Category Archives: Education and Learning

Focus on our SDG 4 Data Digest Partners: RTI International

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By Luis Crouch, Chief Technical Officer, and Amber Gove, Director of Research, RTI International

The recent edition of the SDG 4 Data Digest illustrates the range of partners working alongside the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) to help countries produce and use assessment data to strengthen lifelong learning. This blog highlights the work of one of these vital partners: RTI International, which aims to improve the human condition by turning research knowledge into practice. RTI International’s contribution to the SDG 4 Data Digest provided expert analysis on reading and mathematics assessments for children in the early grades of school.

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Focus on our SDG 4 Data Digest Partners: The Global Partnership for Education

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By Élisé Wendlassida Miningou, Education Economist, and Ramya Vivekanandan, Senior Education Specialist, Global Partnership for Education (GPE)

Political leaders and policymakers the world over share one common challenge: relentless demands for resources. They have to make tough choices about resource allocation, particularly in countries that are most fragile and conflict-affected where the needs are vast and the available resources are constrained by numerous other priorities. It is hardly surprising that learning assessments may not be at the top of their ‘to do’ list.

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A Partnership for a Global Public Good: Data to Improve Learning

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By Silvia Montoya, Director of the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), Girindre Beeharry, Director of the Global Education Learning Strategy at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Emily Woolf, Senior Education Adviser, UK Department for International Development (DfID)

With 617 million children and adolescents worldwide unable to read a simple sentence or handle a basic math calculation, the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) has embarked on an initiative to link existing international, regional and national assessments to fill a critical data gap on learning during the early grades of education. Continue reading →

Measuring and Reporting on SDG 4 and Beyond: Lessons from the Innovations in Global Learning Metrics Symposium

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By Luis Crouch, Senior Economist of RTI International and Silvia Montoya, Director of the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS)

The recent symposium Innovations in Global Learning Metrics: A Focused Debate among Users, Producers and Researchers, hosted by Arizona State University’s Center for Advanced Studies in Global Education (CASGE), brought together a wide range of stakeholders to discuss how to more effectively use global learning metrics for education policymaking. Some of the most interesting discussions focused on the options to achieve globally-comparable reporting on Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) based on a paper prepared by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS).

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Focus on our SDG 4 Data Digest Partners: Early Childhood Education and the Offord Centre for Child Studies

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By Magdalena Janus, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences (McMaster University), Offord Centre for Child Studies

The recent edition of the SDG 4 Data Digest illustrates the range of partners working alongside the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) to help countries produce and use assessment data to strengthen lifelong learning. This blog highlights one of these vital partners: the Offord Centre for Child Studies, and specifically Professor Magdalena Janus, who brought years of expertise to the Digest’s analysis on early childhood development (ECD). Here, Magdalena shares her thoughts on the critical importance of measuring early learning.

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Focus on our SDG 4 Data Digest Partners: The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement

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By Dr Paulína Koršňáková, Senior Research and Liaison Advisor, IEA, and Dr Dirk Hastedt, Executive Director, IEA

The new edition of the SDG 4 Data Digest illustrates the range of partners working alongside the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) to help countries produce and use assessment data to strengthen lifelong learning. This blog highlights the work of one of these vital partners: The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), which runs TIMSS and PIRLS studies around the world to assess children’s achievements in reading and mathematics.   Continue reading →

Focus on our SDG4 Data Digest Partners: The OECD Launches PISA for Development

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By Michael Ward, Senior Policy Analyst in OECD’s Development Co-operation Directorate and the Education and Skills Directorate

The new edition of the SDG 4 Data Digest illustrates the range of partners working with the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) to help countries produce and use assessment data to strengthen lifelong learning. This blog highlights the work of one of these vital partners: the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which has just announced the first results from its PISA for Development (PISA-D) initiative. PISA-D builds on the OECD’s long-running Programme for International Student Assessment to assess learning in low- and middle-income countries. Continue reading →

Data to Nurture Learning that Lasts a Lifetime

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The UIS has launched the SDG 4 Data Digest, which explores the internationally-comparable data needed to ensure the lifelong learning envisaged by SDG 4.

By Silvia Montoya, Director of the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS)

We have been ringing alarm bells about the global learning crisis for some time, with 617 million children and adolescents worldwide unable to read a simple sentence or handle a basic mathematics calculation. This year’s SDG 4 Data Digest: Data to Nurture Learning from the UIS turns up the volume, making the case for data to monitor lifelong learning.

The Digest is the go-to source for information on how to gather data on learning outcomes and – above all – how to use the information to improve those outcomes, showcasing proven and promising approaches. This is where data have real power: showing us the challenges and kick-starting the changes needed to ensure lifelong learning. Continue reading →

Save the Date (and the Data!): Stay Tuned for the SDG 4 Data Digest 2018

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If you want to view the most complete data landscape on learning outcomes, the SDG 4 Data Digest 2018 is your go-to source. With launch events planned next week at the Global Education Meeting in Brussels (3-5 December 2018) and at the Global Partnership for Education Board Meeting in Dublin (6-7 December 2018), the Digest will report on the quest for data to track lifelong learning. Continue reading →

We Are Ready to Start Monitoring Early-grade Learning

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By Silvia Montoya, Director of the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS)
This blog was also published by the Global Education Monitoring Report

Young learners have moved up the data agenda for Sustainable Development Goal 4! The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) and its partners have been pushing to upgrade SDG 4 Indicator 4.1.1a on measuring learning outcomes in Grades 2 and 3, and earlier this week we heard that our efforts have been successful. Continue reading →