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问责措施，并与尼泊尔教育部分享，并利用这些措施分析问责的决定因素及其与学生成绩的关系。拟议的研究将以奇特旺山谷家庭研究的资源为基础，这是一项为期20年的小组研究，对尼泊尔西奇特万山谷151个社区的116所学校、3 000户家庭和3 500名学龄儿童进行研究。在DFID-ESRC的资助下，我们提议实现两个目标：目标一：开发和预先测试一套尼泊尔问责评估工具(NAAT)，供教育部使用，并在尼泊尔奇特旺山谷试行这些工具。重要的是，这些工具的设计将使尼泊尔教育部能够评估并有可能改进其在日益分散的尼泊尔教育系统的多个层面上的现行问责程序[4]。为实现这一目标，我们将：(1)开发用于尼泊尔教育系统的各种问责评估工具；(2)修改为经合组织国家开发的一套教学程序和教学质量衡量标准，以用于尼泊尔教育系统；(3)使用尼泊尔教育部开发的标准化考试项目收集学生学业成绩的数据。目标二：调查问责制过程、学校、家庭和社区的学生学习环境以及学生学习之间的关系。这涉及调查三个主要的研究问题：问责制过程是否系统地与社区之间、社区内的学校和学校内的家庭之间的社会经济差距有关？在问责过程更密集的学校和社区环境中，教学服务交付的质量是否更高？而且，控制与学生成绩相关的社会经济差距，在问责过程更加密集的学校和社区，学生的学习水平是否更高？为了达到这一目标，我们将：(1)向380个主要利益攸关方进行新设计的PET-QSDS调查；(2)在学年开始和结束时进行NASA测试，并向1,740名8年级学生进行学生调查；以及(3)向1,392名教师进行教师调查，向1,740名家长进行家长调查。这项研究的结果将与尼泊尔的教育政策制定者有关，并将直接促进关于学校效力的比较教育研究。这项研究将产生严格的科学成果：(1)开发低收入背景下适应性问责评估工具；(2)对问责措施的可靠性和预测有效性进行跨文化评估；(3)确定与问责密切相关的背景因素；(4)在低收入环境下确定问责的新维度；以及(5)在理解问责、教学质量和学生成绩之间的关系方面取得科学进展。这些成果将向科学家和政策制定者广泛提供。首先，我们将在地方和国家一级举办传播讲习班，以分享研究结果，并就如何使用新设计的问责评估工具和分析通过上述各种调查产生的数据提供培训。其次，这些数据将通过ICPSR和英国数据服务中心提供。第三，研究结果将通过在国家和国际会议上的陈述进行传播，并以科学文章、研究和政策简报的形式发表。最后，尼泊尔教职员工、科学家、政府代表和学校当局在整个项目中的参与将提高其各自主办机构(能源部、技术大学、泛美卫生组织和私营部门)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).