The Quality Learning Project, funded by USAID, improved learning outcomes for more than 2 million students in the Central Asian Republics of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.

The program applied modern methodologies in teacher training, used formative assessment techniques to improve student learning, actively engaged 18,722 teachers in curriculum reform, and developed transparent and efficient school financing and management systems.

Instead of the traditional rote learning and memorization, the Quality Learning Project encouraged student-centered learning approaches that developed critical thinking skills. It developed 67 modules of in-service and pre-service training that instructed teachers in student-centered and practical classroom management methods. The training also included student assessment and education financing, and pedagogical leadership and mentoring for school administrators.

In addition, the project supported education sector roadmaps and strengthened government capacity to deliver basic education services by addressing management, sustainability and oversight inadequacies.

The project built both the capacity of local institutions and the political will needed to implement programs by engaging ministries, academies of education and teacher training experts in every project activity. It also strengthened the capacity of local partners to support and help sustain interventions at the community and school levels, and worked with local government partners to identify policies that support continued implementation of project interventions as part of its sustainability plan.

The Quality Learning Project scaled up earlier pilots of innovative training approaches and materials and, working with state re-training institutions, brought modern teaching approaches to more than 5,800 schools in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.