Ecuador improves learning in mathematics and science in seventh grade

Ecuador obtained better results than the rest of Latin America and the Caribbean for its seventh grade students in Mathematics and Science, although the country maintains challenges in Reading, according to the results of the Regional Comparative and Explanatory Study, ERCE 2019, released this Tuesday by Unesco.

According to the ERCE2019 Study, fourth grade students showed results similar to the regional average in Reading, while seventh grade students were lower.

Regarding the previous evaluation, the TERCE 2013, Ecuador improved its results in seventh grade in Mathematics and Sciences, but did not register progress in the remaining tests, where it maintained its averages.

These are some of the main findings released by the Latin American Laboratory for Evaluation of the Quality of Education (LLECE), of the Regional Office of Education for Latin America and the Caribbean (OREALC / Unesco Santiago).

The regional study analyzed the performance of 160,000 third and sixth grade primary school students in 16 countries in the region.

In Ecuador, a total of 13,434 boys and girls participated in the study (6,676 from fourth grade and 6,758 from seventh grade). The tests were given in 2019 and measured the curricular areas of Reading, Writing and Mathematics. In sixth grade (seventh in the case of Ecuador), the area of ​​Sciences was also evaluated.

Claudia Uribe, director of the Regional Office of Education for Latin America and the Caribbean (OREALC / Unesco Santiago), valued that the results “show very low levels of learning in the region and a stagnation in its progress, even prior to the pandemic “and warned that” education systems have less than a decade to achieve the goals committed in the 2030 Agenda. “

For this reason, he urged to adopt “urgent measures to overcome this crisis in learning that affects more than half of the student population and that, without a doubt, was expanded and deepened with Covid 19”.

In Ecuador, the differences in learning by gender are significant in favor of girls in Reading in both grades analyzed, a situation that occurs in most of the countries of the region.

The aspects associated with achieving higher learning in the country are access to preschool education, weekly study days, parental involvement, parents’ expectations and the higher socioeconomic level of families.

On the contrary, those considered a limitation for learning are repetition and absence from classes. In turn, it is observed that students from native peoples obtain lower results.

The coordinator of the LLECE Laboratory, Carlos Henríquez, considered that “Ecuador has the urgent challenge of generating a development plan for the educational system and strengthening the institutional framework.”

And he asked to recognize the importance of gender equality and cultural diversity in order to “promote educational opportunities so that each and every student has the fundamental learning for their development.” (I)