Indicators for a Broad and Bold Education Agenda: Addressing 'Measurability' Concerns for Post-2015 Education Targets

Open Society Foundations. 224 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019. Tel: 212-548-0600; Fax: 212-548-4600; Web site: https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/

N

32

Educational Indicators; Educational Objectives; Goal Orientation; Preschool Education; Child Development; Elementary Education; Access to Education; Secondary Education; Educational Needs; At Risk Persons; Poverty; Literacy Education; Gender Bias; Disproportionate Representation; Cultural Differences; Educational Quality; Developing Nations; Child Health; Postsecondary Education; Educational Resources; Teacher Qualifications; Adult Literacy; Numeracy; Social Bias; Socioeconomic Status; Educational Finance; Disabilities; Academic Achievement; Illiteracy; Adults; Academic Standards; Accountability; Data Collection; Data Use; Foreign Countries; Enrollment; Data Analysis; Age Differences; Gender Differences; Sustainable Development

Africa; Europe; North America; South America; New Zealand; Australia; Asia

This paper and the four commissioned works on which it is based are guided by the important question: How can we start valuing practices and outcomes of teaching and learning that are difficult to reduce to numbers? As the process of developing indicators for the Post-2015 education targets unfolds, some of the targets are at risk of being dropped on account of being 'un-measurable.' However, excluding more holistic but harder to assess educational targets will inevitably remove vital focus from some of the most important aspects of high quality education provision. Three education targets, developed by the Education for All Steering Committee (EFA-SC) and the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development of the U.N. General Assembly (OWG), are the thematic foci of this paper: (1) Relevant Learning Outcomes; (2) Knowledge, Values, Skills, and Attitudes to Establish Sustainable and Peaceful Societies; and (3) Teachers and Safe, Inclusive, and Effective Learning Environments. These three targets are at risk of being excluded from the final formulation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in response to practical concerns about the number of targets being excessive as well as concerns that targets such as these "rely too much on vague, qualitative language rather than hard, measurable, time-bound, quantitative targets." This report also highlights some of the main ideas put forward by the authors of the four commissioned papers. The annex to this document briefly describes the commissioned papers and presents the indicators proposed by the authors. [For the commissioned papers, see "Capturing Quality, Equity & Sustainability: An Actionable Vision with Powerful Indicators for a Broad and Bold Education Agenda Post-2015" (ED610009), "Goals and Indicators for Education and Development: Consolidating the Architectures" (ED609905), "Indicators for a Broad and Bold Post-2015 Agenda: A Comprehensive Approach to Educational Development" (ED609982), and "Indicators for All? Monitoring Quality and Equity for a Broad and Bold Post-2015 Global Education Agenda" (ED609988).]

ERIC

2021

ED610028