Numeracy Boost: Improving early grades math
outcomes in primary schools
in Bangladesh
Moazzem Hossain, Senior Education Manager
Save the Children in Bangladesh
Presentation Outline
Background information
Numeracy Boost and its
potentials
Insights from one year
results
Emerging issues and
further scopes
Bangladesh Primary Education Overview
Completion rate 70.3%
Total dropout rate 29.7%
Average repetition rate 10.44% but in grade four 14.2%
Source: Bangladesh Primary Education Annual Sector Performance Report [ASPR-2012]
Overview of current state of math
education in Bangladesh primary schools
33% students did not acquire relevant competencies at the end of
grade 3 (NSA 2011)
75% students did not acquire relevant competencies at the end of
grade 5 (NSA 2011)
Only 1% students mastered all Learning Outcome Category
(LOC) for Grade 3 Maths and 3.1% for Grade 5 Maths (NSA
2008)
Large proportion of children do not attain basic competence
(measured in terms of primary school curriculum based test on
numeracy) upon completing primary schooling. (Asadullah and
Chaudhury, 2012)
Paradigm shift in Math Curriculum and Primary
Education Development Program (PEDP3)
Govt. is shifting towards a competency based
curriculum
Simple curriculum and coherent textbooks for early
learners
Achievable grade-wise and subject-wise expected
learning outcomes and terminal competencies
Each Child Learns flagship project under PEDP III
through improving reading and School and Classroom
Based Assessment
What is Numeracy Boost?
Numeracy Boost is a
research-based toolkit
for teachers, students and
the entire community
that focuses on the basic
math skills for early
graders (I-II) they need to
thrive in daily life.
Numeracy Boost Cycle
monthly
Initial math assessment Assess children from grades 2, gather
background, math environment and
math basic skills data.
Intervention design Adapt Numeracy Boost teacher
sessions and community action using
math assessment results, context,
national curriculum and local strengths.
Summative math assessment Reassess children’s math to measure
progress and adjust teacher and
community strategies for the coming
school year.
Pro
gra
m level
Sch
oo
l/co
mm
un
ity level
Monthly follow-up support Supervisors foster community
participation, observe teachers,
community actions, offer feedback and
lead reflection/planning meetings to
meet challenges.
Ongoing math assessment Teachers use open questions as
formative assessment in the classroom
and adjust instruction of math and
inform community strategies to
community volunteers.
Intervention Train and support both teachers and
community members in strategies to
advance children’s daily math skills.
Create materials to support these
activities.
academic year
3 pronged approach-inside and
outside the classroom
Focus on the early grades
Number and Operations
Geometry
Measurement
Building math knowledge through
activities and discussion
Math is relevant and useful
Content and process skills
The Numeracy Boost
Approach
Numeracy Boost Assessment Components
Tool
Component
Information Captured Test for grade two children
1. Student
Background
Characteristics, Education,
SES, CLE, Time, & Health
30-40 questions
2. Counting Numbers & Operations
Skills
Count aloud to 100, one-to-one
correspondence, skip count by 10s, skip
count by 5s, count backward 10 - 1
3. Number
Awareness
Numbers & Operations
Skills
12 number IDs
5-6 quantity discrimination problems
8-12 missing number problems
4. Operations Numbers & Operations
Skills
10 timed addition and subtraction problems
3 authentic addition and subtraction problems
5 word problems
5. Measurement Measurement skills 4 stick measurement questions
3 time of day questions
days of week and months of year
6. Shapes Geometry Skills 9 questions
Teachers Training
Main focus:
Numbers and Operations
Geometry
Measurement
“This training has helped
me to open up to using a variety
of methods in which we can
illustrate and explain concepts.”
- Ministry Assistant Director during
NB TOT
Adaptation of the training manual aligning with local context and material creation
TOT for ministry master trainers
Grade I-II Math teachers training on 5 modules in 1-1.5 month interval
Class observation and follow up
Operational strategy:
Community Action
“Children need both explicit and direct
instruction as well as time to explore, play
and connect math to the real world.”
(Ginsberg, Lee and Boyd, 2008)
• Monthly parents awareness session
• Weekly Math Camps- after school activities
• School Management Committee (SMC) and Community Core Group (CCG) engagement Math story books in Math Camps Reading Buddy
Math Camps for Children
Math Kit and Facilitator’s Guide
Math Story Books,
manipulatives and
Volunteers Guides
1. Attendance
circle and Graph
2. Math story Read
aloud
3. Reinforcing
activity
4. Reflection and
Discussion
5. Mental Math
An enumerator’s thoughts during
NB Assessment
“Save the Children strikes our thinking while we
assessed children’s Math ability from different
aspects. We always had fear on math as a subject.
Teachers encouraged us math memorization at
our early grades for which we never confident
enough taking Science curriculum. Our Math
teacher uses mostly traditional way of teaching and
the missing part is bridging the content with
our day to day experience. We found most of
the children are struggling with math while simple
question asked in a different way. Without this
involvement we never could realize that how
vulnerable these early grades children are in
terms of facing math difficulties!”
- Nushrat, NB Enumerator – University Student
Commitment from a Math teacher
“This is a big opportunity for me to be a
part of Numeracy Boost piloting and I
myself feel fortunate enough that Save the
Children selected our school in this
journey. After realizing the importance of
activity based math classes I do believe
we would work hard collectively to
achieve its goal. After participating such
good training sessions we understand
how it contributes school success and
how it enhances teaching performance.”
- Ayesha Begum, Asst. teacher, Govipur Govt. Primary School
Counting and Number Recognition Skill Profile
One to one correspondence: 2013 Baseline n= 1531 2014 Endline n=1257
Number Operations Skill Profile
Number Operations Fluency Skill Profile
Measurement and Geometry Skill Profile
Interesting Findings
64%
6%
21%
68%
2% 0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Practicing/studyingnumbers, counting,
addition,subtraction, etc
Reading/studyingtextbooks/math
books
Practice/study withteacher or at
school
Practice/study withfamily/community
member or athome
Practice/study ineveryday activity
% g
ivin
g re
spo
nse
What do you do most frequently to learn maths?
Reinforcing Math Camp Activity
Math Manipulatives Acceptance
Lessons Learned so far
Material creations and main training manual adaptation demand
additional time, dedication and ministry counterpart involvement
from very beginning for further uptake
Entire data collection and analysis process were rigorous that causes
delay in sharing of the expected benchmarks to the stakeholders (e.g.
teachers, community action volunteers)
Training curriculum contextualization bridging with daily lessons and
national textbook need to be prepared before starting the program
Formative assessment need to be reviewed aligning with summative
assessment skill areas to refine the art of instruction progressively
Centralized training gives minimum scope of classroom follow up
Some conclusions
More time is needed for
interventions to take root
and for teachers to
introduce new practices
Stronger on site support is
required to assist teachers in
implementing NB practices
Integral to have materials in
the daily lesson and in the
hands of children
Emerging Issues
Motivating teachers/schools through
peer review, more class observation
and idea sharing
Adding more trainings to already
packed in-service training calendars
Counterpart ministry participation,
buy-in and support
Identifying the ideal implementation
model
Working with MoPME particularly
pre-service institutions (Dip-in-Ed)
BIG Picture: What’s next?
Numeracy Boost and other learning-focused
interventions to become a core part of all
sponsorship-funded programming
Save the Children members integrating
children’s Numeracy Boost approaches into
their basic education programs
Partnerships with other NGOs (e.g., World
Vision) to bring Numeracy Boost benefits to
more children in more countries
Start working on writing & testing
Thank you!
For questions/comments/ideas please contact:
www.savethechildren.org