User Guide to Data

EPDC database is a comprehensive collection of data relevant to education from multiple sources with information at the sub-national level for developing countries. Its purpose is to facilitate the use of data for policy and decision making by maintaining it in a readily available and easy to present format. The database is comprised of data from more than 200 sources and is continually being updated. The EPDC does not alter the data in any way. Users should exercise their expert judgment when selecting the data.

Steps

Basic Search

Access the database through the DATA menu by clicking Search the Data or by using the Search Education Database quick link on the right hand side of the main page. This will bring you to the basic data search page where you will choose indicators, countries and years.
You can view the countries grouped by continent, geo-political region, income, or in an alphabetical list by clicking to expand one of these grouping options.
To search the database, choose one (or more) indicator, country, and year, and click Search in the lower left hand side of the page. Your results will appear on in the same window. Note that you may choose a combination for which data is not available. You may avoid this by using the guided search option, which filters the options based on availability of data.

Guided Search

Guided search can be accessed by checking the "Guided Search" box on the right hand side of the regular data search page. You can start your search by making selections in any panel – Country, Indicator, or Year. Once you have made one or more selections, you can click to another panel and the available options will be automatically updated. For example, if you choose to start with indicators, you will see a list of all the indicators contained in the database. Then, if you select one (or more) of the indicators and click to the Country panel, you will receive a list of countries which have data available for your chosen indicator(s). Select the countries in which you are interested, and click to the Year panel. You will be able to see the years for which there are data for the selected indicator(s) and countries. You can click back to any of the panels to change your selections at any time. On the right hand side of the screen, there is a message that tells you how many data points will be returned, based on your current selections. By clicking Retrieve Data, you will be able to view your results.
The results will be presented in a table. Note that your results may have more than just one page. By clicking on the arrows in the top left corner (above the table), you will be able to access the additional pages. You can also skip ahead by typing the desired page number in the page number box and pressing the Enter key. You can modify the size of the table by changing the percentage dropdown (also located above the table; available only in Internet Explorer).

Filter the Data

If you decide to include more (or less) information in your data search, you can click Filter the Data, which will enable you to easily switch between indicators, countries, national/sub national levels, and others. Click the Apply Changes button and your results will be appropriately modified based on your selections.

Export Your Data

Once you have finished and want to save your results, you can use the Export option. This will allow you to export search results in Excel, Adobe Acrobat, or as a tab delimited file. Choose a format and click Export.

EPDC graphs provide a way to visualize education data for a country or groups of countries. They include sub-national data, maps, trend analysis and projections on education as well as links to health and the economy.

Steps

Access the graphs through either a quick link on the main page or by using the DATA menu.
On the Search the Graphs page, you can either choose to view pre-produced Country Profile Reports or build your own. To choose a pre-produced report, select one country from the pull down menu and click Go. You can also build your own profile for countries of your choice and with sections of interest. Choose countries and sections, click Produce Report and your results will appear on the screen.
If you wish to change your chosen options, click Change Criteria in the top left corner of the page with your results where you will be able to change countries and sections that you want to use to build your profiles.
If you click Missing Data in the top left corner of the page with your results, you will be able to see which selected information was not available and therefore not included in the results.
Depending on available data, a profile may contain different elements:
1. Basic Overview of Education System that presents data on access, retention, learning, efficiency, and resources in education.
2. Learning Pyramid that shows what proportion of today's 6 year olds is likely to learn to read under existing conditions, and where the greatest losses in the education system exist -- in access, retention, or learning. The standard for reading used is a national one and varies from country to country.
3. Maps of sub-national primary and secondary net attendance rates.
4. Net Attendance Rates in primary and secondary school by sub-national region and sex.
5. Trends of primary and secondary school attainment, as well as a trend line to 2020.
6. Human Capital Pyramids that show the demographic characteristics of the population in bars (age, sex, size), as well as the educational attainment (color coding within the bars). More red and blue (secondary and primary education) in the age-bars signifies a higher level of human capital, while large sections of black imply lower, un-schooled human capital. The left pyramid provides the current human capital distribution; the right hand pyramid provides human capital 20 years from now, as it would look assuming the UN Medium Projection child-bearing and mortality developments and the school entry trends from above.
7. Who is not in Primary School Charts that show the distribution of out-of-school children by various background characteristics.
8. Education and Health Graphs that show a number of health statistics for women with different education levels.
9. Rapid Assessment Calculator Graphs that provides an overview through data of the development of human capital and the factors that affect the use of human capital.
If you want to save your results, you can use the Export option. This will allow you to save the results in Excel or Adobe Acrobat. Choose a format and click the icon on the right side of the Export menu.

The global education maps provide a visual presentation of educational indicators. These maps were produced by the EPDC using data from UNESCO Institute for Statistics, World Development Indicators, household surveys, and Barro and Lee's International Data on Educational Attainment.

Steps

Access Search the Maps through the DATA menu.
Click on a map to enlarge the image. Place the cursor at the lower right hand corner to see an icon that allows you to further enlarge the image and return to the initial size.
If you want to save a map, right click the image and choose the Save Picture as option to save it on your computer.

The Profile Explorer houses the EPDC’s collection of graphical reports on the state of education, or a particular aspect of the education system. You can download copies of any of the reports.

Steps

Access Profile Explorer through either a quick link on the main page or by using the DATA menu.
On the Profile Explorer page, you will see a map with colored balloons. Each colored balloon represents one profile. White balloons with numbers in them indicate that there are multiple profiles available for that country. You can click on a balloon to get more information about the profile before downloading it as a PDF.
If you are looking for a specific profile or country, you can use the filters at the right. Just click on the profile or country that you are interested in, and all of the other markers will disappear from the map. You can select more than one item from each filter box. For instance, if you are interested in Bolivia and Peru, you can first click on Bolivia, which causes checkboxes to appear next to all of the countries. Then you can click on the checkbox next to Peru to include it in the search.

The calculator provides an overview through data of the development of human capital and the factors that affect the use of human capital. The generation of human capacity includes activities and processes that improve skills, enhance talents, broaden the knowledge base, and augment the competencies and information flows at all levels of the economy and society. The use of human capacity depends on the organization of the economy and society, the incentives for employment creation, the relative net returns from using different types of skills and competencies, and the general level of confidence the private sector holds in prospects for future growth and development.

Steps

You can access the Rapid Assessment Calculator either through a link on the main page or by using the DATA menu.
You will be able to select a country for which you would like to receive results. You can compare the results to the same country 10 years earlier, to the best country in the region, to a continent, or to any other country in the database. You can choose to view your results in html (with graphics) or as an Excel file with only data.
To view your results, click Submit Query.
Your results will be presented in the form of two spider graphs and two tables.
The graph on the left hand side shows the generation of human capital while the graph on the right hand side demonstrates the use of human capital. Right-click on the graphs if you wish to save, print, email or copy the image. About 80 indicators total are used to generate the graphs and these indicators are combined into several categories presented in the tables below the graphs. The top table shows the weighted mean score for each of the categories. Click on any category to learn what it represents – its definition will show up in a new window. The indicators used to generate the graphs are listed in the second table.