Global Learning Portal Guest

First grade is where many children gain foundational literacy and numeracy skills essential to their long-term success as students. AED’s Global Education Center (GEC) recently published a report entitled, Success in First Grade, highlighting the critical opportunity to build a strong educational foundation in first grade. The report describes the primary education landscape in the developing world and offers a framework for success in first grade built around four key principles:

• Maximize opportunities to learn

• Build multiple support structures

• Create learning communities

• Integrate education with other child-oriented systems

Case studies, statistics, key points, and suggested readings supplement and illustrate the four key principles.

In a brief discussion, the authors, Dr. James Wile, Carrie Willimann, and Erik Lundgren, offered some perspective on the process of researching and writing this report and addressed their hope to use it to stimulate a discussion.

To write the report, the authors gathered data from international databases, reviewed current academic and practitioner literature, and identified and analyzed a variety of primary education projects. Synthesizing their research with AED and GEC’s expertise in developing education systems, the authors generated the four key principles, which they describe as “principles in action to guide teaching and learning.” Indeed, these principles are not just food for thought, but actually guide GEC’s education projects throughout the world.

One key goal of the authors in writing this report was to reach beyond an audience of AED program managers and technical practitioners. The report aims to engage teachers, graduate students of education, policymakers and anyone else interested in the field of education in a discussion.

Published in April 2009, Success in First Grade is the first in a series of reports that will discuss success in schools by examining education as a continuum of teaching and learning for all children, particularly those children who come from disadvantage backgrounds. We invite you to download Success in First Grade, and to participate in a discussion on successful teaching and learning in the first grade.