Measurement to help achieve, not just track, the learning SDG

• In Event: Learning for/in a risky planet: Consequences for children in highly unfavorable educational contexts

Proposal

This paper has four main points of departure. First, the SDGs place a great deal of emphasis on equity, learning, and equity-of-learning. Second, scholars such as Dan Wagner have called for measurement approaches that are more suitable for the “bottom of the pyramid” (BOP) even before this term had gained popularity. Thirdly, evidence has accumulated that the countries that seem to make the most progress on average, do so not by building up the capacities of the already-most-capable in their societies, but by building up the capabilities of the more vulnerable. And, fourth, there is increasing evidence that much of the vulnerability and inequality in the most vulnerable countries are due great randomness in learning levels, such as that which is associated with wealth-and-poverty or urban-rural location, or being in an ethno-linguistic minority; even so, a surprising amount appears to be simply random: the luck of being in a good school or having a good teacher.

This paper analyzes learning results data from a variety of assessment types, in order to throw further light on how to measure and assess the factors mentioned in the above “points of departure.” An attempt will be made to analyze, with particular attention, to BOP-like assessments, such as the so-called Citizen-Led assessments, to see whether they are turning out to be suitable for both measuring these inequality issues, but also for under-pinning reductions in inequality.

We also analyze data from two continents at least (Africa and Asia) the most vulnerable children are located, and will report on some of the measurement innovations along the lines mentioned above. In particular, the paper tests the hypothesis that improvement efforts based on such BOP measurements mimic, at the micro level, the patterns stated in the “points of departure” above at the macro level: namely, increases in average performance seem to come mostly from improvements in the performance of the most vulnerable, as measured precisely with those sorts of assessments.

These findings challenge the more commonplace notion that investing in the middle of the pyramid is the most efficient way to raise learning averages for all.

Author

• Luis Crouch, RTI International