Developing a (flexible) global indicator for pre-primary readiness

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

Improving educational outcomes is a key strategy to promote economic and social development worldwide. High quality experiences in the early childhood period when children have not yet begun formal schooling have been shown to have long-lasting effects on later learning and school success as well as personal and societal well-being: fewer teenage pregnancies, increased high school graduation rates, more likely to hold a job and have higher earnings, committing fewer crimes, and more likely to own their own home and car at age 40 compared with individuals who had not attended preschool (Schweinhart, Montie, Xiang, Barnett, Belfield, & Nores, 2005). As a result, investments in early childhood care and education are considered among the most cost effective and efficient in promoting social and economic development, and USAID’s pre-primary education policy reflects that efficiency (USAID, 2018).

Conversely, the costs of inadequate learning opportunities in early childhood are high. Evidence from neuroscience shows an incredible amount of brain development occurs in the first years of life (Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000). Further, children who start school behind tend to stay behind (Gillispie, 2009; Stanovich, 1986; von Hippel & Hamrock, 2016), and are at greater risk of repetition or dropping out of school before completing the compulsory cycle (American Educational Research Association, 2005; Campbell, et al., as cited in Barnett, 2006), both of which are costly inefficiencies in any education system (OECD, 2011).

To ensure high quality pre-primary programming, it is vital to clearly define the goals and benchmarks for success. However, developing goals and benchmarks devoid of cultural assumptions about “natural” developmental processes, assumptions about the competencies necessary to be “ready to learn” at primary school entry, and assumptions about the essential components of a high quality pre-primary program are all key challenges to global measurement work. At the same time, however, not measuring pre-primary readiness may result in pre-primary programs not being implemented or prioritized by USAID and its partners.

This presentation will describe the benefits and tradeoffs of developing a global school readiness indicator for USAID, including efforts to make a sure that the indicator is responsive to the needs of the local community (where education is being “done”), while still allowing for cross-country comparisons (although this is only a minor goal of the indicator). In addition, a crucial objective of the indicator is to provide disaggregated data for key marginalized and hard-to-reach groups that have historically been excluded from educational opportunities and/or data reporting, including girls, children with differences, children from “conflict- affected” and “crisis-affected” areas, and other minoritized groups. The presentation will describe the process of developing a specific, measurable indicator while still leaving ample flexibility to adapt to local needs and priorities. The process comprised desk review, key informant interviews, and consultation with stakeholders, and the presentation will share central learnings from each data source.

Sub Unit

• Early Childhood Development SIG

Chair

• Rebeca Martinez, USAID

Individual Presentations

• Developing a (flexible) global indicator for pre-primary readiness - Nell O'Donnell Weber, Consultant/MSI, Inc.

• Developing a flexible global indicator for pre-primary readiness - Kristen L Bub, University of Georgia

• Developing a global indicator for pre-primary readiness - Amy Mulcahy-Dunn, EnCompass LLC