Global Bank of Items – Global Alliance to Monitor Learning

The World Bank and UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) have partnered to help countries strengthen their learning assessment systems, better monitor what students are learning in internationally-comparable ways and improve the breadth and quality of global data on education through the Initiative to improve global learning through data.

To monitor progress on SDG Indicator 4.1.1, the Global Bank of Items was designed as a global public repository of items, which countries can use to securely access globally shared items and generate learning data to assess reading and mathematics in grades 2 or 3 of primary education, at the end of primary education, and lower secondary education.

What is the Bank of Items?

Which items should be submitted?

What and how to submit?

Resources

The Bank of Items is designed as a global public repository of items and once completely developed, will be governed as part of the World Bank and UIS Initiative to improve global learning through data, that countries can use to store and manage their own national assessment items, at the same time it will allow them to securely access additional globally shared items under an agreement of collaboration with UIS and the World Bank. It is intended to:

Store both new and developed items following the digital development principles of open education technologies;
Include an online crowdsourcing module for item development and validation;
Incorporate already developed and equated items for cross-national assessments to use as initial anchors for cross-country comparability;
Index already developed items from national and cross-national assessments based on the specific skills included in th Global Content Framework (for reading and mathematics) and Global Proficiency Framework (for reading and mathematics) and their corresponding item psychometric metadata; and
Include existing guidelines on multiple-choice item development and validation for countries, item developers, and reviewers.

A strategic partnership framework is proposed to maximize the synergies among one or more academic institutions with technical expertise in the development of online open-source repositories for learning assessments, the comparative advantage and expertise of the World Bank in supporting and implementing international development projects, and the role UNESCO UIS as the custodian UN agency for SDG 4 data.

The items should be assessing either of the two domains covered by indicator 4.1.1, reading or mathematics. These 2 domains are composed of different learning areas:

READING		MATHEMATICS
	Reading comprehension		Number knowledge
	▪Retrieving information		▪Number sense:
	▪Interpreting information		○ counting, comparing, ordering
	▪Reflecting information		○ place value, rounding
	Decoding		▪Operations
			○ adding, subtracting
			○ multiplying, dividing
			▪Real world problems
			▪Fractions
			Measurement
			▪Measurement units,
			▪Area, perimeter, volume
			▪Time
			Statistical and probability
			▪Data management
			Geometry
			▪Constructions
			▪Properties

All items should be submitted at uis.lo@unesco.org in a Word document or any other editable format with as many information on the parameters of the items as possible (see below for description of parameters) and any relevant metadata document.

The layout of the item or stimulus should be clear and any graphics supporting the item or stimulus should also be submitted.

Brief guide for submission of items (English, Français, Español)

Parameters of items

Item parameter	Description
Item	An item is a question as part of an assessment.
Correct answer of the item
Author(s) and name for the item	The name of the item’s author and the date it was created.
Status of the item	The status of the item refers to the current use of the item in administered assessments:
	Newly added, in piloting phrase, active, retired (for items which are no longer used in assessments submitted to student)
Angoff ratings	The Angoff ratings are obtained using the Angoff Method.
Classical test theory statistics	These include the average score, item difficulty, and the test’s reliability.
Item response theory statistics	These include statistics on measurement error (standard error for example).
Link to the test blueprint	A test blueprint is an outline of the test which links the items to the learning goals.
Item history	The history of the item refers to the dates (year) when the item was used, reviews following its uses, and user-defined fields.

Metadata

Any relevant metadata should also be submitted by providing (if available):

Content area (use construct areas as previously presented)
Source
Prior administration of item (year, grade, assessment)
Language of item
Notes on copyright, permissions or ownership