Strengthening the Education System in Senegal with the Global Proficiency Framework

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

The Institut National d’Etude et d’Action pour le Développement de l’Education (INEADE), the Senegalese assessment and evaluation institute within the Ministère de l’Education National (MEN), has been working with USAID and its implementing partners since 2020 to align Senegal’s curricula and assessments with the Global Proficiency Framework (GPF).
The GPF describes the global minimum proficiency levels expected of students in grades one to nine in reading and mathematics and can be used in two ways. First, the GPF serves as the common scale for policy linking. Once assessments are linked to the GPF using the policy linking method, assessment results from each country can be aggregated, compared with each other, and used for global reporting on the SDG 4.1.1 indicators and the USAID Foreign Assistance (“F”) Indicators. Second, the GPF serves as a basis for reform efforts that target curricula, teacher training, textbook and materials, and student assessment. The GPF is a useful global reference to understand what students should be able to achieve and detect gaps/misalignment within the system. As one of a few countries to have used the GPF to guide curriculum reform efforts and align assessment to global standards using policy linking, Senegal presents an interesting case study for understanding how countries are using the GPF to reform education systems.
The presentations in this panel will highlight USAID support to INEADE and the Government of Senegal in its efforts to reform curricula in the context of bilingual education and generate valid and reliable evidence of the system’s effectiveness. The first presentation will provide an overview of USAID’s work with INEADE to apply the GPF as the global reference for system-wide reforms. The second presentation will highlight lessons learned in using the GPF and policy linking to align national assessment to the GPF for global reporting. The final presentation, by the director of INEADE, will showcase the implications of the application of the GPF in Senegal on curriculum development and assessment systems for bilingual classrooms and areas for strengthening the capacity of the MEN identified as a result of the policy linking process.

Sub Unit

• Educational Improvement SIG

Chair

• Gaelle Simon, Management Systems International

Individual Presentations

• What have we learned with the Global Proficiency Framework and Policy Linking in Senegal? - Gaelle Simon, Management Systems International

• Strengthening Sector Capacity to Assess Student Learning in the Context of Bilingualism - Guitele Nicoleau, RTI International; Alioune Badara DIOP, Ministère de l'Education nationale