Validation of the School Readiness Assessment

Honorable Ms. Valentina Olaru, State Secretary at the Ministry of Education and Research,
Distinguished audience,  
Esteemed colleagues and partners,  
Dear educators and parents, 

Good morning!

It is a pleasure to be here today for the validation of Moldova's Early Learning and Development Assessment results.

We often think of education as something we measure at the end of the journey. We look at Baccalaureate results, PISA scores, university admissions and employment outcomes. These indicators matter, but they all have one thing in common. They tell us what happened after years of learning have already taken place.

Today's assessment turns that perspective around.

For the first time, Moldova is looking at where educational success begins - before children even enter primary school.

This is more than a new assessment. It represents a shift in how we think about educational quality. Instead of asking only How well are our students performing? we can now ask a more fundamental question: How well are we preparing children to succeed from the very beginning?

Around 2,000 children from preparatory groups participated in this assessment. Importantly, it does not look only at what children know and can do. It also examines the environments that shape their development - the interactions they have with educators, the books and learning materials available to them, and the support they receive at home.

The findings give us confidence. Overall, 89 per cent of children are developmentally on track for the transition to primary school. But the real value of this assessment lies in helping us understand why children succeed - and where some children need more support.

The assessment shows that children demonstrate particular strengths in motor development and emergent numeracy. At the same time, social-emotional development emerges as the area requiring greater attention. Perhaps most importantly, while 89 per cent of children are on track overall, only 66 per cent meet the expected benchmarks across all four developmental domains simultaneously.

That distinction matters. School readiness is not about teaching children to count or recognize letters. It is about ensuring they develop across every dimension that enables them to learn and adapt throughout life. 

The assessment also changes the way we think about inequality.

Too often, we notice inequality only when it becomes visible - in lower exam scores, higher dropout rates or poorer employment outcomes. 

This assessment shows us where those differences begin.

Children in the North are less likely to be developmentally on track than children in the Centre or South. Children in rural areas perform less strongly than those in urban communities. Boys are slightly less likely than girls to be on track. The largest observed gap concerns children with special educational needs, although these findings should be interpreted carefully, recognising that standardized assessments cannot fully capture the diversity of children's learning profiles.

These findings also remind us how education itself has evolved.

One of the greatest achievements of the last century was expanding access to education. The defining challenge was ensuring that every child could enter a classroom. The challenge of this century is different.

It is no longer enough to offer every child the same education. Our ambition must be to ensure that every child receives the education they need.

That means moving from uniformity to personalization - from designing systems around the average child to designing them around real children, each with different circumstances and different ways of learning.

This assessment helps make that shift possible. It allows us to move from broad assumptions to targeted support, particularly for children with special educational needs.

Just as importantly, the findings tell us what works.

UNICEF-supported Resource Centres and Play and Learning Hubs, now reaching more than 30,000 children - including children with disabilities, children from vulnerable communities and refugee children - are one example of this approach. Children attending preschools with these centres demonstrated slightly stronger results in literacy, numeracy and social-emotional development, alongside richer numeracy learning environments. 

Ultimately, this assessment is valuable because it changes the conversation.

Instead of asking why some children struggle later, we can ask what support they needed earlier.

Instead of reacting to learning gaps once they have widened, we can identify them while they are still small.

Instead of measuring only the outcomes of education, we can strengthen the conditions that make those outcomes possible.

This is what evidence should do: not simply describe the system but help us improve it.

As we validate these findings today, let us also commit to the next step: translating evidence into action. 

The findings will help inform education policy, guide investments, and support the ongoing revision of Moldova's Early Learning and Development Standards and preschool curriculum. 

Finally, I would like to express UNICEF's sincere appreciation to the Ministry of Education and Research for its leadership and partnership, and to Save the Children, iData, researchers, preschool educators, parents and local authorities whose collaboration made this important national assessment possible.

We are also grateful to the Government of the United States, the Government of Norway, and the Global Humanitarian Thematic Fund, whose continued support has helped make this work possible.

Their commitment demonstrates what can be achieved when we invest in young children. But sustaining that progress is a shared responsibility.

Building the future of Moldova's children cannot rely on international support alone. It requires sustained commitment and investment from government, the private sector and society as a whole.

If today's assessment tells us where success begins, our investments should begin there too. 

Thank you.