The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) in collaboration with the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) in Hamburg, Germany is hosting a workshop entitled “Introduction to sampling and analysis methods in international large-scale assessments” from Monday 18 June to Thursday 21 June 2018, at CXC Headquarters in Barbados.

The four-day workshop is being attended by Statisticians, Education Officers and Education Planners from 16 CXC Participating Territories: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Montserrat, St Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Turks and Caicos Islands.

During the four days, workshop participants will focus on deepening their understanding of sampling procedures in international large-scale assessments, its background, and its significance, and introducing the application of basic quantitative statistical methods with appropriate software.

The topics to be addressed will include all aspects of sampling and analysis including: cluster sampling, computing sampling weights, stratification, bias and precision and introduction to basic statistical methods using the IEA IDB Analyzer.

At the end of the four-day training, participants are expected to have a better understanding of basic concepts and crucial determinants of statistical sampling and the resulting implications for analysis and the interpretation of the results; develop an optimal sampling design for a particular population addressing specific objectives and conditions; Master the fundamental statistics that will serve as the base for analyzing databases from large-scale assessments; Develop an appreciation of the potential of statistics and a critical eye of when and how they should be used; Be capable of conducting and interpreting basic analyses of data from large-scale assessments.

This is the second in a series of workshop targeting Statisticians and Education Planners from across the region. The first was hosted from 29-30 June 2017 and dealt with the topic, “Cross-national Comparative Surveys in Education: Models and Methods”.

The training workshop is being facilitated by Dr Agnes Stancel-Piątak, Deputy Head of Research, Analysis and Sampling unit at the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), and Ms Sabine Tieck, Sampling Expert, Analysis and Sampling Unit, also from IEA.

The workshops are part of a CXC project funded by the Inter-American Development Bank entitled “Improving availability of education data in the Caribbean.”

Dr Wayne Wesley Director of Operations – Examinations Services said the workshop will assist education policymakers in CXC Participating Territories to use data to drive decision-making.

Audio clip: Listen to Dr Wesley’s comments here: https://goo.gl/m4pYvR

Cue in: This project or this workshop actually…

Cue out: Planned for going forward.

Duration: 59 seconds

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