Evaluate to Transform: How to Improve Our Education by Improving Our Assessments

By Elena Arias, Ximena Dueñas, Cecilia Giambruno, and Angela

"What is not measured cannot be improved. What is not improved, degrades."

Although it sounds simple, this phrase, attributed to the renowned physicist and mathematician William Thomson Kelvin, is key to understanding why educational assessment is so important. If we don't know how much students are learning, how can we improve their learning?

Latin America and the Caribbean face a deep learning crisis, marked by inequity and exclusion. The need for action and transformation is urgent. The second edition of the report "The State of Education 2024" comes with a clear message: to improve education, it is necessary to evaluate and ensure that evaluations are of high quality. In this blog, we share the main findings of the report and its account of the state of large-scale educational assessments in the region.

What are the main educational challenges facing the region? To answer this question, in the first part of the report we present key data and indicators from the CIMA statistics portal, offering a comprehensive and synthetic view of the educational landscape in Latin America and the Caribbean. The results show that significant gaps persist among students based on their socioeconomic status, limiting the power of education to generate more equity.

On average, 1 in 10 students in the region attends a school that does not have any computers for student use, and 2 in 10 attend a school without any type of internet connection available to them. In contrast, OECD countries report almost universal access to both resources. Among the most vulnerable students in the region, the lack of access doubles: 2 in 10 for computers and 4 in 10 for the internet.

The results of PISA 2022 show that the most vulnerable students in the region have an average lag of almost four years of schooling compared to their higher-income peers.

Improving our education by improving assessments? In the second part of the report, we propose a "double click" on the evolution and current state of educational assessment systems in 18 Latin American countries.

What is the current state of large-scale national assessments? How have national assessments evolved from 1990 to the present in terms of frequency, levels and competencies assessed, coverage, focus, publication, and uses? What is the level of participation in regional and international assessments? What impact has the pandemic had on the continuity of educational assessments?

There are four major lessons that emerge from the analysis, which we summarize below:

1. Learning assessments have recovered after the pandemic

After the almost total suspension of learning assessments in 2020, the application of tests has been progressively returning, showing a positive recovery trend. Between 2021 and 2023, 11 countries conducted at least one assessment in primary education, and 14 did so in secondary education, compared to 14 countries with assessments in primary and secondary education during the period 2017-2019. The urgent need to intensify efforts is highlighted, not only to measure learning but also to use the results in educational recovery, with a special focus on the most vulnerable students.

1. Countries have increased the use of sample assessments

The data show an increase in the use of sample assessments in recent years, especially in primary education. Between 2021 and 2023, only four countries conducted census assessments in primary education, compared to seven between 2017 and 2019. In secondary education, eight countries conducted census assessments between 2021 and 2023, compared to ten in the period 2017-2019. While census assessments have decreased, the lack of these tests limits the ability to obtain detailed information by educational center, making it difficult to identify specific areas that require improvement. We suggest maintaining a balance between both types of assessments to maximize their effectiveness.

1. Assessments are concentrated in the final years of school cycles

A recurring fact is that most assessments are concentrated in the last year of the educational cycle, both in primary and secondary education. 67% of the assessments conducted between 2021 and 2023 are concentrated in the last year of the primary or secondary school cycle (53 out of 78 assessments). This reduces the possibility of using assessments as a tool to improve learning in a timely manner, becoming more of a final diagnosis than a useful pedagogical intervention throughout the teaching process.

1. There are pending issues: it is necessary to strengthen quality and use the results for improvement

Although many countries have advanced in the quality of their assessments, using approaches such as Item Response Theory (IRT) and collecting contextual data, much remains to be done to ensure that the results are used effectively and in a timely manner. The report highlights that the publication of results usually takes more than a year in most countries, which diminishes the potential impact of the assessments.

How do we move forward from here? Keys to the future of educational assessment in the region

The report concludes with three key recommendations to strengthen educational assessment systems in Latin America and the Caribbean:

Improve the quality of tests through expert trainingand continuous participation in international and regional assessments.

Diversify the types of assessments and competencies assessed, including socio-emotional aspects, to offer a more comprehensive view of student learning.

Prioritize funding and the use of technology to reduce costs and improve efficiency. The implementation of computerized tests can accelerate the processing of results and make assessment systems more sustainable.

In conclusion, transforming education in Latin America and the Caribbean requires sustainable investment in educational assessments, which must not only be rigorous and representative but also timely and useful for guiding continuous improvement. The recommendations presented in the report are clear: we need more diverse and higher-quality tests. Under this condition, assessment can help us close gaps and move towards more equitable and inclusive education. The challenge now is to move from diagnostics to action, strengthening the region's educational systems with the commitment of all actors, something we aspire to support from the IDB.

Don't miss our latest State of Education report and join the efforts to evaluate to transform education in our region!

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