This book highlights the experience of Liberia in both assessing and improving reading in primary schools. As a result of an Early Grade Reading Assessment, the Ministry of Education and partners, including the United States Agency for International Development, came together to identify and develop strategies for improving reading in schools. Over the course of a year, the partnership provided support and training to teachers, reading books for students, and collaborated with parents to instill a culture of reading in the community. These efforts paid off; the share of students in program-supported schools that are reading with understanding more than tripled, while the results in a comparison group remained nearly flat. Critical to this process was the use of data to inform decision making. Assessments such as those described in this book are especially important as they identify which skills need reinforcement--information that can directly inform teaching and learning. With training and support, teachers can then use this information to improve their practice in schools and monitor student progress toward achieving goals and standards. Information can also help parents and communities to pressure for and support improvement in schools. This book contains the following: (1) The Early Grade Reading Assessment: An Introduction (Amber Gove and Anna Wetterberg); (2) Using EGRA as a National Reading Diagnostic: Nicaragua and Senegal (Jessica Mejia and Sarah Pouezevara); (3) Gauging Program Effectiveness with EGRA: Impact Evaluations in South Africa and Mali (Wendi Ralaingita and Anna Wetterberg); (4) Teachers' Use of EGRA for Continuous Assessment: The Case of EGRA Plus: Liberia (Marcia Davidson, Medina Korda, and Ollie White Collins); (5) Mother Tongue and Reading: Using Early Grade Reading Assessments to Investigate Language-of-Instruction Policy in East Africa (Benjamin Piper and Emily Miksic); (6) Using Information and Communication Technologies to Sort EGRA (Sarah Pouezevara and Carmen Strigel); and (7) Motivating Early Grade Instruction and Learning: Institutional Issues (Luis Crouch). Appended are: (1) Early Grade Learning Community of Practice Members; and (2) EGRA Subtask Examples. A glossary and an index are included. Individual chapters contain references and footnotes. (Contains 27 tables and 22 figures.) [Foreword by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.]