Romania’s education system has made impressive strides over the past two decades, with an increasing share of students mastering the basic competencies that they need for life and work. But these average improvements mask significant disparities in learning outcomes and attainment, with an ...

This review, developed in cooperation with UNICEF, provides Serbia with recommendations to help strengthen its evaluation and assessment system to focus on support for student learning. It will be of interest to Serbia, as well as other countries looking to make more effective use of their evaluation and assessment system to improve quality and equity, and result in better outcomes for all students.

This review, developed in partnership with UNICEF, provides Georgia with recommendations to strengthen its evaluation and assessment system to focus on helping students learn. It will be of interest to countries that wish to strengthen their own evaluation and assessment systems and, in turn, improve educational outcomes.

Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) has high levels of educational attainment and performs similar to other Western Balkan economies in international assessments of student learning, like the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). However, large shares of students in BiH continue to leave school without mastering basic competencies and there are signs of inequities in the learning outcomes.

This review, developed in co-operation with UNICEF, provides Albania with recommendations to help strengthen its evaluation and assessment system to focus on support for student learning. It will be of interest to Albania, as well as other countries looking to make more effective use of their evaluation and assessment system to improve quality and equity, and result in better outcomes for all students.

The Republic of North Macedonia has made remarkable progress in expanding access to education and strengthening institutional capacity. Yet, the majority of young Macedonians leave school without mastering the basic competencies for life and work and students’ background continues to influence performance. This review, developed in cooperation with UNICEF, provides North Macedonia with recommendations to help strengthen its evaluation and assessment system, by moving towards a system where assessment provides students with helpful feedback to improve learning.

Over the past three decades, Bulgaria has carried out important structural reforms which have helped the country reach higher levels of socio-economic development. However, long-standing social disparities and income inequalities remain and Bulgaria’s overall productivity gains have not fully translated into sustainable and inclusive growth.

This report assesses Romania’s efforts to strengthen its integrity and anti-corruption system. It looks at the achievements of the 2021-2025 National Anticorruption Strategy (NAS) as well as the challenges that remain, including addressing structural issues such as political engagement, the role and placement of ethics offices and the design and review of integrity plans.

Countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia have clear aspirations to strengthen civic participation and increase prosperity for all. A highly skilled and knowledgeable population is critical to achieving these goals, which makes creating and maintaining high quality and equitable education systems a vital part of regional development efforts. Results from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) show that learning outcomes in the region have generally improved, but that the improvement has not been equitable. While countries in the region are producing some of the top performing students in the world, many other students are being left behind.

Turkey’s education system stands out internationally as a success story. In recent decades, participation has been vastly expanded, becoming universal at lower levels of schooling and outperforming other middle-income countries in upper secondary education. However, the education system is also marked by disparities, with only around half of 15-year olds acquiring the essential competencies they need for life and work.