Building a Bridge Between Literacy and Numeracy for Better Results in Rwanda

EDC’s basic education programs in low-resource contexts support the development of learners who can use language to explain and analyze the world around them and who have the foundational skills to think critically and solve the range of problems they will encounter in school and life. Integration of early literacy and mathematics instruction promotes the development of thinking and decision-making skills and lays the foundation for later success. The Literacy, Language and Learning (L3) Initiative’s effort to bridge literacy and math in Rwandan primary education is one promising example. L3 materials and pedagogy enriched the learning landscape and promoted the integration of math and language. Over the life of the initiative, L3 teachers developed a deeper understanding of numeracy and literacy concepts and how they can be used in a range of every-day applications, while L3 students showed significant improvement in both literacy and math.