Education related MDG indicators: methodology and issues

1. Education related MDG indicators: methodology and issues Ioulia Sementchouk UNESCO Institute for Statistics November 21, 2012

2. Outline • Millennium Development Goals • Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education • Goal 3: Promote gender equalityand empower women

3. Education is vital to meet all of the development goals

4. Goal 2 • Achieve universal primary education Target 2.A: Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling

5. Monitoring indicators: Target 2.A Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling Outcome Participation Progress Survival rate to the last grade Youthliteracy rate Net enrolment rate

6. Participation • Indicator 2.1: Net enrolment rate in primary education

7. Net enrolment rate (NER) • Definition: Percentage of children of the official primary school age group who are enrolled in primary education. • Calculation: Divide the number of pupils of the official primary age group who are enrolled in primary education by the population for the same age group and multiply the result by 100.

8. Net enrolment rate (NER)

9. Republic of Moldova (2011) Entry age: 7 year old Duration: 4 years Official age group: 7-10

10. Recent update • Concept of out-of-school children is redefined: • Children of primary school age are counted as being in school when they are either in primary or secondary education. • Adjusted NER (NERA) is more appropriate to monitor MDGs • NERA: including primary school age in secondary education

11. Adjusted net enrolment rate (NERA) • Definition: Percentage of children of the official primary school age group who are enrolled in primary or secondary education. • Calculation: Divide the total number of pupils in the official primary school age range who are enrolled in primary or secondary education in a given school year by the population of the same age group and multiply the result by 100.

12. Adjusted net enrolment rate (NERA)

13. Republic of Moldova (2011) Official age group: 7-10

14. NER vs NERA 24

15. Adjusted net enrolment rate • Interpretation: Increasing NERA might reflect improving participation of children in the official primary school age, the decrease of the target population or both. A value of 100% might indicate that the country has accomplished the UPE goal. However, this condition is not sufficient for UPE due to, for example, a high repetition rate, which might lead pupils to dropout after primary school age without completing primary education.

16. Adjusted net enrolment rate • Limitations: The theoretical maximum of NERA is 100 per cent. However, the NERA may exceed this maximum due to inconsistencies between population and enrolment data derived from different data sources. School enrolments may be over or under-reported for various reasons.

17. Progress • Indicator 2.2: Proportion of pupils starting grade 1 who reach the last grade of primary

18. Survival rate to the last grade of primary education • Definition: Percentage of a cohort of pupils enrolled in the first grade who are expected to reach the last grade of primary education, regardless the repetition. • Rationale:This indicator measures an education system’s success in retaining students from one grade to the next as well as its internal efficiency. Various factors account for poor performance on this indicator, including low quality of schooling, discouragement over poor achievement and the direct and indirect costs of schooling. Students’ progress to higher grades may also be limited by the availability of teachers, classrooms and educational materials.

19. Survival rate to the last grade of primary education Calculation: The survival rate is calculated on the basis of the reconstructed cohort method, which uses data on enrolment and repeaters for two consecutive years. This method makes three assumptions: • drop-outs never return to school; • promotion, repetition and drop-out rates remain constant over the entire period in which the cohort is enrolled in school; • the same rates apply to all pupils enrolled in a given grade, regardless of whether they previously repeated a grade.

20. Albania (2010)

21. Survival rate to the last grade of primary education, 1999 and 2010

22. Survival rate to the last grade of primary education • Interpretation: Indicator values range from 0% (none of the pupils starting grade 1 reach the last grade) to 100% (all of the pupils reach the last grade). Survival Rates approaching 100 per cent indicate a high level of retention and a low incidence of dropout. It is important to note that it does not imply that all children of school age complete primary education. The Survival Rate is a percentage of a cohort of pupils (that is, children who have already entered school) and not a percentage of children of school age.

23. Survival rate to the last grade of primary education • Limitations:Since the calculation of the proportion of pupils starting grade 1 who reach last grade of primary is based on pupil-flow rates, the reliability of the survival rate depends on the consistency of data coverage on enrolment and repeaters over time and across grades. • Given that this indicator is usually estimated using cohort analysis models that are based on a number of assumptions, care should be taken in using the results in comparisons.

24. Gross intake ratio to the last grade – Proxy measure of primary completion • Definition: Total number of new entrants in the last grade of primary education, regardless of age, expressed as a percentage of the population at the theoretical entrance age to the last grade of primary. • Calculation: Divide the number of new entrants in last grade of primary, regardless of age, by the population of theoretical entrance age to the last grade of primary, and multiply the result by 100.

25. Gross intake ratio to the last grade of primary education

26. Gross intake ratio to the last grade of primary education • Limitations:The calculation includes all new entrants to the last grade (regardless of age). Therefore, the ratio can exceed 100%, due to over-aged and under-aged children who enter primary school late/early and/or repeat grades in previous years. However, in the long run the Gross intake ratio to the last grade should approach 100%.

27. Gross intake rate to the last grade of primary education, 1999 and 2011

28. Outcome • Indicator 2.3: Literacy rate of 15- to 24-year-old women and men

29. Youth literacy rate (15-24 years) • Definition: Percentage of people aged 15 to 24 years who can both read and write with understanding a short, simple statement on their everyday life. • Calculation: Divide the number of people aged 15 to 24 years who are literate by the total population in the same age group and multiply the result by 100.

30. Youth literacy rate (15-24 years)

31. Youth literacy rate (15-24 years) • Interpretation: The indicator ranges from 0% (all youth are illiterate) to 100% (all youth are literate). Literacy rates below 100 per cent indicate the need to increase school participation and education quality. • Rationale: The youth literacy rate reflects the outcomes of the primary education system over the previous 10 years, and is often seen as a proxy measure of social progress and economic achievement. The literacy rate is the complement of the illiteracy rate. It is not a measure of the adequacy of the literacy levels needed for individuals to function and participate in a society (functional literacy).

32. Youth literacy rate (15-24 years)

33. Youth literacy rate (15-24 years)

34. Youth literacy rate (15-24 years) • Limitations: Some countries apply definitions and criteria for literacy which are different from the international standard defined above, or equate persons with no schooling to illiterates, or change definitions between censuses. • Practices for identifying literates and illiterates during actual census enumeration may also vary. Errors in literacy self-declaration can affect the reliability of the statistics.

35. Gender parity index (GPI) • Definition: Ratio of female to male values of a given indicator. • Purpose: The GPI measures progress towards gender parity in education participation and/or learning opportunities available for girls in relation to those available to boys. • Calculation: Divide the female value of an indicator by the male value of the same indicator.

36. Gender parity index (GPI) Where: GPIGER Gender parity index for Gross enrolment ratio GERFemale Gross enrolment ratio for female GERMale Gross enrolment ratio for male

37. Gross enrolment ratio (GER) • Definition: Total enrolment in a specific level of education, regardless of age, expressed as a percentage of the official school-age population corresponding to the same level of education. • Calculation: Divide the number of pupils enrolled in a given level of education regardless of age by the population of the age group which officially corresponds to the given level of education, and multiply the result by 100.

38. Gross enrolment ratio (GER)

39. Bosnia and Herzegovina (2011)

40. Measuring gender parity GER for Primary education, 2011 Gender parity index – an index of 1.00 is perfect parity, and 0.97 – 1.03 is considered a zone of gender parity ↓ ↓ ↓ 1.00 Higher rate among boys Higher rate among girls Perfect parity

41. Gender parity index by level of education, 1999 and 2011 The horizontal green bar represents the zone of gender parity Primary education Secondary education Tertiary education

42. Gender parity index (GPI) • Limitations: The index does not show whether improvement or regression is due to the performance of one of the gender groups (boys or girls). Interpretation of the GPI requires trend analysis of the underlying GER values.

43. Additional indicators for analysis • Are there enough places for all children? • Gross enrolment ratio • Do children start school at the right age? • Gross intake rate • Net intake rate • Adjusted net intake rate • Do all children go to school? • Numbers of children out-of-school

44. Additional indicators for analysis • How do children progress through the system? • Promotion rate • Repetition rate • Do children complete primary education? • Primary completion rate

45. Azerbaijan (2011) • Most children are in school but NERA is low - why? Entry age: 6 year old Duration: 4 years Official age group: 6-9

46. Azerbaijan (2011) • NERA vs GER in primary education

47. Azerbaijan (2011) • Percentage of 6- and 7-year-olds in primary grade 1

48. Azerbaijan (2011) • Reason for low NERA: late entry into primary school Entry age: 6 year old

49. Contact information Ioulia Sementchouk Education Indicators and Data Analysis UNESCO Institute for Statistics i.sementchouk@unesco.org www.uis.unesco.org