Person:
Luna-Bazaldua, Diego
Author Name Variants
Fields of Specialization
EDUCATION,
LEARNING ASSESSMENT,
EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT
Degrees
ORCID
External Links
Departments
Education Global Practice
Externally Hosted Work
Contact Information
Last updated
January 31, 2023
Biography
Diego Luna-Bazaldua is an Education Specialist in the Education Global Practice, where he supports World Bank staff and clients in building capacity in technical processes linked to the development of psychological and educational assessments. His areas of expertise are focused on Psychometrics and Assessment in psychology and education. Prior to joining the Bank, Diego taught at universities in Mexico and the United States. He also worked at the university entrance examinations department of the National Autonomous University of Mexico. He has received awards, grants, and honors from organizations such as the Psychometric Society, the National Council for Research and Technology of Mexico, the Fulbright Program, and Teachers College, Columbia University.
Publication Search Results
1 - 8 of 8
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Publication
Guidance Note on Using Learning Assessment in the Process of School Reopening
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-11-21)As countries consider how to reopen schools safely in the context of COVID-19 (coronavirus), one key question is how to assess students' learning to support learning recovery. The expected magnitude of learning losses, particularly among students with the highest needs, makes it essential for key stakeholders in the education process — policymakers, teachers, school principals, students, and their parents — to determine where students are in their learning trajectory relative to what had been expected prior to the pandemic, so they can adjust instruction and allocate resources accordingly. To collect this information, stakeholders can rely on student learning assessment, which is an essential feedback mechanism in the education system. This note provides key steps that countries with different availability of resources should consider in developing their plans for learning assessment activities to support learning recovery in the context of school reopening. Throughout this note, assessment of student learning is defined as gathering and evaluating information on what students know, understand, and can do to make informed decisions about the next steps in the educational process. In addition, some considerations and country examples for the implementation of high-stakes examinations are discussed. This note concludes with examples of learning assessment activities that countries around the world are planning or implementing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Likewise, this note highlights important lessons that can support resilience to future emergencies and crises. -
Publication
Planning a Large-scale Assessment of Student Achievement: What are Essential Elements of the Assessment Framework?
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022-06-27)An important part of planning a large-scale assessment of student achievement is developing the framework for the assessment. In many education projects financed by the World Bank and other international organizations, the development of an assessment framework is included as one of the results indicators for the project. This note addresses frequently asked questions about the contents of an assessment framework. Examples of assessment frameworks are included at the end. An assessment framework describes what is being assessed, why it is being assessed, how it is being assessed, and who is being assessed. A well thought-through assessment framework supports the development of appropriate assessment instruments, sample designs, implementation strategies, analytical approaches, and reporting structures. Indeed, assessment frameworks are one of the building blocks for strengthening national assessment systems. At the same time, frameworks are only guiding documents and should be flexible enough to allow for necessary changes to the design, conduct, or analysis of the assessment in response to conditions on the ground. This guidance note discusses how to develop an assessment framework for a large-scale assessment exercise that will provide information on overall learning levels in an education system. Typically, such assessments are national in scope, but they may also be sub-national or international. -
Publication
A Synthesis Report on Piloting of Remote Phone-Based Formative Assessment Solutions in Ghana, Nepal, and Pakistan
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022)School closures related to Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) not only disrupted education but also impacted teachers’ ability to know whether and what their students were learning. This information gap was most challenging in contexts with limited internet connectivity and low access to smart digital devices. In such circumstances, conducting formative assessments remotely using basic phones was seen as a means to provide timely information to teachers, parents, and students and support learning continuity outside the classroom. As students return to school, the same solutions can be used to complement in-person instruction to accelerate learning recovery, expand the use of formative assessment in hard-to-reach schools, and improve the resilience of education systems when confronted by future shocks. This report describes the three pilot studies that aimed to test the logistical and technological feasibility of using short message service (SMS), interactive voice recording (IVR), and live phone calls (LPC) to conduct formative assessment of foundational math and literacy skills for primary-grade students. These pilot studies were conducted in Ghana, Nepal, and Pakistan between October 2020 and January 2022. -
Publication
Primer on Large-Scale Assessments of Educational Achievement
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2021-04-26)To improve their education systems, countries around the world have increasingly initiated national largescale assessment programs or participated in international or regional large-scale assessment studies for the first time. Well-constructed large-scale assessments can provide credible information on student achievement levels, which, in turn, can promote better resource allocation to schools, stronger education service delivery, and improved learning outcomes. The World Bank developed this Primer on Large-Scale Assessments of Educational Achievement as a firststop resource for those wanting to understand how to design, administer, analyze, and use the results from these assessments of student achievement. The book addresses frequently asked questions from people working on large-scale assessment projects and those interested in making informed decisions about them. Each chapter introduces a stage in the assessment process and offers advice, guidelines, and country examples. This book also reports on emerging trends in large-scale assessment and provides updated information on regional and international large-scale assessment programs. -
Publication
How Do We Know Teacher Professional Development Is Working?: Measuring Changes in Teaching Practices in the Classroom
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-12-10)The teaching that students receive in the classroom is the most important school-based determinant of student learning. The objective of this note is to provide guidance on how to: (1) establish a numerical indicator to measure changes in teaching practices through the use of classroom observation tools for use in education projects, and (2) produce a benchmark to compare changes in teaching practices through this indicator. The way that teachers interact with their students in the classroom makes all the difference in ensuring students’ academic and socioemotional learning. For this reason, education projects that seek to improve student learning frequently include components focused on improving teaching practices through interventions such as modifying the curriculum, improving pre-service or in-service teacher training, and integrating additional instructional support to the classroom through the use of structured instructional material or technology. This note provides guidance on how to establish a numerical indicator to measure teaching practices through classroom observation tools, and how to benchmark this indicator to track changes in teaching practices over time for use in educational interventions. This guidance is structured through a three-step process: step 1, selecting an appropriate classroom observation tool; step 2, selecting an indicator to track teaching practices using that tool; and step 3, establishing a reasonable benchmarking target for the chosen indicator. -
Publication
Guiding Questions for Choosing the Right Tools to Measure Early Childhood Outcomes: Why, What, Who, and How
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022-02-18)A growing understanding of the importance of children’s earliest years has led to an increasing desire to measure early childhood development (ECD) outcomes. There are now nearly 150 tools for measuring ECD outcomes internationally, which can make it challenging to choose an appropriate measurement tool for a given measurement effort. This document guides the user through the why, who, what, and how questions that must be considered prior to selecting tools for measuring ECD outcomes. Users should document their responses at each step to collate the information needed to identify and select an appropriate ECD measurement tool. -
Publication
Psychometric Considerations for Implementing Phone-Based Learning Assessments
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022)The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a significant impact on education worldwide, affecting whether and how students learn. World Bank estimates and initial analysis at the country level indicate that school closures and interruptions to in-person education are likely to negatively impact student learning. Moreover, these estimates predict that students in low- and middle-income countries will suffer from more significant learning losses than students in high-income countries, worsening the existing global learning crisis. As part of their education response to the pandemic, many countries have provided learning content to students at home through various means, including through the internet via devices such as computers, tablets, and smartphones, as well as through television, radio, printed materials, and feature (basic) phones. With schools closed, teachers have also had to adapt to using these different media to continue their teaching. So, phone-based assessment solutions can be used for at least two purposes. The first purpose is to conduct formative assessment, for example to gauge how well students have absorbed the learning content, identify any misconceptions in understanding, provide constructive feedback to students or caregivers, and offer additional learning resources and activities to support learning. The second purpose is to conduct impact evaluations, for example analyzing the effect on student learning outcomes of interventions introduced in response to the pandemic. -
Publication
Guidance Note on Phone-based Formative Assessment: Guidance for Evaluating Implementation Feasibility of Phone-Based Formative Assessments in Low-Resource Settings
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022)Phone-Based Formative Assessment refers to the use of mobile phone technology to engage students outside the classroom, assess their learning in real time, and provide timely, constructive feedback. Such assessment is particularly critical to promote learning continuity in the context of COVID-19-related school closures, which have led to the expansion and availability of remote teaching and learning resources.