FY05 funds are being used to support the implementation of the National Assessment of Progress in Education in Enhancing the Quality of Education in Uganda (NAPE). NAPE is used to ascertain national levels of student achievement and to monitor changes in such achievement over time and as such is critical for informing policy and implementation. Although the NAPE is conducted annually, there has been very limited information related to orphans and other vulnerable children. FY05 resources were used to expand the NAPE to allow for a larger sample size, thus enabling proper statistical inference about OVCs and the differences between OVCs and other children, in order to evaluate schooling for OVC, their performance and treatment in school, and the quality of education they receive (as measured by pedagogical inputs available at school and through the rapid assessment of children's reading and math skills). The NAPE is currently underway and results are expected in October.

Studies have shown that while Universal Primary Education in Uganda has been quite successful in increasing access to primary schooling for orphans living in households and non-orphans alike, the great increase in enrollment has imposed a financial burden on schools. Funding levels have not kept pace with the increased enrollment and pedagogical inputs per student are at very low levels, further threatening the level of learning taking place in the classroom. Most important among pedagogic inputs is the student/teacher ratio. These ratios are extremely high in the primary schools in Uganda with an average student/teacher ratio of 58 to 1 masking significant variation across and within districts. The negative impact of this additional burden is reflected in student performance. Preliminary reading assessments in Uganda suggest slow development of reading ability (no reading at all until Grade 3, and reading at perhaps ½ of what it should be even then). Grade 3 performance as assessed by the Uganda National Examinations Board is low and the trend is uncertain (due to methodological problems in using these results to establish trends). The vast majority of orphans will not proceed beyond primary school, so it is extremely important that the education they receive at the primary level is of very high quality. And, with significant donor resources including Global Fund, UNICEF, World Bank and PEPFAR supporting school fees, basic materials and uniforms, it is critical to ensure that OVC resources to improve educational outcomes are programmed efficiently.

In addition to the usual pedagogic inputs that all children need to succeed at school, orphans and other vulnerable children have unique needs i.e HIV+, chronically ill parents, stigmatized, abused, etc. that need to be adequately managed in the classroom and school setting.in order to facilitate successful participation. The NAPE data is being collected via a series of interrelated, nationally-representative sample surveys. The primary sampling unit is primary schools. FY07 resources will be used to supplement the school level survey by sampling surrounding households, institutions, and children living on the streets. This will allow us to link the household, school, and community data. This proposed methodology will facilitate examination of the orphan/vulnerable child issue from multiple perspectives within the same community and will allow identification of the different factors in the child's life that are impacting their performance at school. For those OVCs not currently attending schools we will work to identify the barriers to their attendance. The end result will be identification of suggested action items needed to mitigate the factors that impede either access or performance at school (or both) for orphans and the most vulnerable children.