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Poster #218 - Early Grade Learning Outcomes in Mongolia: Assessing the Influence of Socioeconomic and School-Level Factors

Sat, March 23, 12:45 to 2:00pm, Baltimore Convention Center, Floor: Level 1, Exhibit Hall B

Integrative Statement

With public spending on education sustained at between 15 and 20 percent of government expenditure in recent years, Mongolia is a relatively high spender on education. The country’s recent economic downturn and subsequent fiscal austerity measures have directed attention towards improving equity and efficiency of its investments. However, the absence of reliable, high-quality standardized achievement data has hindered efforts to benchmark the education system’s performance and assess its effectiveness in supporting learning among socioeconomically disadvantaged and vulnerable children. To address this gap in knowledge, our study employs a multivariate regression framework to examine data from Mongolia’s first-ever national early grade reading and math assessments conducted in 2017, and assesses the influence of a broad range of demand- and supply-side factors on the foundations of learning in the country. The unique dataset links standardized assessment scores with data on household socioeconomic status, school and teacher characteristics, and observations of teaching practices in Mongolian language and math lessons. Foundational literacy skills in the Mongolian language were tested using the Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) instrument, while the Early Grade Mathematics Assessment (EGMA) was used to assess early mathematical knowledge and skills predictive of later achievement. The study reveals large socioeconomic gaps in foundational reading and math skills. By end of grade 2, children from Mongolia’s largely Kazakh ethnic minority households scored between 0.27 to 0.92 standard deviations lower than others, depending on the specific skill tested. Children from households practicing traditional nomadic herding also lagged behind, but with smaller gaps. While math skills did not exhibit significant gender gaps, girls outperformed boys in reading, with scores higher by a fifth of a standard deviation. Students’ home environment – household wealth, maternal education and caregiver engagement – was far more influential for scores than any of the school characteristics or teaching practices observed. Notably, exposure to preschool was the only supply-side factor associated with higher scores. The findings of this study add to a growing body of evidence on the relationship between early learning and household- and school-level factors in low- and middle-income countries. First, while the use of EGRA is widespread and continues to rise across the globe, population-level assessments of early mathematical knowledge and skills remain rare. Our study extends use of the EGMA to a unique middle-income country setting characterized by one of the lowest population densities in the world and where a significant share of the population practices traditional nomadic herding. Second, to our knowledge, this study is the first to examine the association between performance on EGRA and EGMA and a comprehensive range of household-, student- and school-level characteristics, including teaching practices. Overall, the study unveils striking gaps in foundations of learning in a middle-income country, reaffirms the relevance and usefulness of EGRA and EGMA in informing both classroom practice and system-level policy, and outlines policy options for targeting investments to strengthen learning outcomes among Mongolia’s early graders.

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