The Reading for Success – Small-Scale Experimentation (RFS-SSE) activity, a component of a broader USAID initiative, was designed to reflect ongoing collaborations between USAID/Morocco and the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (MOEVT) to improve reading instruction in Morocco. Conceived as a learning activity, RFS-SSE developed an evidence base of effective approaches that improve reading skills in targeted primary schools. RFS-SSE began when the MOEVT was developing a 15-year education reform called Vision 2030 as well as a set of medium-term activities for the period 2015-2020. Reform efforts addressed a key weakness in the Moroccan educational system: poor reading skills at the primary level. The RFS-SSE intervention helped to inform the revisions to the existing curriculum and the design of the reformed curriculum by providing data and evidence to support the envisioned changes.

To assess the impact of the RFS-SSE reading program, RFS-SSE selected a longitudinal evaluation design which included reading assessments of two cohorts of students. Cohort 1 was assessed at four different times - the middle of Grade 1 and throughout Grade 2: Baseline (January 2016), Midline 1 (May 2016), Midline 2 (September 2016), and Endline (May 2017). Cohort 2 was assessed twice – the beginning and end of Grade 1: Midline 2 (September 2016) and Endline (May 2017). A stratified cluster random sampling method was used to assure that (1) an equal number of boys and girls in urban and rural schools would be assessed and (2) that the results of the study would be generalizable to the entire population of intervention schools in each of the eight delegations selected for intervention. Schools were first stratified by geographic location and urban/rural environment. Within schools, students were stratified by gender. All students in Grades 1 and 2 were assessed with the same EGRA instrument.