<p>As governments and donors focused on increasing access to education in the wake of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the issue of learning received comparatively little concerted attention. Some organisations working in countries where access was rapidly increasing took notice of the fact that, while rising enrollment rates were being celebrated, there was little evidence of whether or not learning was taking place.</p>
<p>One of the results of this realisation was the emergence of the citizen-led assessment movement, initiated by Pratham in India in 2005. The movement is an attempt by civil-society organisations to gather evidence on learning and use it for two main purposes: first, to increase awareness of low learning outcomes and second, to stimulate actions that are intended to address the learning gap. </p>
<p>In an effort to more deeply understand the citizen-led assessment model and to evaluate its ability to measure learning, disseminate findings, and stimulate awareness and action, Results for Development Institute (R4D) evaluated four citizen-led assessments between May 2013 and November 2014: the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) in India, Beekunko in Mali, Jàngandoo in Senegal, and Uwezo in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. This summary includes a subset of recommendations that draw on the key evaluation findings.</p>