Footnote:
East Asia and Pacific
Vanuatu
English
en_US
Description:
In August 2010, the Government of Vanuatu carried out early grade reading baseline assessments in English and Francophone schools with financial support from local education partners and technical assistance from the World Bank. The results of the Vanuatu Early Grade Reading Assessment (VANEGRA) are cause for concern. French language findings show that while most students develop some fundamental skills in grade levels 1, 2 and 3, by the end of grade 3, less than 1 in 4 students are able to develop fluency in reading to understand most of the text they read. The VANEGRA survey also collected data on the attributes of students, teachers and schools. Factors that were shown to be predictors of better reading performance in the early grades include: speaking French at home, owning the school textbook, having literate parents, having books at home, reading at school and at home, attending kindergarten, doing homework, and receiving help from a family member to do homework. Neither teacher experience nor in-service training showed statistical effects on student reading outcomes and two types of certification showed negative and statistically significant effects on student outcomes both in reading fluency and comprehension. VANEGRA also asked about use of seven reading instructional activities. Students who were never asked to learn the meaning of new words or practice grapheme sound correspondences showed negative and statistically significant effects. Conversely, students who were assigned reading daily in their own school time showed positive and statistically significant results. Lastly, VANEGRA asked about teacher expectations for students' reading performance. Interestingly, the fact that some teachers allowed students to consolidate some reading skills later than the median expectation was associated with better and statistically significant results. Based on the analysis presented, recommendations for improved reading instruction and greater parental involvement are presented at the end of the report