Policymakers in low- and middle-income countries who are working to improve school learning often find themselves flying blind. They see the budget that goes towards education and (sometimes) the learning acquired by students, but they lack information about crucial intermediate factors - practices, policies and the political process - that drive these learning outcomes. Many of these learning drivers are not captured by existing administrative systems. And while new measurement tools capture some of these aspects well, there is no single instrument for gathering data on all of these areas. This gap leaves policymakers in the dark as to what is and what is not working. To fill this gap, the World Bank,
The Panel will highlight gaps between current practice and what the evidence suggests to be most effective in promoting learning, and will provide governments with a way to set priorities and track progress as they work to close those gaps. The Panel will begin by turning its attention to learning in the early years of schooling and school participation. The next set of indicators will measure the quality of service delivery, focusing on the four main ingredients of school learning: teaching, school management, inputs and infrastructure and student preparation. In addition, the panel will measure deeper systemic factors: the policies and the political process that determine the quality of service delivery. The final objective is to obtain a comprehensive and focused set of indicators,
