Learning assessment during the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa

In this synthesis, we first provide an overview of the experience of the pre-COVID-19 assessment frameworks in 40 Global Partnership for Education (GPE) partner countries in Africa. We then document how education systems have approached learning assessment in the context of the COVID-19, with particular attention to how the needs of vulnerable groups of students are being addressed. In addition to categorizing the main policy and practice responses that GPE partner countries and their collaborators have prioritized, we identify key challenges they have faced in ensuring learning is evaluated. We also examine what recent research on learning assessment can tell us about how these African countries are monitoring student learning. Based on our analyses of policy and practice responses, a series of recommendations are provided in the final section of the report. This report is one of several outputs of the Knowledge and Innovation Exchange (KIX) COVID-19 Observatory, which aims to provide policymakers in GPE partner countries with actionable evidence to inform their decisions. It has been developed with the intent to encourage and promote a culture of knowledge and evidence sharing about policy- and practice-level education interventions in response the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as targeted recommendations.