In its capacity-building efforts, the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) has published an easy-to-use guide to help countries administer learning assessments. Data on learning allow governments to better target policies and practices to raise outcomes of students. The data are also needed to monitor progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) at the national, regional and global levels.

Quick Guide No. 3: Implementing a National Learning Assessment provides step-by-step instructions on running a learning assessment at the country level, providing guidance on what to measure, who to measure and how. The guide is an easy reference which describes the different stages from data collection and analysis to the dissemination of results.

This tool is one of six guides being produced by the Secretariat of the Global Alliance to Monitor Learning (GAML) in an effort to increase the number of countries reporting on SDG 4 indicators. To this end, the series addresses financial implications, reporting strategies and integrating other education data sources.

The UIS regularly produces guidelines and technical manuals to help countries to develop or strengthen standardised data collection processes, the results of which can be compared globally. The range of additional resources and tools can be used to produce sound data to benchmark progress.