Nigeria › National Assessment of Learning Achievement in Basic Education (NALABE)
From November 2024 through December 2025, UNICEF partnered with Creative Learning in Nigeria to support the analysis and reporting of the National Assessment of Learning Achievement in Basic Education (NALABE) 2022. Conducted across all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), NALABE 2022 assessed the learning achievement of more than 473,000 learners in public and private primary and junior secondary schools. The assessment measured student performance in Mathematics, English Studies, Basic Science & Technology, and Social Studies at national and state levels, while examining differences in learning outcomes by gender, school type, geographic location.
Through this project, Creative Learning provided technical expertise in psychometric and statistical analysis, and the development of national and state-level reports and scorecards to help inform education policy and instructional programming in Nigeria. The work included the development of NALABE reporting scale based on Item Response Theory (IRT) psychometric models, followed by statistical analysis of both achievement and survey data, and the creation of reports and scorecards that included tabular and graphical representations of overall and disaggregated findings. To support interpretation of findings, an innovative analysis of background factors associated with student learning was conducted, which included creation of background profiles for high and low performing schools and various regression analysis models, which informed the development of policy recommendations. Creative also advised on public report launching and dissemination activities, and provided technical guidance for federal and state governments on how to use assessment findings to strengthen education planning and improve learning achievement.
Key Achievements:
Evaluated cleanliness and integrity of data across states and conducted additional data cleaning where needed.
Established sampling weights and conducted data analysis of student performance based on their total scores and sub-scores (themes, sub-themes, cognitive levels) at national and state levels, with desegregation for school location (urban-rural), school type (public-private), and gender (male-female).
Developed a comprehensive 323-page national report that included findings about learning achievement, expressed in both scale score metrics and percentage of students at proficiency levels, and findings about contextual factors associated with student performance. These findings represent an invaluable resource that informs evidence-based policy recommendations to strengthen education quality, equity, assessment systems, and learning outcomes nationwide.
Created the State Scorecards for the subjects of Mathematics, English Studies, Basic Science & Technology, and Social Studies, which contain detailed information about student strengths and weaknesses in their knowledge and skills customized for each of 37 states. The State Scorecards are designed to aid state instructional support teams in development of remedial and enrichment instructional practices to improve student learning.
Donor: UNICEF
Start Date: November 2024
End Date: December 2025
Learners Assessed: 473,000
