PISA for Development capacity building plan: Zambia

PISA for Development is an initiative of the OECD and its partners that aims to identify how its Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) can best support evidence-based policy making in emerging and developing economies – and contribute to the UN-led definition of global learning goals for the post-2015 agenda. In addition, the project will help to build country capacity in assessment, analysis and use of results for monitoring and improvement among participating countries. Zambia is one of six countries participating in the project, and the Ministry of Education, Science, Vocational Training and Early Education, through the Examinations Council of Zambia, is responsible for the project in the country. This plan covers the four-year PISA for Development cycle (2015-2018) and includes costed learning activities related to the implementation schedule of the project in Zambia. PISA for Development is technically complex, operationally demanding and statistically advanced, and the capacity building plan therefore focuses on PISA components that will allow Zambia to benefit from international benchmarking and from evidence on student performance derived from multivariate analyses, while also gaining capacity and competencies to raise the quality of its own national assessments through the use of item response theory methodology, rigorous international standards of implementation and increased analysis to provide explanations for the results. The results from the Capacity Needs Analysis: Zambia report have been used to design this capacity building plan for Zambia that will be implemented by the OECD, its contractors, the Ministry of Education, Science, Vocational Training and Early Education, and the Examinations Council of Zambia, through the PISA for Development project.