Implementing LaNA in Challenging Contexts: The Case of Palestine

• In Event: Expanding the Map with IEA’s Literacy and Numeracy Assessment (LaNA): Learning Outcomes and Equity Insights for System-wide Improvements

Proposal

In 2023, the Palestinian National Authority participated in LaNA as part of a broader reform agenda to strengthen its educational evaluation system. Led by the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MoEHE) through the the Centre for Educational Research and Development (CERD), Palestine’s participation in LaNA aimed to generate robust indicators on early primary education, complementing existing data from other large-scale assessments such as PISA, TIMSS, and EGRA. Importantly, LaNA provided the first internationally comparable data on emerging literacy and numeracy for Palestinian students in the lower primary grades.
Implementation occurred under exceptional challenges. Political instability, occupation-related disruptions, school closures, and restrictions on movement for students and teachers all placed significant strain on the assessment process. During the drawing of the original sampling frame, schools in both the West Bank and Gaza were selected for participation; for the Main Data Collection phase, no schools in Gaza were accessible for administration of the LaNA 2023 Linking Study because of the Gaza war. Nonetheless, the national team successfully adhered to IEA’s technical and procedural protocols, owing to strong coordination between national and international teams and a high level of professional commitment from Palestinian educators and officials.
Participation in LaNA yielded multiple capacity-building benefits. The national team was engaged throughout the full assessment cycle, including sampling, instrument creation, test administration, scoring, data processing, and reporting. This end-to-end involvement created a foundation for sustained improvements in domestic assessment practices. Furthermore, technical meetings and exchanges with other participating countries enriched the team’s expertise and facilitated knowledge sharing.
The dissemination of LaNA results in Palestine was designed with the principle of “to improve, not to prove.” Recognizing that data are most valuable when used to enhance teaching and learning, the MoEHE prioritized outreach to key stakeholders (early grade teachers, supervisors, curriculum developers, and teacher trainers) through tailored communication strategies. These included bilingual summary brochures, consultative meetings with policy leaders, technical meetings with subject experts (including educators), short videos highlighting key findings, school-level reports comparing local outcomes to national and international benchmarks, and targeted discussions with curriculum developers.
Findings from the Palestine National Authority’s participation in LaNA underscored persistent equity challenges, particularly in reading. Policy recommendations emerging from the study emphasized the importance of early intervention, improved teacher training in reading comprehension strategies, and the development of assessment items and instructional materials aligned with LaNA. The MoEHE also committed to ongoing participation in LaNA to generate trend data that can track the impact of reforms over time.
Palestine’s experience demonstrates both the feasibility and the value of implementing international large-scale assessments in contexts of systemic adversity. By leveraging LaNA’s rigorous methodology and linking results to actionable policy priorities, the Palestinian education system has taken important steps toward ensuring that every child, regardless of circumstance, has the right to quality foundational learning.

Authors

• Mohammed Matar, Communications

• Clara W Beyer, International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA)