Improving Learning: Developing Measures of Accountability and Evaluating their Association with Students' Gains in Achievement in Nepal

我们建议制定和验证与尼泊尔教育部（MOE）共享的问责制措施，并使用这些措施来分析问责制的决定因素及其与学生成绩的关系。拟议的研究将以奇旺谷家庭研究（CVFS）的资源为基础，这是一项持续20年的小组研究，涉及尼泊尔西奇旺谷151个社区的116所学校、3000户家庭和3500名学龄儿童。在DFID-ESRC的资助下，我们建议实现两个目标：目标一：开发和预测试一套尼泊尔问责评估工具（NAATs），供教育部使用，并在尼泊尔奇旺山谷试用这些工具。重要的是，这些工具的设计将使尼泊尔教育部能够在日益分散的尼泊尔教育系统[4]的多个层面上评估并潜在地改进其当前的问责程序。为了实现这一目标，我们将：(1)开发各种问责制评估工具，用于尼泊尔的教育系统；(2)修改一套为经合组织国家开发的教学过程和教学质量衡量标准，使其适用于尼泊尔的教育体系；(3)利用尼泊尔教育部开发的标准化测试项目收集学生学业成绩数据。目标二：调查问责制过程如何；学生在学校、家庭和社区的学习环境；和学生学习是相关的。这包括调查三个主要的研究问题：问责过程是否与社区间、社区内学校和学校内家庭的社会经济差异有系统的联系？在问责制更严格的学校和社区环境中，教学服务的质量是否更高？并且，控制与学生成绩相关的社会经济差异，学生在问责程序更严格的学校和社区学习得更好吗？为了实现这一目标，我们将：(1)对380名关键利益相关者进行新设计的PET-QSDS调查；(2)在学年开始和结束时进行NASA测试，并对1,740名8年级学生进行学生调查；(3)对1392名教师进行教师调查，对1740名家长进行家长调查。这项研究的结果将与尼泊尔的教育决策者相关，也将直接有助于学校有效性的比较教育研究。本研究将产生严谨的科学成果：(1)开发低收入背景适应性问责评估工具；(2)问责措施的信度和预测效度的跨文化评估；(3)识别与问责关系密切的情境因素；(4)在低收入环境中确定问责制新维度的潜力；(5)我们对问责制、教学质量和学生学习成绩之间关系的理解取得了科学进步。这些成果将广泛地提供给科学家和决策者。首先，我们将在地方和国家两级举办传播讲习班，分享研究结果，并提供关于使用新设计的问责制评估工具和分析通过上述各种调查产生的数据的培训。其次，数据将通过ICPSR和英国数据服务提供。第三，研究结果将通过在国家和国际会议上的演讲传播，并在科学文章、研究和政策简报中发表。最后，尼泊尔教师、科学家、政府代表和学校当局在整个项目中的参与将提高各自主办机构（DOE、TU、PABSON、pd）的科学和分析能力。

We propose to develop and validate measures of accountability to be shared with the Nepal Ministry of Education (MOE) and to use those measures in an analysis of the determinants of accountability and its association with students' gains in achievement. The proposed study will build on the resources of the Chitwan Valley Family Study (CVFS), a 20-year ongoing panel study of 116 schools with 3,000 households with 3,500 school aged children in 151 communities located throughout the Western Chitwan Valley of Nepal. With funding from DFID-ESRC, we are proposing to achieve two aims: Aim One: To Develop and Pretest a Suite of Nepali Accountability Assessment Tools (NAATs) for Use by the MOE and to Pilot these Tools within the Chitwan Valley of Nepal. Importantly, the tools will be designed so that Nepal's MOE can both assess and potentially improve its current accountability processes at multiple levels of the increasingly decentralized Nepalese education system [4]. To achieve this aim we will: (1) develop a variety of accountability assessment tools for use in Nepal's education system; (2) modify a set of instructional processes and instructional quality measures developed for use in OECD countries for use in the Nepali educational system; and (3) gather data on students' academic achievement using standardized test items developed by Nepal's MOE. Aim Two: To Investigate How Accountability Processes; Environments for Student Learning in Schools, Families, and Communities; and Student Learning are Related. This involves investigating three main research questions: Are accountability processes systematically related to socioeconomic disparities among communities, schools within communities, and families within schools? In school and community settings where accountability processes are more intensive, is the quality of instructional service delivery higher? And, controlling for socioeconomic disparities related to student achievement is student learning higher in schools and communities where accountability processes are more intensive? To meet this aim, we will: (1) administer a newly designed PET-QSDS survey to 380 key stakeholders; (2) administer the NASA test at the beginning and end of the school year and a student survey to 1,740 8th graders; and (3) administer a teacher survey to 1,392 teachers and a parent survey to 1,740 parents. The results of this research will be relevant to education policy makers in Nepal and will also contribute directly to comparative education research on school effectiveness. This study will generate rigorous scientific outcomes: (1) development of a low income context adaptive accountability assessment tool; (2) cross-cultural assessment of the reliability and predictive validity of accountability measures; (3) identification of contextual factors with strong correlation with accountability; (4) potential for identification of new dimensions of accountability in low income settings; and (5) scientific advancement in our understanding of the relationship between accountability, instructional quality and students' gains in achievement. These outcomes will be made widely available to scientists and policy makers. First, we will conduct dissemination workshops at local and national levels to share findings of the study and provide training on the use of the newly designed accountability assessment tool and analysis of the data generated through the various surveys mentioned above. Second, the data will be made available through ICPSR and the UK Data Service. Third, the findings will be disseminated through presentations at national and international conferences and published in scientific articles, and research and policy briefs. Finally, the participation of Nepali faculty, scientists, government representatives and school authorities throughout the project will advance the scientific and analytical capacity of their respective host institutions (DOE,TU, PABSON, PDs).