In 1992, UNESCO in collaboration with UNICEF established the Monitoring Learning Achievement (MLA) Project. This project focuses on strengthening national capacities to monitor the quality of basic educational programs in general, and learning achievement in particular, and it has reached different phases of implementation in some 27 countries. Monitoring programs for the improvement of the quality of basic education is viewed as a necessary process to further promote a "sustainable monitoring culture."

Pilot Phase Trends

Several educational trends emerged from the initial phase of the project that were common to all five pilot countries (China, Jordan, Mali, Mauritius, Morocco):

• Pupils in urban schools perform better than pupils in rural schools.
• In the lower grades, girls perform better than boys, but later on, due to diverse cultural and socio-economic issues, the performance of girls begins to decline.
• In general, pupils from private schools perform better than pupils attending public schools.

The MLA Pilot Project also found the need to make basic education more responsive to local and individual learner's contexts. For example, there is the need to develop learner-centered teaching strategies for children attending different school types in different regions.

Individualized Country Insights

Since the national instruments were "customized" for each country, participant countries also benefited from new, individualized insights on improving the quality of education in their own countries. For example:

• Nigerian results put emphasis on the relation between children's achievement and language of instruction. In Nigeria, children begin to learn the English language from the first year in school and by the beginning of Grade IV, English becomes the language of instruction. Evidence showed that the vast majority of children at the end of Grade IV cannot read instructions written in English. In view of these results, the Nigerian task force concluded that much more early English language instruction was required.
• In Mozambique, the results from the MLA Project pointed at the need to considerably improve reading and writing skills in Portuguese.
• In Slovakia the optimal use of maps, figures, graphics and any other forms of pictorial presentations in the development of textbooks for reading and writing acquisition was seen as imperative.

In sum, the MLA Project is providing new insights into the varied ways that schooling in many different countries impacts a nation's literacy. A large number of children, especially in the poorest countries, never go beyond Grade IV. What these children learn, retain, and practice after leaving school has a direct impact on each nation's competencies in basic skills. As we learn better how to assess relevant skills, in local and regional contexts, we will be in a better position to advise on how to strengthen both formal and non-formal educational programs.

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