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The conundrum of learning norms: Towards a Learning Equity Gini Index

Wed, March 28, 5:00 to 6:30pm, Hilton Reforma, Floor: 2nd Floor, Don Diego 2

Proposal

The rise of learning norms—global, national and local—has given rise to major debates as to what should be learned, by whom, and in what contexts. A conundrum faces those who wish to improve learning and the quality of education as part of the UN SDGs and more local initiatives. International assessments have begun to include more countries, while at the same time national assessments have become appealing to increasing numbers of ministries of education. What impact will such norms have on learners in local contexts. The social sciences have seen this as a long-standing conundrum—of the etic and emic of measurement. This paper presents support for a new Learning Equity Gini Index (LEGI) that will assist international educational development researchers and practitioners in three key ways. First, a LEGI would enable a better understanding of learning gaps over time between various segments of a country’s population. Second, such an Index would provide a way to compare Indices across different metrics of learning, since only learners within a specified population would be measured on the same scale. Third, the LEGI would build on previous income and education indices in a coherent way. For example, policymakers and economists regularly make use of the Income Gini Index as an easy-to-comprehend metric for understanding economic equity within a national population. A learning-based index, such as the LEGI, can provide the same clarity and simplicity that are needed to make thoughtful policy decisions regarding resource allocation in support of learning equity.

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