Assessing Foundational Skill Proficiency Linked to International Standards

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

With the unanimous adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by all 193 member states, states agreed to report to SDG 4.1.1: Proportion of children and young people: (a) in grades 2/3; (b) at the end of primary; and (c) at the end of lower secondary achieving at least a minimum proficiency level in (i) reading and (ii) mathematics, by sex. However, since its adoption in 2015, there have been debates about how to measure learning in a way that is comparable across countries. A lot of international actors have advocated for using one international assessment or for statistically linking regional assessments and then pushing for countries to adopt one of the international or regional assessments to measure results across all countries. However, international and regional assessments can be costly and are not always aligned with country content and performance standards. As such, through the power of protest to this approach, local and international actors have devised a set of additional approaches, assessments, and items banks that countries can use to both report learning outcomes to global indicators but also check progress within the country against achieving country content and performance standards.

This was all made possible through the development of a set of global performance standards, called the Minimum Proficiency Levels (MPLs) and the Global Proficiency Framework (GPF) (which are linked to one another) in 2018. The MPLs are linked directly to SDG 4.1.1a, b, and c - with each MPL elaborating what is expected for each sub-indicator. The GPF expands on the MPLs with a more detailed set of internationally recognized standards for reading and math in grades 1-9. The GPF contains details on the knowledge and skills that learners should know by the end of each grade and a set of Global Proficiency Descriptors (GPDs) that indicate how much of that knowledge students should be able to demonstrate to be considered minimally proficient at a given grade level. In this panel, we will present new tools created by using the MPLs and the GPF. Panelists will describe the benefits of those tools and share the double bottom line of 1) how countries and their partners might leverage the tools to help inform learning within their own systems about what students know and can do and what gaps need to be addressed and 2) how countries can use the tools to report to SDG 4.1.1 and other global indicators (such as USAID’s Foreign Assistance Indicators).

The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) has designed tools and methods for measuring foundational skill proficiency by 1) defining Minimum Proficiency Levels (MPLs) at three levels of schooling aligned to SDG 4.1.1 (grades 2, 5, and 8) and developing Learning Progression Scales in Reading and Math; 2) applying MPLs to large-scale assessments through the Assessment for Minimum Proficiency Levels (AMPL), which uses quality-assured assessment items that can be equated to MPL thresholds; and 3) applying the Pairwise Comparison Methodology, which allows MPL thresholds to be mapped to national or other large-scale assessments. ACER will show how these integrated activities are being applied to help countries and regions in measuring students’ proficiency in reading and math against SDG 4.1.1.

UNICEF is creating an assessment to measure reading and math skills in primary grades, aiming to produce valid data for reporting on SDG indicators 4.1.1a and 4.1.1b. The test should align with the Global Proficiency Framework (GPF) standards and the agreed SDG MPLs. The new Foundational Learning Module (FLM 2.0) builds on the MICS Foundational Learning Skills module launched in 2016, designed for Grade 2, and adds an end of primary assessment with new items appropriate for that level of education. The newly developed items mirrored the AMPL-b framework and were shared with the Learning Data Compact partners for review in 2022/2023. These items underwent qualitative testing in Zambia in May 2023 and are set for further quantitative testing in Nepal later in 2023.

In the Latin America region, the Leadership for Change in Education program, funded by USAID and implemented by Teach For All (TFALL), has developed a Student Learning Assessment Item Bank to measure students’ proficiency in math, reading, and social-emotional skills - the former two aligned to the GPF and the latter to international recognized standards. TFALL will present the results on student growth as measured by the item bank and the implications of these results, as well as the data-informed actions partners and teachers are taking to adapt their instruction and practices.

Enseña por Paraguay (ExP) administered the TFALL Student Assessment Item Bank to 898 students in grades 4-6 in Paraguay during the 2022-2023 school years to gather data on student learning proficiency in math, reading, and social emotional skills. ExP will summarize results from the item bank implementation and will explain how the organization has developed a used the data to identify classroom practices that are working, use findings to adapt instruction and classroom practices to meet the needs of struggling learners, and advocate for change.

The panel will reflect on similarities and differences in these interventions, lessons learned, remaining gaps in this work, and next steps. There will be an opportunity for Q&A at the end, and those who attend will learn about how they can access these public goods and the findings for their own purposes. The panel hopes to inspire participants to advocate for more public good assessments that are contextually relevant to assess foundational skills proficiency and promote country education system improvements.

Sub Unit

• Large-Scale Cross-National Studies in Education SIG

Organizer

• Nathaniel Haight, USAID

Chair

• Melissa M Chiappetta, USAID

Individual Presentations

• An integrated approach to assessing for Minimum Proficiency Levels - Colin Watson, Australian Council for Educational Research UK; Maurice Walker

• UNICEF Foundational learning module and its alignment with the GPF and MPL - Leanne Ketterlin Geller, Southern Methodist University; Sakshi Mishra, UNICEF

• Developing cross-country program-level assessments in Latin America aligned to curricular and global proficiency frameworks - Alvin Vista, Teach For All

• Using curriculum- and GPF-aligned assessments to drive effective classroom practices in Latin America: Examples from Paraguay - Alessandra Arza, Enseña por Paraguay; Claudia Gonzalez Sarubbi, Enseña por Paraguay