Mapping of Tools for Disaggregation by Disability Status

USAID’s Office of Education is committed to collecting, analyzing, and using disability data in USAID education programming to ensure that efforts are inclusive of learners with disabilities and meet the Agency’s Education Policy priority of “expanding access to quality education for all, particularly marginalized and vulnerable groups.” Thus, USAID has developed key resources to support and improve USAID's and its partners' ability to collect, analyze, and use disability data.

USAID published a How To Note: Collecting Data on Disability in Education Programming in February 2018 and promotes the social model of disability and, in particular, the use of two survey tools: the Washington Group Short Set (WGSS) and the Child Functioning Module (CFM). The WGSS and the CFM ask respondents questions about basic activity limitations in order to identify people with disabilities who, in an unaccommodating environment, are at a greater risk than others to experience limited participation in social activities like education.

The WGSS was designed and validated as a self-reporting tool for use in national census and household surveys with respondents older than 17 years. The Child Functioning Module (CFM) was designed and validated to collect data from primary caregivers of children aged 2 to 17; however, as most USAID’s early-grade learning programs take place in schools, USAID activities must rely on responses from learners and/or teachers. The use of learners and/or teachers as respondents to these tools had not been validated at the time of USAID’s 2018 guidance, and Implementing Partners (IPs) have reported some challenges in the application of these tools in schools. 

In response, USAID commissioned a study under the Data and Evidence for Education Programs (DEEP) project to gather information from IPs on tools and approaches used in gathering this data and, most importantly, lessons gleaned in their application. USAID will use this information to enhance its guidance moving forward.  

Key Area
Data & Evidence

Region
Global

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