How do Countries Finance Learning Assessments?

The UIS has launched two new surveys to gather information on the financing of large-scale learning assessments in countries and potential sources of technical and financial support from donors and other institutions.

As part of a joint endeavor with the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), the surveys will help to track which countries have data to monitor SDG Target 4.1 and which countries need extra support to produce the data. Furthermore, the results will shed light on which institutions have the capacity and resources to provide support to countries. This will facilitate dialogue among institutions and countries, leading to more countries participating in cross-national assessments, and eventually, more data to report on SDG 4, Target 4.1.

The first questionnaire, the UIS Survey on Participation in Cross-National Assessments, collects information on countries' plans to participate in the next round of cross-national assessments, many of which will take place between 2017 and 2021. The second questionnaire, the UIS Survey of Institutions Supporting Country Participation in Cross-National Assessments collects information on institutions (e.g. donors) that may provide (technical or financial) assistance for countries to participate in the next round of cross-national assessments.

The new surveys were developed following a recent meeting, organized by the Global Alliance to Monitor Learning (GAML), which brought together the directors of regional and international learning assessments.