A growing number of children complete primary education each year. To what extent do they develop the skills taught at this level of education? By monitoring learning outcomes, countries can verify progress and improve their school systems. 
 

What is the role of the UIS?

The mandate of the observatory comprises two main components:

• a global database of internationally comparable indicators of learning outcomes by the end of primary school. The indicators will focus on reading, writing and numeracy skills; and

• a catalogue of measures that countries are using to understand the learning levels of their school children. This information will be compiled using national and international sources and will include selected attributes of major measurement approaches.

This work will entail close collaboration with a range of partners. The UIS will therefore seek to: 

• engage in dialogue with assessment agencies to build a consensus on how to attain cross-national comparability of measurements of core learning outcomes;
• support education ministries to appraise student achievement and to use the resulting information for policymaking;
• include partner institutions in the execution of activities and emphasise collaboration among all actors that work in the learning outcomes field; and
• maintain a network of interested professionals and benefit from the counsel of a board of high-level experts.