SDG #4 and Learning Assessment: measurement for quality improvement, not for headlines

(Proposed alternatively as a paper.  Either works.)Essential to SDG4, the education goal, is assessment of learning attainment, or quality. As nations and international actors focus on measuring learning, there is the risk... [ view full abstract ]

(Proposed alternatively as a paper.  Either works.)

Essential to SDG4, the education goal, is assessment of learning attainment, or quality. As nations and international actors focus on measuring learning, there is the risk of inherent conflict on two fronts.  One, system-wide assessments often occur with little impact on the overall quality of education delivery, true at all levels; from central policy and planning to classroom instruction.  National examination and other assessment results consume much oxygen in headlines but have little strategic effect.  Two, such assessment may actually engender poorer teaching and learning.  Examinations preparation routinely narrows the content and skills teachers cover and steal time from continuous assessment and feedback which might actually foster heightened learning.  Plus, with skills, what a system can measure reliably is much shallower than what a teacher can appraise directly.  The presenter will explore and illustrate these dynamics, based on work of the past two years.