IIEP-UNESCO MOOC on Learning Assessments

February 2016

SCRIPT UNIT 3
What will you learn in Unit 3?

This is the final unit of the IIEP MOOC on Learning Assessments.

Upon successful completion of Unit 3, you should be able to:

Review some policy documents to identify what learning indicators are

included for the monitoring purpose.

Review the country's education structure and statistics on the student flows.

Identify the most suitable assessment for your country context.

Propose improvements for the existing assessment framework for your

country.

Targets on learning

We will take you back to the Incheon Declaration, which we discussed during Unit 1,
as one of the key documentations illustrating the importance of measuring the
learning outcomes. As you can see here, out of the 7 education targets, 5 of them
focus on learning outcomes of people of different educational cycles and ages.
Do you know which targets have been integrated in the education policy of your
country? Which targets are considered to be the priorities in your country? You may
stop the video to reflect on these questions.

Targets, indicators, and information sources

In order to achieve these learning-oriented targets by 2030, your country is required

to periodically measure learning outcomes of children, youth, and adults inside and
outside of the education system. For example, in order to achieve Target 4.1, one
indicator could be the percentage of girls and boys who have demonstrated relevant
and effective learning outcomes at primary and secondary levels. This would

obviously mean that the country has reliable and comparable assessments at both
primary and secondary levels.
Likewise, in order to achieve other targets, different types of assessments are
required. You may stop the video again in order to reflect on the type of assessments
that are required for each indicator identified in the table.
You may realize that national examinations or national large-scale assessments may
not be sufficient in order to monitor the progress using these indicators. Some
indicators require house-hold based assessments, while others may be already
collected through regional or international assessments.

Learning Assessment Capacity Index (LACI)

Going further, UIS has been monitoring the progress on Target 4.1 worldwide by
using so called Learning Assessment Capacity Index (LACI).
The index is composed of four criteria based on the following questions: i) Does the
country conduct national assessments at primary level? ii) How about at secondary
level? iii) Did the country conduct a national assessment between 2012 and 2014?
iv) Does the country participate in international assessments? with each rated as
either 0 or 1, leading to a scale ranging from 0 to 4.
UIS is currently in the process of modifying these criteria and the new version of the
rating scale is expected to come out very soon.

SABER Assessment Framework

The World Bank also evaluates the assessment frameworks of various countries,
including four different types of assessments, classroom tests, examinations,
national large-scale assessments, and international large-scale assessments,
systematically using three different criteria: (i) enabling context; (ii) system
alignment; and (iii) assessment quality.
The enabling context covers policy framework, leadership, pubic engagement,
organizational structure, and availability of funding and trained staff.
The system alignment covers alignment between assessment and learning goals,
curriculum, and teacher training opportunities.

The assessment quality covers the quality on design, administration, and data
analyses, as well as the effectiveness of the assessment data usage.
This means that countries are expected to have a balanced assessment framework
throughout various types of assessments.

Considerations for regional/international assessments

Therefore, it seems quite reasonable for the Ministries of Education to strive for
regular and reliable national assessments, and at the same time to consider
participating in international or regional assessments by evaluating certain aspects
in relation to their country context.
During Unit 2, we have reviewed various large-scale international and regional
assessments, in particular the differences between age-based and grade-based
target population, as well as school curriculum-based and general competencybased test frameworks.
For example, regarding the target population, in your country, which grade or age
level is considered to be the key stage to be assessed? In your country, what is the
proportion of the out-of-school students? How will you report on the Education
Targets for ALL? If the early grades are to be assessed, and if a national language
is not yet used for instruction, then what might be the implication on the data
collection? Should your country measure the basic core subjects only? Your country
may identify a particular non-cognitive domain important, such as life skills and global
citizenship. What does the test framework look like?
In addition to target population and test framework, another critical consideration is
the management of the assessment impact through effective use of data. In other
words, does the regional or international assessment frame the priority policy issues
identified by the senior decision makers of your country? Are the participating
countries encouraged to generate national reports in addition to the international
reports? Are they encouraged to discuss the results with wider stakeholders? What
could be the obstacles in producing the results timely?
Finally, if your country does not have the advanced technical capacity to implement
a regional or international assessment, what opportunities does the organizing
agency provide in terms of capacity building? Does the capacity building lead to the

countries ownership of the assessment study, including the data, instruments, and
the methodologies?
After these reflections, Ministries may wish to join the most appropriate assessment
for the country context. However, we shall remind ourselves that the assessment is
only one element within the entire cycle of policy formulation.

Where to go from here

This is the end of the information presentation for Unit 3. You can now carry out
the other tasks.
First, you may wish to read the selected documents and information resources, as
usual.
Then you could complete the activities. Activity 5 is a discussion forum on reviewing
priorities, indicators, and statistics, and Activity 6 is an exercise on Choosing the
assessments for your country. In Unit 3, we have also an optional Activity 7, which
is a survey on the impact of assessments.
Then when you are ready for the summative assessment, take the Quiz.
The collaborative glossary is always available for you to add more concepts from
Unit 3.
During Unit 3, you will also hear from more world experts about major international
assessments.
Thank you very much for MOOKING with us.