The experience of the regional education indicators project 2000-2003

90 Pages·2003·1.447 MB·English

by  Ernesto Leigh, Proyecto Regional de Indicadores Educativos., William Gallagher

Summit of the Americas
Regional Education
Indicators Project
THE EXPERIENCE OF THE
REGIONAL EDUCATION
INDICATORS PROJECT
2000-2003
THE EXPERIENCE OF THE REGIONAL
EDUCATION INDICATORS PROJECT: 2000-2003
© Regional Education Indicators Project (PRIE)
General Co-ordination:
Sergio Bitar Ana Luiza Machado
Minister of Education Director UNESCO Regional Education
Republic of Chile Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean
Technical co-ordination:
Vivian Heyl César Guadalupe
Head. Department of Technical co-ordination Regional System of
Studies and Statistic Information (SIRI) UNESCO Regional Education
Ministry of Education Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean
Republic of Chile
The following people participated in the Project throughout its different stages: Félix
Abdala, Oscar Agüero, Ana María Corvalán, Marcela Copetta, Paula Darville, Katherine
Gatwkyn; Javier González, César Guadalupe, Vivian Heyl, Josefina Lira, Catalina Líster,
Paula Louzano, Juan Carlos Palafox, Antonella Perfetti, Joel Sherman, and Ana María
Quiroz.
The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) gave technical support and its expertise by
computing statistics and most of the indicators used in the Project. Linda Bellaiche,
Roser Cusso, Rosario García Calderón, Jens Johansen, Doug Lynd, and Pierre Varly
cooperated with PRIE on behalf of UIS, led by Denise Livesley.
This Project has been possible thanks to the collaboration of the Governments of
Chile, Mexico, United States of America; UNESCO (Institute for Statistics, Regional
Education Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean, Office for the Caribbean),
the United States Agency for International Development, and the World Bank (through
a grant awarded to UIS).
Translations: William Gallagher, Ernesto Leigh
Graphic design and lay-out: Wacquez & O’Ryan
The members of the Regional Education Indicators Project are responsible for the
contents of this report. The opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of
the Ministry of Education of Chile, nor of UNESCO, and are not, therefore, the
responsibility of these institutions.
The place names employed in this publication do not imply any position of the
authors regarding the legal status of countries, cities, territories, or zones, or of their
authorities, nor in regard to the drawing of their borders or limits.
This document is available in electronic version from http://www.prie.cl It can be
fully or partially reproduced given that a proper reference to the source is made.
ISBN: 956-8302-04-2
Santiago de Chile, August 2003
INDEX

PRESENTACIÓN
FOREWORD
This document summarizes the activities and achievements of the Summit of the
Americas Regional Education Indicators Project (PRIE) during its three years of operation.
Convinced that statistical information is a key element for the formulation, execution,
and assessment of education policies, the Ministers of Education of the countries of
the Summit of the Americas requested that we carry out this project as a way to
develop our education information systems. After 36 months of operation, this project
now ends showing significant achievements, both in knowledge of the state of education
in the hemisphere, as well as in the strengthening of the capacities of national education
statistics systems. Moreover, it has made it possible to identify critical topics for the
development of future initiatives in this area.
We present this document at the end of the period for which countries entrusted us
with the administration and execution of this project. It brings together in an analytic
and systematic fashion our experiences and the lessons we have learned. It is our
hope that it will serve as a point of reference for new initiatives.
The efforts of our organizations in developing this project were supported by the
cooperation of others. Thus, we wish to express our sincere thanks to UNESCO, both
for the support of its Institute for Statistics as well as for its Participation Programme;
to the Agency for International Development and the Department of Education of the
United States; to the Public Education Secretariat of Mexico; and to the World Bank.
Moreover, we wish to express our recognition of the efforts of the education statistics
technical teams of the countries, which have been the primary agents and objects of
the efforts undertaken during these 36 months.
Finally, we believe that the efforts carried out to date should be continued through
time in order to allow countries to have access to information, indicators, and analyses
that support them in education policy decision-making, and to be able to track their
progress in regard to Summit goals and to the other international commitments.
Sergio Bitar Ana Luiza Machado
Minister of Education Director UNESCO Regional Education
Republic of Chile Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean
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INTRODUCTION
At the Second Summit of the Americas (Chile, April, 1998), Heads of State or Government adopted an Education
Action Plan for the region. The plan's general objectives are the following: (1) that by the year 2010, 100%
of children complete quality primary education; (2) that at least 75% of young people have access to quality
secondary education with increasing percentages of young people completing their secondary school studies;
and (3) that life-long educational opportunities are offered to the general population.
During the meeting of Ministers of Education from countries that participated in the Second Summit of the
Americas, held in Brasilia (July, 1998), it was agreed that the Minister of Education of Chile, with the collaboration
of UNESCO, would coordinate the design and implementation of a regional education indicators project. This
Project contributes to the follow-up and evaluation of the commitments stated in the Education Action Plan
for the region.
Interested countries throughout the hemisphere met in August, 2000 in Washington, DC – USA. There, the
content and methodology of PRIE was presented and the implementation of the 3-year project started.
PRIE has set the following objectives:
Construct a basic set of comparable education indicators for the Americas, taking into account existing
initiatives,
Strengthen national systems of education statistics and develop a technical cooperation program,
Publish the indicators and foster their use in the design of education policies.
For the fulfillment of its objectives, PRIE used three inter-linked components: construction of indicators, technical
cooperation and dissemination and analysis.
The development of the Project went through three different moments when different aspects were emphasized.
These stages can be summarized as follows:
INITIAL (August 2000 to May 2001). A starting phase when the main activities had a preparatory character,
since they were aimed at formalizing countries participation through the nomination of national representatives.
Also, creating working groups in Latin America. It was a period when significant efforts were deployed in
order to make the financial contributions available.
INTERMEDIATE (May 2001 to May 2002). A second moment, when most of the efforts were devoted to
indicators development and to the analysis of the educational situation of the Americas. This analysis relied
upon the set of indicators published in the Educational Panorama of the Americas in January 20021.
FINAL (May 2002-August 2003). A third period when technical co-operation, analytical, and assessment
actions were emphasized. This was the concluding stage of the Project.
This document is organized into five chapters. The first three provide an account of each of the three components
of the Project (indicators development, technical co-operation, and dissemination). The fourth chapter presents
budgetary information. The final chapter summarizes the main conclusions drawn out of these three years.
Annexes are also included.
1 Educational Panorama of the Americas, Regional Education Indicators Project. Santiago, January 2002.
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INDICATORS DEVELOPMENT
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In August 2000, PRIE began by defining a preliminary set of indicators. This selection took into account recent
and on-going experiences of the countries in the region. This initial set was presented in a Computation
Manual that sought to assure a broad understanding of what each of the indicators represented. For the data
collection and computation of indicators, PRIE was supported by UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS).
In addition, the first component of the Project (construction of indicators) was a development opportunity for
the countries participating in the Project. During this time, countries were able to work on the indicators
proposed, as well as to discuss their pertinence and, if the case applied, to suggest alternative or complementary
indicators. Thus, between March, 2001 and March, 2002, seven working groups were active in Latin America,
developing working documents that were presented at the UIS Latin American workshop in April, 2002.
Thereafter, PRIE agreed upon a specific study about indicators to measure the social impact of education.
In addition, the publication of Educational Panorama of the Americas brought with it the use of the initial
set of indicators, representing an opportunity to review it in terms of its potential to analyze education in the
region.
These experiences were systematized at a technical meeting held in December 16-17, 2002 in Santiago, Chile.
On that occasion, participating countries discussed the progress of the Project to date, as well as made new
propositions in the area of indicators development.
This chapter brings together the work carried out by the Regional Education Indicators Project – PRIE – within
the framework of indicators development. It includes the Computation Manual, the operation of country
working groups, the development of the Educational Panorama of the Americas, and the technical meeting.
It also reviews PRIE’s initial set of indicators and suggests how to improve it. In addition, each category of
analysis developed within the framework of PRIE is presented, taking into account the relevance and power
of the indicators (existing or proposed) to guide decision-making processes in education.
This chapter is organized according to these analytic categories, corresponding to the model adopted by the
project.2
A list of indicators is given for each category,3 including discussion regarding methodology, nomenclature or
use, and proposal of new indicators.
1. CONTEXT
The indicators under this category reflect a general view of the context within which education systems are
developed.
1.1. INFORMATION AND INDICATORS CONSIDERED
This section presents the initial elements of analysis considered for this category as a starting point in the
Computation Manual. These elements may be divided as follows:
2 See Guide for the Use of Education Indicators (new version of the Computation Manual). Note that the category “Quality” is not included
in the revision. The project did not include it, since it was the specific subject of another Summit initiative. Moreover, it includes general comments
on equity as a cross-cutting analytic category for all categories.
3 These indicators are those included in the Guide for the Use of Education Indicators in the annex. This guide was developed by the project
coordinators from a revision of the Computation Manual, which was initially used in the development of Educational Panorama of the Americas.
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