Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL)

USAID works with the Government of the Republic of Zambia and local partners to improve the quality of education through assistance at the national, provincial, district, and community school levels. In collaboration with the Zambia Ministry of General Education (MOGE), USAID focuses on improving overall learner performance by bolstering the critical foundational reading skills in children in the early grades of primary school. 

Through the Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) project, USAID has partnered with the University of Cape Town, South Africa, J-PAL Africa, UNICEF, and the MOGE to implement initiatives based on the foundations established by the Indian NGO Pratham.

In collaboration with the University of Cape Town, South Africa, J-PAL Africa, UNICEF, and the MOGE, the USAID TaRL project aims to improve the low reading levels among Zambian students. The MOGE is rolling out the TaRL methodology in primary schools in Eastern and Southern Provinces.  In Zambia, TaRL is locally called “Catch-Up” referring to the program’s goal to help students “catch-up” to grade level.

Through these partnerships, TaRL aims to support wide ranging impact for:

• Over 1,700 government and community schools in 20 districts;

• Reaching  200,000 students in grades 3-5; and

• Enhancing the training of 6,840 in-service teachers and mentors.

Expected Results

The TaRL/Catch-Up program targets children in grades 3-5 with remedial instruction in reading and numeracy in target provinces. Over 200,000 struggling learners will receive tailored interventions to improve their foundational numeracy and reading skills which will enable them to “catch-up” to expected performance levels for grade. Teachers will also be trained in the TaRL methodology to ensure that they effectively deliver lessons to the children.