determined in cooperation with national partners.

INTERPRETATION

A higher proportion of students who demonstrate ability to read and understand grade level text indicates that WFP school meals and other partner’s learning interventions are contributing to tangible learning results.

REPORTING EXAMPLE(S)

According to tests based on national standards, the proportion of second graders with reading proficiency at grade level increased by 9 percentage points from baseline to midline. The improvement in reading proficiency was higher for girls (15 percentage points) than for boys (4 percentage points). However, the increase was not statistically significant at conventional levels for either group. It is believed that the project is on track to meet its medium- and long-term goals, particularly those related to students’ literacy outcomes, and that the effects are due to the project interventions. Results confer with qualitative findings reported by teachers, school administrators and implementers that the new literacy techniques are most likely to generate important and positive effects on students’ literacy and comprehension skills.

INDICATORS COLLECTED & ANALYSED AT THE SAME TIME

• 21. Enrollment rate

• 23. Graduation rate

• 47. Retention rate

• 93. Percentage of children not attending school due to ill-health

COMPLEMENTARY QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

This indicator can be complemented by many types of qualitative research to provide more insights into programme implementation and results achieved. Below are examples of topics that can be explored but other avenues are also possible based on CO interest and implementation:

• Quality of education and curriculum provided.

• Reasons behind differences in passing rates between girls and boys.

• Reasons affecting low literacy rates and how to best address them.

• How to enhance the School Feeding Programme funded by WFP.

• Students/School staff/family/community perception of programme

DECISIONS DATA CAN INFORM

This indicator can support many CO level decision, below are some suggestions:

• Level of support WFP can extend to improve the quality of education provided –

• through direct implementation or collaboration with other agencies.

• Targeting of new regions and schools.

• Whether the programme is achieving intended results.

• Results can be used to advocate for further funding.

• Avenues for future collaboration with other agencies and enhancement of SF programmes.

• Additional needs that need to be met to support children’s well-being.

VISUALIZATION

N/A

LIMITATIONS

The indicator is very costly to collect; COs will have to assess if the costs of obtaining the required information is justified. The indicator is usually collected as part of the primary data collection as part of evaluation conduct rather than routine monitoring i.e.,, baseline, midline, and endline. On the other hand, there may be other partners interested in education that carry out tests of literacy. Examples are Early Grade Reading Ability (EGRA) tests as in South Africa, or the annual learning assessments carried out by the NGO Uwezo.16 In such cases, COs should assess if they deem the partner reliable and the used methodology sound and, if affirmative, consider a partnership to support the initiative and in return be able to use the results in a systematic way. In any case, COs should be aware that literacy depends on many factors, including good teachers, curricula, and teaching material. For this reason, attribution must be addressed carefully.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Please refer to USDA McGovern Dole Indicators and definition.

For further support on this indicator, consult GHQ SBP team.