This report examines the results of a learner background survey and reading assessment conducted between August and October 2013 among grade 2 students in seven primary schools receiving Save the Children (SC)’s Literacy Boost program as well as seven nearby comparison primary schools in the Nketoana and Maluti A Phofung municipalities in the Free State of South Africa. The Literacy Boost program includes teacher training, community reading activities, and age-appropriate local language material creation to support developing reading skills among early-grade children, such as: concepts about print, letter awareness, single word reading, fluency, accuracy, and comprehension. As part of Literacy Boost, learners are periodically assessed to inform programming and estimate program impact.

The data gathered from these schools is analyzed to present a snapshot of the emergent literacy skills of grade 2 learners in these schools and to inform the adaptation of SC’s Literacy Boost program to this context.