First meeting of the Global Alliance to Monitor Learning
Learning assessment experts, decisionmakers, donors and civil society organizations gathered in Washington, D.C., on 11 May to address the critical lack of comparable data needed to measure even the most basic reading and numeracy skills across countries.
The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) launched the Global Alliance to Monitor Learning (GAML) to support efforts by countries around the world to measure learning outcomes and to use that information to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4, to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and to promote lifelong learning for all by 2030.
The global availability of learning assessment data has significantly improved in terms of geographic coverage as well as the different levels of education and subjects assessed. However, large disparities remain, with many countries still unable to sustain long-term programmes of high-quality learning assessments. In addition, the data that are currently available cannot be compared internationally because they use different methodological approaches and frameworks.
To resolve these issues, the Alliance brings together a broad range of stakeholders, including experts and decision-makers involved in national and cross-national learning assessment initiatives, as well as donors and civil society organizations advocating for education. Through a highly collaborative approach, the GAML will develop standards and provide the support needed by countries to produce a new generation of internationally-comparable measures of learning.
Five of the ten targets of SDG 4 focus on learning outcomes of children, youth and adults. The first GAML meeting focused specifically on building consensus on a pragmatic approach to generate comparable measures for Targets 4.1, 4.2 and 4.6 by building on existing efforts and knowledge.
Learning Assessment Capacity Index
To help pave the way, the UIS has developed the Learning Assessment Capacity Index (LACI), which provides a snapshot of countries’ readiness to produce the data needed to improve learning and monitor progress towards these targets. The index shows the extent to which countries have undertaken large-scale learning assessments in primary and secondary education from 2010 to 2015. It includes international, regional and national assessments conducted in schools.
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LACI methodology(available in French)
Additional resources:
Documents:
Presentations:
Session 1: The SDG 4 Learning Agenda: setting the landscape – Ms. Silvia Montoya
Session 2: The SDG 4 Learning Agenda: Challenges and Opportunities – Ms. Silvia Montoya
PASEC – Mr. Jacques Malpel
PASEC Education system performance in CONFEMEN countries: Competencies and learning factors in primary education
LLECE – Mr. Atilio Pizarro
Latin American Laboratory for the assessment of quality of education: LLECE and E2030
EQAP – represented by Mr. Ross Turner of ACER (no PPT)
Pacific Island Literacy Numeracy Assessment
UNICEF – Mr. Manuel Cardoso
The Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS): from MDGs to SDGs
USAID – Ms. Christine Beggs
Overview of EGRA (Early Grade Reading Assessment) and EGMA (Early Grade Mathematics Assessment)
IEA – Mr. Dirk Hastedt
IEA’s LaNA (Literacy and Numeracy Assessment) for developing countries
OECD – Mr. Eric Charbonnier
OECD and SDG 4 - Education
Pearson – Mr. Joshua Fleming
The efficiacy growth and impact goal
Save the Children - Ms. Amy Jo Dowd (no PPT)
The Early Childhood Development indicator
Measuring early learning quality and outcomes – Ms. Abbie Raikes
Measurement of target 4.2: 4.2.1 “Developmentally on track”
UNESCO Institute for Learning (UIL) – Mr. Arne Carlsen (no PPT)
UIL-UIS-OECD’s SLA (Short Literacy Assessment)
Centre for Global Development – Ms. Barbara Bruns (Presentation slides forthcoming)
Learning outcomes data for better policy: Recommendations for the international commission on financing global education outcomes
GPE Assessment for Learning (A4L) – Mr. Jean-Marc Bernard
Country support for learning assessment: A4L approach
Session 3: GAML governance structure – Ms. Silvia Montoya
30/5/2016