Literacy Boost Guatemala: Baseline Report 2011

This report outlines the findings from the reading assessment administered to 343 children from the El Quiché department of Guatemala in February 2011. Random samples of children from 2nd grade were selected from each of the 18 participating schools. Of these schools, 10 will be piloting Literacy Boost, a Save the Children program designed to equip children with the foundational skills for becoming competent readers. The other 8 schools will serve as the control group against which progress in supporting skills development via Literacy Boost interventions can be measured.

The assessment evaluates children’s emergent and early reading skill levels in both Spanish and K’iche by targeting the following skills: 1) children’s understanding of concepts about print, 2) knowledge of the alphabet, 3) ability to read the most common words from their curriculum, 4 & 5) fluency and accuracy in reading grade-level passages, and 6) either reading or oral comprehension of the same passages. The assessment also gathered information on the students’ socio-economic background and home literacy environment.