Educational institutions from primary to a higher level are closed due to the pandemic. Nobody has an idea about the proper functioning of these educational institutions. Most of the educational institutions are operating virtually but primary and upper primary government schools in the rural area are fully non-functional. The pace of learning and unlearning is fast at the primary level. The students might have lost all the learning in this period. We need to take some concrete steps to correct this.
Teaching At Right Level (TaRL) Approach
Teaching at the right level (TaRL) is an approach that aims to build foundational skills in mathematics and language for all children at the primary level. In this approach, first, we assess the learning levels of all the students and group them as per the learning levels of the students rather than their age or grade. Then we build their skills in the same learning level group. We can upgrade the group of the student as per their learning achievement.
Plan Of Action For TaRL
- Base-line assessment
- Grouping of all student
- Set the Milestone
- Evaluate the student’s learning
Baseline Assessment
A baseline assessment is a process to know the basic learning level of the student. In the very first week of opening schools, we can conduct the baseline assessment of the entire student. The subject of the baseline assessment will be mathematics and language because the primary schools focus on basic arithmetic and language skills. We can use the existing assessment tool of the Pratham Foundation.
Grouping Of The Student
After successfully conducting the baseline assessment, it is time to group the student in the different groups as per their basic skills. We can create five groups in each subject. The table is given below of groups:
| Language | ||
| Sr. No. | Skills | No. of students |
| 1 | Beginner | |
| 2 | Letter | |
| 3 | Word | |
| 4 | Paragraph | |
| 5 | Story | |
| Mathematics | ||
| Sr. No. | Skills | No. of students |
| 1 | Beginner | |
| 2 | Number identification (0-9) | |
| 3 | Number identification (10-99) | |
| 4 | Subtraction | |
| 5 | Division | |
Set The Milestone
We can set the milestone for the specific group and can assess the performance of the students at regular intervals. If a student achieved the specifically assigned milestone, then we can upgrade the group of that student. Below are some examples of the milestone:
- Children can recognize numbers from 100 to 999, write them, compare them and put them in the correct order
- Children can arrange three-digit numbers in ascending and descending order.
- Children can solve addition and subtraction word questions up to 99
- Children develop unit-tens understanding in numbers from 1 to 100
- Children could multiply two numbers with one digit (answer not more than 90).
- Children can multiply 1-digit number by one-digit number
- Children can recognize even and odd number
Evaluate The Performance
Finally, we evaluate the performance and measure the growth of the entire student. And we also can trace the growth of every individual in the class.
It can be an effective approach in the time of crisis. We can revive the growth of students in schools. We also can ensure the learning of the students with the help of this approach.