Overview of the Systems Approach for Better Education Results–Student Assessment and Russia Education Aid for Development Programs

• In Event: Strengthening Student Assessment Systems to Support Learning in Developing Countries

Abstract

The World Bank’s Russia Education Aid for Development Trust Fund (READ) program is a six-year (2009-2014), US$32 million program to help developing countries strengthen their capacity to assess student learning and to use the information from assessments to improve teaching and learning (World Bank, 2014). Eight focal countries received support under READ: Angola, Armenia, Ethiopia, Kyrgyz Republic, Mozambique, Tajikistan, Vietnam, and Zambia.

SABER-Student Assessment is a World Bank program to analyze and benchmark student assessment policies and systems at the K-12 level, with the goal of promoting stronger assessment systems that contribute to improved education quality and learning for all (http://saber.worldbank.org/index.cfm?indx=8&tb=5).

This presentation describes the background, purpose, and design of both programs and situates them within the larger global development context and priorities.

The presentation then focuses in on the conceptual framework for SABER–Student Assessment. It describes how this framework brings together the available streams of evidence on effective assessment systems (principles and guidelines from countries’ experiences, professional testing standards, and the current research base), creating a unified structure for understanding what an effective student assessment system looks like and how countries can begin to build such systems (Clarke, 2012).

The framework delineates three main types of assessment activities in an assessment system: (a) classroom assessment for providing real-time information to support teaching and learning in individual classrooms; (b) national and international large-scale ‘survey’ assessments for monitoring overall system performance and accountability; and (c) formal examinations for individual student certification and selection.

The framework also identifies three “quality drivers” that need to be addressed in order to strengthen the value and utility of the information produced by these various assessment activities: (a) the enabling context refers to the overall framework of policies, organizational structures, and human and fiscal resources in which the assessment takes place; (b) system alignment refers to the degree to which the assessment is coherent with other components of the education system (e.g., curriculum, learning standards); and (c) assessment quality refers to the degree to which the assessment meets technical standards, is fair, and is used in an effective way.

This conceptual framework was used as the basis for developing a diagnostic toolkit for benchmarking any country’s assessment system. The toolkit includes questionnaires for gathering information about the assessment system, and rubrics to judge the development level of the assessment system based on the data collected. The benchmarking results are summarized in a detailed country report, which includes policy options for further developing the assessment system. All of the information produced is publicly available online, with the aim that countries will learn from each other (http://saber.worldbank.org/index.cfm?indx=8&tb=5).

This presentation will conclude with a discussion of the relevance of these tools for diagnosis, planning, and results monitoring at the country level in the eight READ countries.

Author

• Marguerite M. Clarke, The World Bank Group