Assess Reading Early to Inform Instruction, Improve Quality, and Realize Possibilities

Abstract

In the more than quarter century since commitments were made under
Education for All, low- and middle-income countries have made considerable
progress in ensuring that more students are enrolled in and completing
primary schooling. However, despite lofty promises to improve
literacy and numeracy for all, UNESCO estimates that more than
250 million children are not learning the basics. Currently, a limited
number of practitioners and policy makers have access to information on
how well students are learning to read and perform basic math. As access
to technology and globalization continues to expand, we expect increased
demand for and democratization of information on student learning,
particularly in the Global South.

This chapter describes the influence of reading assessments at the child
level on the focus on quality education in low-resourced contexts. Over
the past decade, child-level assessment data have contributed to modifications in classroom instruction, teacher support, community
engagement, and language policy. These data have led to the refinement
of additional child-level and classroom-based assessments to inform and
reflect context. Ultimately, the initial questions about child-level learning
have facilitated successive improvements in understanding and bettering
the results. This chapter suggests a prospective direction that the international
education community should take to continue improving
child outcomes.