Administration of a nationally-representative learning assessment (a) in Grade 2 or 3; (b) at the end of primary education; and (c) at the end of lower secondary education

Definition

SDG Indicator 4.1.6: This indicator evaluates whether a national or cross-national assessment of learning outcomes was conducted in the last 5 years in (a) reading, writing or language and (b) mathematics at the relevant stages of education.

Data source

Data on the administration of a large-scale assessment from a national representative sample from national learning assessment offices, ministries of education or other bodies responsible for learning assessments, including regional or international organizations running learning assessments (e.g. Conférence des ministres de l'Éducation des États et gouvernements de la Francophonie (CONFEMEN), Educational Quality and Assessment Programme (EQAP), International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Education Quality (SACMEQ) and Third Regional Comparative and Explanatory Study (TERCE).

Source definition

UNESCO Institute for Statistics
http://tcg.uis.unesco.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2020/09/Metadata-4....

Calculation method

The indicator is expressed as a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ for each subject area and each stage of education.

Data required

Information on the implementation of learning assessments in each subject and at each stage of education in each country and ISCED mapping by country.

Interpretation

The implementation of a learning assessment in the reference period serves as an educational vital tool to assess progress.

'Yes’ values indicate that the country is monitoring learning outcomes regularly at the given stage of education and in the given subject areas. This will enable the country to review and adapt as necessary its national policies on education and learning to ensure that all children and young people have the opportunity to acquire basic skills at each education level and in each subject area.

Limitations

The indicator only measures if a learning assessment has been implemented in a country regardless of the quality and the feasibility of using its results for reporting on the global indicator 4.1.1.

Purpose

The indicator aims to measure if countries are evaluating the acquisition of knowledge at each educational level in order to diagnose the progress and weaknesses.

Quality standards

The UIS maintains a global database of learning assessment in basic education that includes an inventory of learning assessments, which maps both national and cross-national learning assessments at the country level. The UIS technical focal points check for consistency and completeness.

Types of disaggregation

By level of education and subject.