Achieving Reading Skills in Context: From Evidence to Inclusive Practice

Achieving Reading Skills in Context: Evidence, Inclusion, and Conflict Sensitivity

Sunday, 29 March 2026 – San Francisco, United States

The Global Education Evidence Advisory Panel (GEEAP) convened a formal panel at the Comparative & International Education Society (CIES) 2026 conference to explore how evidence-aligned reading instruction can support improved learning outcomes in diverse education systems.

Drawing on the GEEAP-endorsed report Effective Reading Instruction in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: What the Evidence Shows, the session brought together leading researchers and practitioners to examine how global evidence can inform more effective and context-responsive approaches to literacy.

The panel featured Benjamin Piper (Gates Foundation), Jaime Saavedra (World Bank), and Moses Ngware (African Population and Health Research Center), with Dhir Jhingran (Language and Learning Foundation) and Margaret (Peggy) Dubeck (Consultant) serving as discussants, and Maria Brindlmayer (GEEAP Secretariat) chairing the session.

Discussions focused on what the evidence shows about effective reading instruction, including the importance of foundational sub-skills such as oral language, decoding, fluency, and comprehension, and how these develop over time. Speakers highlighted that while strong evidence exists, many education systems remain misaligned in areas such as curriculum design, teacher support, and classroom practice.

Panelists also reflected on how evidence-based approaches can be adapted to different linguistic and institutional contexts, with particular attention to the role of language in early grade reading and the need for system-level alignment to support implementation.

The session underscored the importance of translating global evidence into practical, context-sensitive strategies that can be embedded within ongoing education reforms to improve reading outcomes at scale.