Category Archives: Testing

Cancel exams? What is an appropriate response to the COVID-19 disruption?

🔊 Listen to this blog ‘Dear Government, please remember before deciding between offline and online exams that we’ll be able to vote next year ;)’, tweeted several students in India last week. In recent days, ‘cancelboardexams2021’ has been trending on … Continue reading

Posted in Literacy, Testing | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Could coronavirus shape the way assessments work forever?

Exams cancelled? This is the next wave of impact on education systems caused by the Coronavirus. The UK has cancelled its GCSE and A-Level exams. The CBSE board in India has cancelled exams for classes 10 and 12, national open … Continue reading

Posted in accountability, emergencies, Testing, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 12 Comments

More testing?

By Manos Antoninis and William C. Smith This blog looks at the contrasting findings in the 2017/8 GEM Report on Accountability and a recent study by Berbauer, Hanushek, and Woessmann over whether more testing is good for education or not. … Continue reading

Posted in accountability, teaching, Testing, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Literacy skills gaps: how do they change over time by wealth and by gender?

While there is a focus internationally on measuring literacy and numeracy skills at age 15, as captured in the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), at least two aspects are neglected in debates on learning achievement. First, literacy and … Continue reading

Posted in Gender, Literacy, Skills, Testing, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

New GEM Report says ‘Don’t just blame the teacher when the system is at fault’

The 2017/8 Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report was released today at global events in Maputo, Mozambique, Brasilia, Brazil and in London, UK. It stresses that accountability is indispensable in achieving SDG 4. The Report highlights the responsibility of governments to … Continue reading

Posted in accountability, Arab States, Asia, Basic education, Conflict, Developed countries, Developing countries, Equality, Inclusion, monitoring, privatisation, sdg, sdgs, Sustainable development, Teachers, Testing, Training, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

National learning assessments: there’s more to gain than valuable data

By Carmela Maria Salzano, International Development Consultant While the drive to benchmark global progress in improving education outcomes, and to increase the evidence-base for education policy making, has imbued the dialogue around monitoring SDG 4.1 with a strongly technical hue, … Continue reading

Posted in Learning, Testing, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Missing from school: the education challenge in sub-Saharan Africa

Silvia Montoya, Director of the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, and Aaron Benavot, Director of the Global Education Monitoring Report With the Eurozone in turmoil and sluggish economic growth in the US and elsewhere, investors may well see sub-Saharan Africa – … Continue reading

Posted in Africa, Basic education, Developing countries, Gender, Learning, Millennium Development Goals, Out-of-school children, Primary school, Secondary school, Skills, Testing, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Should school principals be held accountable for the quality of education? An Ethiopian perspective.

The 2017 GEM Report will explore the successes and challenges to effective accountability in Education. While the online consultation is now officially closed, we welcome comments until the yearlong research period of the Report is over. This includes the following … Continue reading

Posted in accountability, Africa, Basic education, Developed countries, Developing countries, Governance, Learning, monitoring, pedagogy, Quality of education, sdgs, Sustainable development, Teachers, teaching, Testing | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Monitoring progress in education among individuals with disabilities

By Daniel Mont, an Honorary Senior Research Associate at the Leonard Cheshire Disability and Inclusive Development Centre at University College London.  During his ten years at the World Bank he co-chaired the analytical working group of the UN Washington Group … Continue reading

Posted in Environment, Equality, Equity, Health, Learning, Marginalization, Testing | Tagged , | 8 Comments

Problem solving skills with global relevance

By Jenny Bradshaw and Francesco Avvisati, OECD The international community is intensively working on a set of goals and targets to be reached by 2030. Among them, the Education for All Steering Committee on Education Post-2015 has identified “knowledge and skills … Continue reading

Posted in Basic education, Economic growth, Employment, Post-2015 development framework, Quality of education, Skills, Testing, Training, Uncategorized, Youth | Tagged | 4 Comments