Measuring learning disparities to drive policy change

Martín is a Peruvian sociologist who served as the Minister of Education at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. He oversaw the country's pre-primary, primary, secondary, and higher education systems and designed the national strategy for distance education in response to the pandemic. Between 2018 and 2020, he served as the head of Peru’s National Superintendence of Higher University Education (SUNEDU), the regulatory body of Peru's university system, where he led the reform for improving the quality of higher education. From 2015 to 2018, Martín was also a member of its Board of Directors.

Dan Wagner is the UNESCO Chair in Learning and Literacy and Professor of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the Founding Director of the International Literacy Institute, co-established by UNESCO and the University of Pennsylvania, Founding Director of the US National Center on Adult Literacy, and PennGSE’s International Educational Development Program. Dr. Wagner has extensive experience and has served as an advisor to UNESCO, UNICEF, World Bank, USAID, DFID, and others.

Pablo Fraser joined the GEM Report team in March 2024 as Chief Education Monitoring. Prior to this position, Pablo worked at the UNESCO Santiago office leading the teacher policy agenda in Latin America and the Caribbean and providing research guidance to the Comparative and Explanatory Regional Study (ERCE) developed by the Latin American Laboratory for Education Quality Evaluation (LLECE).

Before joining UNESCO, Pablo worked in the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) at the OECD for seven years. In this position he led the development of a series of reports and working papers, overviewed the questionnaires development, advised and performed research analysis and provided policy guidance. He also contributed to the development of the PISA 2022 questionnaires, the TALIS Video Study and a series of policy reviews across the world. Pablo was also responsible for developing and implementing the OECD Teacher Well-Being agenda.

Marcela joined the Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report Team in August 2020. Previously, she has worked supporting researchers in strategy and industrial/environmental economics (INSEAD in France and Centro de Investigación de la Universidad del Pacífico in Peru); as well as in consulting firms as a data analyst. She has developed economic modelling projects for state institutions like the Peruvian Ministries of Economics, Production, Environment, Housing and Sanitation and Antitrust authorities.  In the team, she works updating and calculating SDG indicators for the World Inequality Database on Education (WIDE).  She holds a masters in Economic Theory and Econometrics from Toulouse School of Economics and a bachelor in Economics from Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú.

Alejandro Sinon Ibañez is the Programme Manager and Policy Specialist at the Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics (SEA-PLM) Regional Secretariat/ Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) Secretariat, based in Bangkok, Thailand. He leads SEA-PLM, the first regional large-scale learning assessment and capacity-building programme designed to monitor and improve student learning outcomes. His primary focus is on leveraging system assessments to drive improvements in basic education. Through SEA-PLM surveys, he collaborates closely with SEA countries to assess and strengthen policies and practices at both the system and school levels. He has extensive experience in the design of large-scale assessments, test development, and policy dialogue, with a particular emphasis on cross-border knowledge sharing, peer learning, and fostering collaboration to support data-driven educational reforms in Southeast Asia.

Alejandro Vera is an expert in educational policy and planning, with extensive experience at both national and international levels. He currently serves as a Programme Specialist at UNESCO's Regional Office in Santiago and as Chief of Education Policy, Planning, and Monitoring. In this role, he leads the regional monitoring of the SDG4/Education 2030 agenda, coordinating efforts with regional partners and stakeholders as well as global initiatives to produce and analyze education data and indicators. Previously, he has served as a Social Policy Specialist at UNICEF's Bolivia Office and as an Assistant Programme Specialist at the UNESCO Institute for Statistics.

Before joining the United Nations, Alejandro worked for almost a decade at the Ministry of Education in Argentina and also for the Presidential Unit on Education Evaluation and Planning. In addition to his work at government institutions, he worked for the Center for the Implementation of Public Policies for Equity and Growth (CIPPEC), where he developed research and analysis on education policies.

Stephanie is a programme specialist in quantitative research methods for monitoring and evaluating education quality and learning outcomes, as well as Education Management Information Systems (EMIS). She is actively involved in training, research, and technical assistance in the Data and Evidence cluster of the IIEP Technical Cooperation Team.

She has extensive experience in designing and implementing large-scale educational policy research studies to assess quality and equity in education. She joined IIEP in 1999 to provide support for the initial three studies of the Southern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (SACMEQ). Currently, she is the coordinator of the specialised course on “Using learning assessment data to monitor SDG 4 progress.”

Eliane Solange Rolenga Mpira taught for five years before training as a Planning Officer at the École Normale Supérieure in Libreville, Gabon, and joining the Ministry of Education as a research officer. Later, she earned a diploma in Education Planning from Morocco. In 2011, she became Deputy Director and then Director of Planning. Since 2021, she has served as Director General of Statistics, Planning, and Forecasting.