Information Quality

6Education

6.1 Introduction

Education is one of the most powerful instruments for reducing poverty and inequality in society and lays the foundation for sustained economic growth. The second millennium development goal of the World Bank has been to achieve universal primary education by 2015 (www.worldbank.org/mdgs/education.html). In this context, the World Bank compiles data on education inputs, participation, efficiency, and outcomes from official responses to surveys and from reports provided by education authorities in each country. The Key Education Indicators Dashboard presents a global portrait of education systems, from preprimary to tertiary education. The World Bank EdStats All Indicator Query contains around 2500 internationally comparable indicators that describe education access, progression, completion, literacy, teachers, population, and expenditures (http://datatopics.worldbank.org/education). The indicators cover the education cycle from preprimary to vocational and tertiary education. The database also includes learning outcome data from international and regional learning assessments (e.g., PISA, PIACC), equity data from household surveys, and projection/attainment data to 2050. Several quality indicators are tracked and reported including repetition rates, primary completion rates, pupil–teacher ratios, and adult literacy rates. The currently available reports rely on over 2000 quality indicators designed to answer specific questions such as the following: ...