EDUCATION IN ARGENTINA:

STANDING IN THE DARK

From: Centro de Polticas para la Justicia Social (think tank)
To: Ministry of Education of Argentina

Word count: 709

TA: Christoph Marius Kramer

Author: Juan Martn Fernndez

Jmf2244@columbia.edu
Op-ed
Nobody knows what to do about education in Argentina.
This is why.
The educational information system is falling apart. No major improvement in educational
outcomes could be expected with no data to make decisions on.

Alternative titles
Education in Argentina: standing in the dark
Guessing for a change: education stats in Argentina
Failed in stats: educational information in Argentina

By Juan Martn Fernndez

NEW YORK - That Argentina is doing a lousy job in educational matters is not a secret.

We are reminded every three years, when PISA results are published. Then, we

acknowledge that our kids are doing worse than most Latin Americans in Math,

Reading a Sciences. As a consequence, a spurt of laments and demands for change

reaches the headlines while authorities deploy a set of excuses, as a recent report from
The Dialogue shows. As this week the PISA 2015 results will be released, we will see

this tragedy staging all over again. Immediately after, education will vanish from the

public agenda for three more years.

Why do we need an external agency reporting on our educational attainments to

discuss education? The symbolic appeal of international comparison is a factor. But a

crucial reason is that Argentinas own educational statistics are far from optimal. As

part of a more general statistical blackout, the last years have witnessed a drastic

deterioration in the information available on educational attainment, grade retention,

teacher evaluation, state of infrastructure and even educational spending. As an

example, the last teachers census data available goes back to 2004. With no

information, problems hardly reach the public arena. Out of sight, out of mind.

The Macri administration seemingly wants to fix this. However, it started with the

wrong foot. The newly created Secretary of Educational Evaluation launched the

Aprender survey on October 18, 2016, a standardized assessment of attainments

very similar to one that was already in place. Teacher unions immediately opposed it,

claiming that neoliberal 90s were coming back, and that the government was trying to

commodify education and control teachers. Considering the immense amount of

power that teacher unions hold, not including them in the design of the evaluation

system certainly looks like a tactical mistake.

A better political approach could have been to turn on the enacted-but-never-

operative National Council of Educational Quality (CONACE). A multi-stakeholder

integrated body (business, unions, academy, provinces, federal government), it was

created by the National Education Act of 2006 to monitor the whole educational
system. Putting CONACE to work could broaden the discussion and build support for

more far-reaching reforms. After all, several actors hold big stakes in education. Unions

understand technological change pose a threat to their affiliates if skill formation does

not keep the pace. Parents want their children to succeed in life, as students

themselves want. NGOs and civil society may also activate if they are asked to join a

debate.

Another mistake is only promoting the measurement of (uni-dimensionally and poorly

defined) outcomes, with no reference to inputs. To assess what resources are available

and what strategies are deployed is important to understand what works and what

does not. Only then we can understand why Rio Negro or La Pampa provinces are

performing much better than what is predicted by their level of development, while

Catamarca and La Rioja are falling behind. An evidence-based approach is urgently

needed to allocate scarce resources like teachers, training, buildings, technology and

management. Smarter decisions will be made if such information is available.

A culture of high quality has to be re-established in Argentinian education. Assessing

outcomes is crucial for that. Not only through standardized tests (that, by the way, are

falling from grace all over the world), but also through comprehensive evaluation

schemes with heavy use of local inputs. Fragile provincial bureaucracies will also be

grateful for up-to-date information about the current situation of the system and

proven ways to improve it. Not only policymakers are practicing blind decision-making,

also parents and students lack basic performance metrics to choose schools or to make

politicians accountable for the outcomes. In the age of information and in such an

information-intensive sector like education, it is a sin that so little data is available.

 It is hard to know if the neglect of educational statistics is the cause of the lack of public

discussion on educational problems, or the other way around. They most likely

influence each other. This is why re-installing a consensual information system may be

a cost-effective way of lifting the education out of the dark in Argentina and not having

to wait three more years until the next PISA release for some light on the issue.

Twittables

How can governments make good decisions in #educationpolicy when there is no data
available? Smart decisions need info. ow.ly/x2edX38

A culture of high quality has to be re-established in Argentinian education. Assessing outcomes

is crucial for that. ow.ly/x2edX38

PISA is here to tell us how bad we are doing in education in Arg. Why dont we have our own
assessment of the situation? ow.ly/x2edX38

Guesstimates have to stop being the base for decision-making in the education system. Hard
data is indispensable. ow.ly/x2edX38

Installing a consensual information system is a cost-effective way of lifting the education out
of the dark in Argentina. ow.ly/x2edX38

A multi-stakeholder approach is needed in order to improve educational stats. Macri started

with a wrong foot with Aprender. ow.ly/x2edX38