How the ASER test was conducted and its scoring system?

The ASER test was used with two age groups, Grades II and IV in both Nepali and maths. Randomly selected students participated in the test. The target was to test 10 students in each age group in each of the 30 schools, giving a test sample of 600. Due to the low number of students present in many of the government schools, on the testing days the final number tested was only 493.

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Table 6.1 demonstrates the composition of the students participating in the ASER test. Out of 493 students, 54% were boys and 46% were girls. It was expected that the 80% students from the government schools and remaining 20 % from the private schools maintaining the equal proportion of boys and girls (for detail please see Chapter 2, section 4, part C) were considered for the test. A more or less similar pattern as expected was seen in government (71.4%) and private schools (28.6%). The distribution of the students by ethnicity was about 68% from mainstream (privileged group) and the remaining 38% from disadvantaged groups (i.e. 23% of students from Janajati and 15% from Dalits). Similarly, the distribution in regards to the eco-belt was about 11% from the Mountain, 38% from Hills, 32% from Terai and 19% from Kathmandu valley. The distribution of boys and girls across the types of schools was found to be different but did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.485).

Table 6-1 Composition of Student participating in the ASER Test

(in absolute number, percentage (%) in parenthesis)

Types of school Boys Girls Total %

Government schools (n=24) 187 (53%) 165 (47%) 352 (100%) 71.4 Private schools (n=6) 80 (58%) 61 (42%) 141 (100%) 28.6 Total 267 (54%) 226 (46%) 493 (100%) 100.0

Sources: Author calculated based on primary data collected by a survey 2011/12.

Table 6.2 depicts the criteria for scoring a pass in the Nepali test using the ASER tools. The ASER test specifies a level of attainment in each subject at each grade which constitutes a pass level. For example, at Grade II in Nepali, a 'pass' consists of successfully reading any four single words chosen from a list of common words. At the second level of the test the lowest level is the successful recognition of any four single alphabet letters chosen from a list (Ka to Gya). For Grade IV, a 'pass' consists of successfully reading a story. At the second level of the test the lowest level to pass is the successful reading of text (I and II) comprised of a few easy paragraphs.

158 Description Grade II Grade II (Pass scores) Grade IV Grade IV (Pass score) Indentifying Nepali alphabetical single words

Ask the child to read any five alphabet letters from the 10 letters Out of 5 read of which 4 must be correct Identifying single words

Ask the child to read any five words from the 10 common words Out of 5 read of which 4 must be correct. Reading short paragraphs of text (easy and simple)

Ask the child to read the short text (five sentences)

Ask the child to read the short text (five

sentences).

They must read the text correctly

Reading short story (hard and complex)

Ask the child to read a short story

Ask the child to read a short story

They must successfully read the full story

Sources: Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2010.

Table 6-3 sets out the ASER maths tools. The ASER test specifies a level of attainment in each subject at each grade which constitutes a pass level. For example, at Grade II in maths a 'pass' consists of successfully reading or indentifying four numbers from a list of ten common double digit numbers (11-99). At the second level of the test the lowest level is the successful recognition of any four numbers chosen from a list of eight single digit numbers (1-9). For Grade IV, a 'pass' consists of two successful attempts at division (a single digit number used as a divider with a three digit number) from the eight division options provided. At the second level of the test the lowest level to pass consists of two successful attempts at addition or subtraction (with double digit numbers) from the eight sum options provided (see Tables 6.3 and 6.4).

Table 6-3 Criteria for scoring as 'PASS' in the ASER Maths Test Description Grade II Grade II

(Pass scores) Grade IV

Grade IV (Pass score) Identifying single digits (1-9) Eight numbers

Ask the child to read from the given list, any 5 numbers out of which 4 must be correct

The child must correctly read any 4 numbers out of 5

159 Identifying double digit numbers (10-99) Ten numbers

Ask the child to read any 5 double digit numbers out of which 4 must be correct

The child must correctly read any 4 double digit numbers out of 5 Two digit carry

over sum (addition) number

Ask the child to solve any 2 sum problem. Both must be correct Ask the child to do two successful attempts at addition. Both must be correct The child must be able solve the sum/addition correctly Divisions (a divider with three digit number)

Ask the child solve any 1 division problems, which must be correct Ask the child to solve any 1 division problem, which must be correct The child must be able solve the division correctly

Sources: Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2010.

Table 6-4 ASER Tools for Maths

Sources: Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2010.

6.2 Analysis of the Learning Outcomes of Student Performance on ASER