The Angolan education system has been undergoing reform since the advent of peace in 2002. A range of initiatives has led to an increase in student enrollment, but as yet there has been no systematic measurement of how well schoolchildren are actually learning. The Angolan Ministry of Education, with support from the World Bank, is now embarking on a survey to assess reading skills among third-grade children. Sistemas Integrales is helping Ministry staff to implement this survey, the first national-level assessment of its kind in Angola.

The first step was to establish an inventory of schools from which to draw the sample (of course, this inventory will have many other uses; it is a strategic asset for national and local government). From it, 144 schools were selected across each of Angola's six major regions. Within each school, 36 children will be assessed; class teachers, head teachers and parents or guardians will also be interviewed.

As well as advising on sampling, Sistemas Integrales' experts are assisting the Education Ministry with data-entry, data quality assurance and the organisation of field-work. Field staff will work in teams of three interviewers plus one supervisor, who will enter the data as they are gathered and check them for consistency while the team is still at that school. Any errors can thus be corrected before the data are sent to the survey headquarters and the team moves on to its next location. The whole process of assessments, interviews and (if necessary) re-interviews will take one week in each school.

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