ASSESSING BASIC COMPETENCES - A PRACTICAL METHODOLOGY

Following the 1990 World Conference on Education for All in Jomtien, T hailand, many developing countries are making efforts to achieve basic education for all by the year 2000. However, when it comes to measuri ng educational progress, there are few methodologies that can overcome the many problems and controversies in this area. This paper describe s a serviceable methodology for measuring basic education (competencie s in reading, writing and arithmetic, as well as selected life skills) , which has proven to be simple, inexpensive and rapid. This approach, termed the Assessment of Basic Competencies (ABC), has been tested in Bangladesh on 2,100 children between the ages of 11 and 12. The resul ts are discussed here. This methodology may be of use to education pro gramme managers in other developing countries.