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The UNESCO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean will celebrate 30 years of the Latin American Laboratory for Assessment of the Quality of Education (LLECE) with a meeting to be held from 10 to 12 December in Santiago, Chile. The event will bring together delegations from 19 countries in the region, as well as representatives from Spain and Portugal. The meeting will also mark the beginning of coordination for the implementation of the Regional Comparative and Explanatory Study (ERCE 2025), the region's oldest and most recognised learning assessment system.

Co-organised with Chile’s Agency for Educational Quality, the event will feature panels, talks, and debates reflecting on the LLECE’s contributions to educational assessment in the region over its 30-year history, as well as discussions on the challenges of improving educational quality in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The LLECE has been a leader and a regional benchmark in large-scale educational research, overseeing studies such as the ERCE, which evaluates learning outcomes for students in 3rd and 6th grades in core subjects like Reading, Mathematics, and Science. In its fifth edition, ERCE 2025 will involve more than 190,000 students from approximately 5,000 schools across the 19 LLECE member countries. The study will also analyse factors associated with learning, providing essential data to develop more equitable and effective education policies, particularly in light of the challenges imposed by the pandemic.

“Celebrating 30 years of the LLECE is an opportunity to acknowledge three decades of regional collaboration that have marked a turning point in educational assessment in Latin America and the Caribbean. This anniversary reaffirms our commitment to educational quality and to producing data that drive more equitable and effective public policies. Initiating coordination for ERCE 2025 is a key step forward as we work towards education systems that address current and future challenges,” highlights Esther Kuisch Laroche, Director of the UNESCO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean.

“Our anniversary marks a milestone in the Laboratory’s history, where we want to emphasise regional synergy and the collaborative work among countries. This collaboration has enabled the development of studies and assessment tools that provide evidence contributing to public policies in the region. In particular, ERCE 2025 will help us measure both progress and setbacks, especially in the wake of the pandemic’s impact,” explains Carlos Henríquez, LLECE Laboratory Coordinator.

As part of the event activities, the international delegations will visit Liceo San Nicolás, located in the Ñuble region. This institution is recognised for its innovative teaching and learning model and is regarded as a benchmark for educational excellence and quality in Chile’s central-southern region.

“From the Agency for Educational Quality, we are proud to join this commemoration of the Laboratory’s anniversary, in which Chile has actively participated since its inception. This has enabled regional learning and synergies that contribute to our agenda for educational improvement and transformation. The experience at San Nicolás will showcase good practices and the growth of this educational centre to Latin America and the Caribbean,” notes Gino Cortez, Executive Secretary of Chile’s Agency for Educational Quality.

After three days of activities, UNESCO will reaffirm its commitment to improving educational quality in the region, emphasising the need to shift from commitment to action. This focus aligns with the conclusions of the “Ministerial on Education: Santiago 2024”, held in January 2024, where regional education ministers outlined strategies to advance educational transformation in Latin America and the Caribbean.