Evaluation of the BTL and ASTEP Programs in the Northern, Eastern, and Volta Regions of Ghana

Public schools in Ghana face many challenges, including lack of materials, limited teacher training, and a culture in which few written materials are available. According to one measure, fewer than 10% of children at primary level six are able to read at grade level.

USAID and international partners has been working in Ghana to pilot reading programs intended to improve children’s literacy levels. One is an adaptation of the Break Through to Literacy (BTL) approach operated by the Molteno Project in South Africa. A second, Assistance to Teacher Education Project (ASTEP), is funded by the German Technical Co-operation.

In summer 2004, IRA conducted an evaluation of the success of these programs. Working with colleagues from South Africa and Ghana, Marjorie Lipson (University of Vermont) and Karen Wixson (University of Michigan) prepared the program report available here.

Executive summary

Full report (posted by permission of USAID Ghana)