Replicating research consortia for monitoring the quality of education

A valuable model for the design of sustainable development projects

SACMEQ, a powerful force in the field of monitoring the quality of education
IIEP gained extensive experience during the 1990s, with the launching of the Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (SACMEQ), a collaborative network of 15 ministries of education.
IIEP first trained planners to undertake national studies on the quality of education. The next stage saw SACMEQ emerge as an autonomous international organization undertaking a 15-nation study - IIEP providing training and technical support, when invited to do so.

Steps will now be taken with the Director of SACMEQ to:

• improve SACMEQ services
• broaden its funding base
• reduce IIEP involvement in SACMEQ's daily operations.

More information about SACMEQ

Countries are interested in establishing other SACMEQ-style consortia
In 2000 planners from eight South-East Asian countries attended a workshop. During 2002-2004, several workshops trained ministries to conduct national studies on the quality of education, focusing on the need for scientific data on student achievement and school conditions. Training included: research design, sampling, test construction and data management.
Successful networking in the region might involve a cluster of ministries of education with common training strategies but each with a specific approach to research - e.g. country-specific target populations or data collection instruments.