Options for Reporting against 4.1.1 when using national assessment programs

The Sustainable Development Goals are 17 broad aspirations for social and economic development set by the United Nations in 2015. One of these goals, enumerated SDG 4, is to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. The progress towards each goal is measured by a set of indicators. In monitoring progress towards SDG 4, the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) is working on an approach to measuring indicator 4.1.1: Proportion of children and young people: (a) in grades 2/3; (b) at the end of primary; and (c) at the end of lower secondary achieving at least a minimum proficiency level in (i) reading and (ii) mathematics, by sex. The Global Alliance to Monitor Learning (GAML) is asked to consider that monitoring progress against Indicator 4.1.1 will require measurement of student outcomes at several different stages of learning in a broadly consistent way across education systems, to enable meaningful international dialogue about learning progress and how it may be supported. This paper focuses on empirical options for countries wanting to align assessment program outcomes to minimum proficiency levels (MPLs). The purpose of this paper is to present a set of empirical assessment alignment methods that can be considered for the alignment of assessment programs with the MPLs, so that reporting for SDG 4.1.1.is possible when countries opt not to participate in a regional or international assessment survey.