Data

Average learning outcomes

What you should know about this indicator

Harmonized Test Scores from major international student achievement testing programs. They are measured in TIMSS-equivalent units, where 300 is minimal attainment and 625 is advanced attainment. Most recent estimates are used. The year of the most recent estimate is shown in the data notes. Test scores from the following testing programs are included: • TIMSS/PIRLS: Refers to the average of test scores from TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) and PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study), both carried out by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement. Data from each PIRLS round is moved to the year of the nearest TIMSS round and averaged with the TIMSS data. • PISA: Refers to test scores from the Programme for International Student Assessment • PISA+TIMSS/PIRLS: Refers to the average of these programs for countries and years where both are available • SACMEQ: Refers to test scores from the Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality • PASEC: Refers to test scores from the Program of Analysis of Education Systems • LLECE: Refers to test scores from the Latin American Laboratory for Assessment of the Quality of Education • EGRA: Refers to test scores from Early Grade Reading Assessments. This indicator is part of the Human Capital Index (HCI). For more information, consult the Global Database on Education Quality (Patrinos and Angrist, 2018): http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/390321538076747773/Global-Dataset-on-Education-Quality-A-Review-and-Update-2000-2017

World Bank variable id: HD.HCI.HLOS

Original source: Patrinos and Angrist (2018). http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/390321538076747773/Global-Dataset-on-Education-Quality-A-Review-and-Update-2000-2019

Source
World Bank (2023) – processed by Our World in Data
Last updated
July 10, 2023
Date range
2010–2020
Unit
score

Sources and processing

This data is based on the following sources

The World Bank EdStats database offers a comprehensive array of over 8,000 internationally comparable indicators related to education access, progression, completion, literacy, teachers, demographics, and expenditures. It covers the education cycle from pre-primary to vocational and tertiary education, including data on learning outcomes from assessments like PISA, TIMSS, PIRLS, equity data from household surveys, and educational projections up to 2050.

Retrieved on
July 26, 2023
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
World Bank Education Statistics (EdStats), World Bank, 2023. Licence: CC BY 4.0.

How we process data at Our World in Data

All data and visualizations on Our World in Data rely on data sourced from one or several original data providers. Preparing this original data involves several processing steps. Depending on the data, this can include standardizing country names and world region definitions, converting units, calculating derived indicators such as per capita measures, as well as adding or adapting metadata such as the name or the description given to an indicator.

At the link below you can find a detailed description of the structure of our data pipeline, including links to all the code used to prepare data across Our World in Data.

Read about our data pipeline

Reuse this work

  • All data produced by third-party providers and made available by Our World in Data are subject to the license terms from the original providers. Our work would not be possible without the data providers we rely on, so we ask you to always cite them appropriately (see below). This is crucial to allow data providers to continue doing their work, enhancing, maintaining and updating valuable data.
  • All data, visualizations, and code produced by Our World in Data are completely open access under the Creative Commons BY license. You have the permission to use, distribute, and reproduce these in any medium, provided the source and authors are credited.

Citations

How to cite this page

To cite this page overall, including any descriptions, FAQs or explanations of the data authored by Our World in Data, please use the following citation:

“Data Page: Average learning outcomes”. Our World in Data (2024). Data adapted from World Bank. Retrieved from https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/average-harmonized-learning-outcome-scores [online resource]
How to cite this data

In-line citationIf you have limited space (e.g. in data visualizations), you can use this abbreviated in-line citation:

World Bank (2023) – processed by Our World in Data

Full citation

World Bank (2023) – processed by Our World in Data. “Average learning outcomes” [dataset]. World Bank, “World Bank Education Statistics (EdStats) 2023” [original data]. Retrieved November 17, 2024 from https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/average-harmonized-learning-outcome-scores