Annual review of learning outcomes from WBI client courses, FY02

In FY02, the World Bank Institute (WBI) delivered 560 learning events for clients to support the Bank's operational and corporate priorities of poverty reduction and sustainable development. The participants in these events included over 48,000 government policy makers, academics, private entrepreneurs and civil society leaders, as well as World Bank staff. The Institute Evaluation Group (WBIEG) evaluated these learning events for their effectiveness in imparting knowledge to their participants, through the use of objective tests. The process of developing objective tests to measure learning improved in FY02. This led to better measurement of learning gains and may have contributed to improved course design and implementation. Major steps were taken to enhance test quality. These measures significantly improved the quality of WBI Level-2 evaluation tests with respect to their reliability, validity and item performances. Evaluation tests developed with the full support of WBIEG had higher internal consistency reliabilities, on average, than tests developed by course teams on their own (partially supported by WBIEG). Moreover, course offerings that received the full evaluation support of WBIEG achieved higher learning gains (expressed both in percentage points and as effect size) and participant satisfactions.