The South African Department of Basic Education (DBE), together with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Khulisa, and other partners, are releasing the early grade reading benchmarks report for Tshivenḓa, one of South Africa’s 11 official languages, today. The event, which takes place in Pretoria, South Africa, also includes the launch of benchmarks for Xitsonga, another official South African language.
Khulisa conducted this benchmarking work under USAID’s Practical Education Research for Optimal Reading and Management: Analyze, Collaborate and Evaluate (PERFORMANCE) indefinite quantity contract, in collaboration with our strong network of evaluation partners: Research on Socio-Economic Policy (ReSEP), Firdale Consulting, and Benita Williams Evaluation (BWE).
The report, developed in response to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s 2019 call for every child in South Africa to read for meaning by Grade 10, establishes benchmarks for Tshivenḓa readers in grades 1, 2, 3, and 6, emphasizing alphabetic knowledge, emergent fluency, and adequate comprehension. Tshivenḓa is the 11th South African language benchmarked since 2020, and the third South African language for which the Khulisa team has created benchmarks: Khulisa and its partners also developed benchmarks for Setswana Home Language (HL) and English First Additional Language (EFAL). Over the past five years, Khulisa and its partners have assessed more than 10,000 students, interviewed or surveyed 1,761 teachers, and conducted 574 school visits while creating these benchmarks.
Margie Roper, Khulisa’s Director for Education and Development, is excited about the opportunities the reading benchmarks present for helping South Africa’s education system. “We know so much more about early grade reading in our African languages than ever before. We need to use this knowledge to inform teaching, management, program design, and development,” Margie says. “These benchmarks have huge relevancy for the DBE at all levels, including teachers and principals. They’re evidence-based benchmarks that are there for the purpose of improving and strengthening early grade reading in our country.”
The Khulisa team is also proud of the contribution reading benchmarks will make for the evaluation field. “There’s potential for these benchmarks to really help evaluators make informed judgments about the effectiveness, efficiency, relevancy, coherence, and impact of reading programs in South Africa,” says Margie.
Khulisa and its partners look forward to continuing this work, ensuring that every child in South Africa learns to read and reads to learn. Learn more about South Africa’s reading benchmarks here.