Assessment in Sub-Saharan Africa: challenges and prospects

The development of assessment systems for improving education quality is rapidly becoming a key priority in education development. The specific focus on measuring learning outcomes as an indicator of education quality at the 1990 Education for All (EFA) world conference in Jomtien (UNESCO, 2000), and its subsequent reinforcement at the 2000 EFA world conference in Dakar1 have resulted in a signifi- cant increase in the number of developing countries that have established assessment systems that extend beyond examinations to include national and/or cross-national assessment studies (see Figure 1). Currently, approximately 80 countries are participating in regional or international assessment surveys (Learning Metrics Task Force [LMTF], 2013). In Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), for example, most countries have participated in regional assessment studies facilitated by UNESCO/ UNICEF including the MLA, SACMEQ and PASEC