O.5 Problem-Driven Iterative Adaptation Drives Successful Policy Implementation

22 | Quality Early Learning

information is available for decision-making. Appropriate instruments are needed for monitoring learning and quality standards. In the medium to longer term, these standards, along with the identified monitoring instruments, contribute to the establishment of a monitoring or information system to track ECE implementation, cost-effectiveness, service provision, and child outcomes. An effective monitoring or information system also includes mechanisms for access to, and use of, data across a wide range of stakeholders to create learning feedback loops.

Clear goals are key to the design and implementation of monitoring and quality assurance efforts. Child outcome assessments have a variety of purposes (see, for example, table 1A.1 in Clarke and Luna-Bazaldua 2021), and different instruments are designed accordingly. For example, an assessment used by teachers in the classroom to inform instruction looks different from one used to monitor child outcomes at the population level, and from a screening or diagnostic tool designed to identify children with developmental delays or disabilities. To ensure that the resulting data are fit for purpose, the selected instruments must align with the intended goal of the assessment. In addition, care must be taken to ensure that instruments are used only for their intended purposes. Stakeholders must be clear on the purposes of the assessments and safeguards in place to ensure that assessments are not misused to, for example, exclude children from the education system.

Figure O.5 Problem-Driven Iterative Adaptation Drives Successful Policy Implementation

Implement E val u a te D esig n opti o n s E val a te

Implement uIteration 1 Iteration 2

Define and diagnose problems Adapt Redefine and rediagnose problems R ed e s i g n opti o n s

Adapt

Improved learning

Repeat

Source: Adapted from Andrews, Pritchett, and Woolcock 2017 in World Bank 2018b.