Brazilian School Tops Test Results – With a Hand From Pearson

Dec 13, 2012 11:55 AM ET
Nucleus of Support to Municipalities and States Learning System

Located about 600 kilometers north of São Paulo, the Brazilian municipality of Nova Ponte (MG) earned top honours in this year’s test of school achievement – with a helping hand from Pearson.

With support from Pearson’s NAME (Nucleus of Support to Municipalities and States Learning System), the Elementary School II (upper years) in Nova Ponte scored an average of 6.8 in the IDEB 2011 (Index of Basic Education Development) exam, top among 3,067 municipalities studied.

NAME is part of the school systems business acquired by Pearson in Brazil in 2010, along with several other divisions which support private schools.

In the latest IDEB results, 90% of the municipalities that adopted the NAME Learning System achieved a 2011 IDEB score above the Brazilian average, and the average score for those municipalities was 20% higher than the Brazil national average. In addition, 70% of municipalities that adopted the NAME system showed an improvement on their IDEB scores compared to the last time the test was administered, two years ago.

Pearson expects that the sistemas or school systems business it operates in Brazil can be a model for similar initiatives in other parts of the world.