G LO B A L E D U C AT I O N M O N I TO R I N G R E P O R T 2 0 1 6 SUMMARY Second, the global indicator on reading and numeracy proficiency excludes those out of school. In rural Pakistan, 89% of grade 10 students could read a grade 2 story in Urdu, Sindhi or Pashto but only 64% of all 14-year-olds could do so. LEARNING OUTCOME MEASUREMENT TOOLS: ASSURING THE QUALITY OF ASSESSMENTS One thematic indicator is whether a country has carried out a nationally representative learning assessment during primary, at the end of primary and at the end of lower secondary education. Clear standards for assessments will be necessary, as will a strong mechanism to ensure that assessments meet these standards. Two dimensions of assessment quality are relevant: (a) an enabling institutional context needs to ensure sustainability and strong links with the education system; and (b) nationally representative assessments should be valid and reliable, providing relevant information to policy-makers and the public. Nationally representative assessments need to be aligned with education goals and student learning objectives as well as with opportunities to develop teachers professionally. The question of how to ensure that an assessment is fit for the purpose of monitoring raises two issues. First, overly stringent technical requirements could put the necessary capacity beyond the reach of many countries and result in a small pool of service providers administering most assessments, undermining their relevance and use by countries. Second, resources to bolster national capacity to conduct robust learning assessments should be allocated more efficiently. LEARNING OUTCOME MEASURES: REPORTING RESULTS FROM DIFFERENT ASSESSMENTS Measuring learning outcomes on a global scale requires agreement on reporting and defining benchmarks by level (or age) and subject. This entails developing a set of items from different types of assessments that can be linked through analysis of their relative level of difficulty. Yet linking items is not just a technical issue but has to do with the intended purpose of the indicator. Globally comparable learning outcome indicators need to serve not only the objective of global monitoring but also country needs. Efforts to meet both may be helped by the recently established Global Alliance to Monitor Learning. Su 2 evelopment G oal ble D ina 4. sta Early childhood TARGET 4.2 T arget 4.2 reaffirms the international community’s focus on ensuring strong foundations for all children through early childhood care and education. Monitoring the concepts in the target poses three challenges: (a) there is not yet sufficient information on how many children benefit from pre-primary education for at least one year; (b) the proposed indicators do not capture the concept of quality of provision; and (c) while the target goes beyond care and education to early childhood development, the feasibility of introducing a monitoring mechanism for the latter is uncertain. Pre-primary education is compulsory in 50 countries, and free and compulsory for at least one year in 38 40 ACCESS AND PARTICIPATION Comparing participation rates across countries is more difficult for pre-primary than for primary and secondary education. Pre-primary education age groups and starting ages are less standardized than at other levels. Relatively few countries have free and/or compulsory pre-primary education: It is compulsory in 50 countries, and free and compulsory for at least one year in 38.