Student Learning Assessment (SLA) Instruments, and Their Administration and Utilization by Community Members and Teachers to Focus on Improving Learning
16 March 2018
Student Learning Assessment (SLA) Instruments, and Their Administration and Utilization by Community
Members and Teachers to Focus on Improving Learning. (TNP2K)
The Government of Indonesia (GoI) recognizes the importance of education in reducing poverty and inequality and allocated a substantial amount of resources to increase education access and quality. Since 2009, 20 percent of national and district government budgets have been allocated for education. However, improved access to education has not led to better learning outcomes, and quality and equity remain a challenge.
Recent international assessments show that Indonesian student learning outcomes remain at the bottom rank of participating countries (WB, 2013; OECD 2014), with rural areas lagging significantly behind urban areas (ACDP, 2014; Stern & Nordstrum, 2014). In addressing these constraints, National Team for the Acceleration of Poverty Reduction under the Secretariat of the Vice President of Indonesia Office (TNP2K) in collaboration with the Ministry of Education initiated the KIAT Guru Pilot. The pilot is implemented by Yayasan BaKTI with technical support from The World Bank and funding from Government of Australia.
Applying a research-based policy approach, the pilot combines community empowerment with payment of APBN-based special allowance based on teacher presence and quality of service. The pilot phase is currently implemented in 270 schools across 5 districts: Ketapang, Landak and Sintang in West Kalimantan, and West Manggarai and East Manggarai in East Nusa Tenggara.
After one semester of pilot implementation, KIAT Guru seeks to examine changes in learning outcomes due to community monthly evaluation of teacher’s performance. A community-based student learning assessment was conducted to quickly diagnose student’s literacy and numeracy basic competencies. The student learning assessment, called Tes Cepat Kemampuan Dasar (TCKD/ Quick Test on Basic Competencies), was administered by community members comprised of Village Cadres and/or User Committee members in 203 KIAT Guru pilot schools. Results of TCKD were used to inform the evaluation of education service indicators at the schools.
Initial findings suggest that: 1) Community members are capable of administering TCKD as a simple and quick learning assessment tool, 2) Learning outcomes for sampled students in intervention schools have improved, and results from TCKD provided concrete information for teachers and parents to evaluate and focus on improving service indicators to support student’s learning outcomes.