Unequal Outcomes: The Role of School Effectiveness in Shaping Learning Trajectories

• In Event: Mind the Gaps: From Access to Equity in Ethiopia, India and Vietnam

Proposal

The Sustainable Development Goal for education calls for ‘all girls and boys [to] complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes’ (United Nations 2015). In almost every context, there is a small elite of pupils performing at close to OECD levels but the challenge for system effectiveness and equity is to understand how meaningful learning can be extended to a majority of children (The Education Commission 2016). There is a notable gap in understanding of the routes to quality improvement, an issue further complicated by a lack of suitable data. Efforts to close this gap, will require appropriate conceptualisation and measurement of student performance (Grønmo et al. 2015).

The longitudinal nature of the Young Lives study, which has followed 12,000 children in Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam over 15 years, provides a unique opportunity to explore children’s learning progress at primary and secondary levels. Associated school effectiveness research supplements the core study (James 2014). Drawing on data from Young Lives’ school effectiveness research in 2016/17, this paper presents the conceptualisation and development of curriculum-linked assessments in mathematics in eight different languages, in diverse contexts in Ethiopia, India and Vietnam. The unique structure of the data provides opportunities to consider the shape of children’s educational trajectories, the points at which inequalities arise, widen or narrow alongside their causes. The cross-country comparability of the data also allows for policy implications to be considered, including what countries can learn from each other.

The paper explores the steps taken to develop linked learning assessments for approximately 30,000 students in upper-primary (Ethiopia) and secondary (India and Vietnam) grades. It discusses how such measures may be used to make valid inferences about students’ mathematics knowledge and skills across three developing countries and over time. We estimate student performance in a value-added framework to permit school effectiveness analysis. In turn, we identify inequalities in learning competencies and skills and in effectiveness of education systems, providing key evidence for policy targeting.

References
Grønmo, L. S., M. Lindquist, A. Arora & I. V. S Mullis (2015) TIMSS 2015 Mathematics Framework. Boston, MA: TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Centre.
The Education Commission (2016) The Learning Generation, Investing in Education for a Changing World, New York, USA: The International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity.
James, Z. (2014) Young Lives school survey: the design of achievement tests in the Ethiopia school survey, Round 2 (2012-13). Oxford: Young Lives.
United Nations (2015). The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. New York, USA: United Nations General Assembly.

Authors

• Jack Rossiter, Young Lives / University of Oxford

• Padmini Iyer, Young Lives / University of Oxford