Can learning be measured universally?

As the world gears up for the SDG4, the education goal, the question of measurement has already come up. Much work is under say to figure out how to measure whether the world is achieving the learning aspect of the education.... [ view full abstract ]

As the world gears up for the SDG4, the education goal, the question of measurement has already come up. Much work is under say to figure out how to measure whether the world is achieving the learning aspect of the education. The proposed paper looks at the simplest target, namely learning in primary schools, and asks whether we are ready. Various existing assessments will be examined for fitness-for-purpose, including some very recent ones. It will be concluded that while much progress has been made, more still remains to be made. Furthermore, it will be argued that even with more progress, there are good reasons to think that a single universal "yardstick" may not be possible, but that one could come up with something that nonetheless gives countries and the international community a reasonable chance of assessing their progress, without using a single assessment or even a single metric. These terms will be explained carefully, so as to make sure the paper delineates carefully what is unlikely to be possible, and what is likely to be possible, and why. Assessments to be examined include TIMSS and TIMSS numeracy, PIRLS and PIRLS literacy, PISA and PISA for development, EGRA, Citizen-led assessments such as ASER, LAMP, and perhaps other recent innovations such as those being carried out under the Young Lives project. The paper will reach a cautiously optimistic conclusion regarding some form of comparability across countries, but is likely to conclude negatively on the possibility of a single way to measure.