Asia

IRA has numerous thriving national affiliates in countries across Asia, including Japan, India, the Philippines, Thailand, and Singapore. Their activities are coordinated by our International Development in Asia Committee, with assistance from staff in the International Development Division (contact).

If you are a council leader interested in working with an Asian reading association or literacy group, or an organizer of literacy projects in Asia, please visit our International Project Partnerships area.

Current projects

Primary Grades Reading in Developing Countries Project (2007–present)
IRA is leading this new EQUIP project which is focusing on primary grades reading in Spanish-speaking Latin America, Arabic-speaking Middle East, and Anglophone and Francophone Africa. The objective of this activity is to use research conducted by IRA on early grades reading policies in countries in these regions both at the school level and the preservice level to help support the development of a document that will serve as a guidance to aid international and national education development donors and NGO partners in developing pertinent and effective early grades reading programs in these countries.

Broader Middle East and North Africa (BMENA) Literacy Hub (2006–2008)
The Literacy Hub is a resource developed over a series of discussions between representatives of the G8 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) and representatives of the countries making up the Broader Middle East and North Africa region (Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen).

The Literacy Hub is designed to provide policymakers and program developers in the BMENA region with an extensive database of exemplary practices and programs in literacy. The database is a diverse collection of effective programs for achieving basic literacy, academic literacy, or everyday literacy.

Pakistan—Education Sector Reform Action Plan (2003–present)
IRA, in partnership with the Research Triangle Institute and leaders in policy decentralization, teacher training, literacy, and public-private partnership development, is working to implement the Education Sector Reform Action (ESRA) plan within the Pakistani education system. This four-year, US$60 million project is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development. RTI has overall management responsibility; the American Institutes for Research and the Education Development Center are also partners, as are numerous Pakistani organizations.

Through discussions, research, and monitoring, IRA will help develop the capacity of local Pakistani educators and education ministry personnel to create a consistent, coherent framework for incorporating active learning approaches into classroom practice. IRA will address in-service education and improved standards for teacher performance. We are also working to facilitate change in primary and secondary curricula, and to develop instructional materials, student assessment policies, and preservice teacher education programs. Technical consultants are being recruited from within IRA’s extensive network of members and affiliated partners in North America, Europe, and Central Asia.

Past projects

Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking (1997–2003)
An initiative of the Open Society Institute and IRA, with leadership from faculty at the University of Northern Iowa and the Hobart and William Smith Colleges, RWCT promoted classroom teaching practices designed to help students learn actively, think critically, and work cooperatively. Through an integrated program of staff development activities for teachers at all levels, RWCT focused on methods of teaching rather than any particular curriculum.

Educators in 29 countries participated in RWCT over the course of this multiyear project. Initially concentrated in the former Soviet bloc countries of eastern Europe and central Asia, project activities spread to Latin America and southeast Asia. Teacher educators from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia—recruited as volunteers through IRA—offered workshops and made follow-up visits to host countries to train local educators, help teachers set up model classrooms, prepare and certify trainers, and transfer concepts and teaching methods to the institutions responsible for teacher education.

With the conclusion of project funding in 2003, RWCT activities are now continuing in most of the participating countries under different institutional arrangements. These activities concentrate on teacher training and university faculty development, and they also include professional conferences, the formation of teachers’ associations, and the publication of newsletters, journals, and books. For more about current RWCT activities, visit the RWCT International Consortium website.