Literacy Assessment and Monitoring Programme (LAMP) UNESCO Institute for Statistics

Literacy Assessment and Literacy Assessment and Monitoring Programme Monitoring Programme

(LAMP) (LAMP)

UNESCO Institute UNESCO Institute forfor Statistics Statistics

Literacy and EFALiteracy and EFAGoal 4: ‘Achieving a 50% improvement in

levels of adult literacy by 2015, especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults’

Goal 6: ‘…ensuring… learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills’

Goal 3: ‘Ensuring that the learning needs… are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life skills programmes’

Data availableData available

Data source for EFA monitoring: countries via UIS and UN Statistical Division (UN Population Division for population figures)

Definition: “the ability to read and write, with understanding, a short simple sentence about one’s daily life”

Data qualityData quality

What is really collected: self-report, educational attainment (in various ways)

Limited value within country, and no comparability

Data gaps: years, countries, factors

ExamplesExamplesAlgeria (1998): an illiterate is a person who

never attended an educational establishment Brazil (1998): an illiterate is a person who

says that they do not know how to read and write or learnt how to read and write but forgot or only knows how to sign their name

More than 1 in 5 countries with no data since 1975; and more than 2 in 5 since 1985

Example (WB)Example (WB)

Literacy and years of schooling, Togo, 2000

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Years of schooling

Pro

bail

ity o

f b

ein

g l

itera

te

Overall aim of LAMPOverall aim of LAMP

“to improve the quality of literacy data, especially at national level but also for international policy development and monitoring, and for the design of improved literacy programmes”

Montreal, January 2003

Three objectivesThree objectivesDevelop a methodology for assessing literacy in

developing countriesProvide literacy data to inform the participating

countries’ policy-making and literacy programme design, and to help international monitoring and policy-making;

Literacy distribution at national and international levels; Estimates by eg age, gender, education, influence of other factors; Estimates for years with no assessment

Build statistical capacity in the areas of surveys and of literacy assessment

Main featuresMain features

Assessment – adapt IALS methodologyContinuum/levelsReading, writing, numeracySurveyAdults (15+?)Pilot in/by 4 or 5 countriesIn partnership with countries

Example of a taskExample of a task

1. What is the maximum number of days you should take this medicine?

2. List three situations for which you should consult a doctor.

Interview processInterview process

T est ACom ponents

T est BH igher levels

Locator test

Survey qu estionnaire

Survey questionnaireSurvey questionnaireIndicative list of topics:Educational background (incl. FE, NFE)Use of literacySocial contextEconomic contextLiterate environmentPerceived abilities and needsLanguages used…

ActorsActors

National Project TeamsMinistersLocal and regional organisationsTechnical specialists‘Experts’ and ‘reviewers’International organisations UIS

Main project activitiesMain project activitiesLaunching meeting

Assessment methodology;

software

Def & conceptual framework

Sampling & estimation

methodReview experiences

Design tests & survey instruments; country adaptation; manuals

Field workAnalyses Review

Analytical plan

Countries

Capacity building

Concept paper

Proposed definitionProposed definition“Literacy is the ability to identify,

understand, interpret, create, communicate and compute, using printed and written materials associated with varying contexts. Literacy involves a continuum of learning to enable an individual to achieve his or her goals, to develop his or her knowledge and potential, and to participate fully in the wider society.”

ED/BAS/LIT - UIE - expert meeting

Proposed componentsProposed components

Listening comprehension (in the language of assessment)

Recognition of grapheme (letter or other depending on the writing system)

Word recognitionSentence readingPassage reading

Proposed components (cont.)Proposed components (cont.)Accuracy, understanding, speedAim for comparability in construct - not

always possible to ensure equivalence of the tests at the lowest levels

For reading, writing, and numeracyEg word - speed: read aloud a series of words

appearing one after the other, or a list…

GroundworkGroundworkConcept paperLiterature reviewUse of technologyDatabase of questions built for referenceAnalytical plan Investigating model-based estimation methods Countries (Mongolia, Morocco, Niger,

Jamaica)

FinancesFinances

USD 1 million required for development and support to 4 countries

UK via DFID (core funding)EFA extra-budgetaryWB assistance with meetingNon-financial assistance (eg reviewers, IRA)Still require USD 700,000 funding

Issues LAMP is addressingIssues LAMP is addressingAdapt items to context (linguistic, socio-cultural) Methodology details especially re components;

re higher levels adaptation of IALS In what languages?Length of interviewsNational ownership; appropriation of know-howAvailability and quality of population dataDefining categories…

ConclusionConclusionLAMP and EFA / UNLDLAMP and EFA / UNLD

Presentation: concept of continuum, new figures much lower (affects trend analyses in particular)

Reduce a data gapFocus attention, stimulate reflectionsLead to improvements in literacy interventions Increased capacity to measure literacy goals and

related matters