The Coalition for Foundational Learning’s Approach to Measurement

• In Event: Advancing Education Measurement for SDG 4.1.1(a): Improving Assessment Tools, Methods, and Reporting

Proposal

Many LICs/LMICs do not have data that is comparable over time and across countries. 24 countries in sub-Saharan Africa did not report data in the 2022 learning poverty report. Despite the growth of national and international assessments, collecting comparable learning data over time and between countries is no simple feat. This is because most assessments:

1. Don’t measure the specific sub-skills that lead to reading with meaning and often prioritize the measurement of content knowledge. The measurement of sub-skills is important to allow education actors to identify and target the specific gaps among learners who are unable to read with comprehension.

2. Are not comparable over time: Many assessments are not designed to be psychometrically comparable over time. When subject and grade assessed change, it also prevents comparability.

3. Are not comparable between countries: Different countries assessments test different skills at different grades. It’s difficult to learn or benchmark across countries because difficulty levels are not the same.

Measuring outcomes comparably over time and across countries is key to see progress. We can see this from other sectors, e.g., in health, where significant data collection and standardization efforts to better quantify the causes of under 5 mortality and the pathogens involved were essential to better targeting and design of government and donor interventions. Similarly focusing the measurement of learning on the key sub-skills on the pathway to reading with comprehension comparably over time is key to ensure targeted interventions where students fall behind. It will also enable to know and learn from the countries that have improved.

Significant political and technical efforts have gone into improving the comparability of learning data. On the technical side, progress include: the creation of a common proficiency framework and the mapping of different assessments including regional assessments like PASEC towards it. On the political side, several partnerships have attempted to call attention to it over the years starting with a partnership on data to improve learning in 2018, the Learning Data Compact in 2021. More recently the Coalition for Foundational Learning committed to accelerate data coverage and aligned on a common menu of options to propose to countries to report.

In this presentation, we will provide a review of technical efforts to date under the Coalition for Foundational Learning with leadership of UIS and share upcoming plans.

Author

• Clio Dintilhac, BMGF