Assessment of children’s learning levels is at the core of the ASER Pakistan survey. ASER has developed simple, easy to use Tools/ tests that measure children’s competencies in Language (Urdu/Sindhi/Pashto), English and Arithmetic. The tests are based on Class 1 & 2 curriculum as it is internationally recognized that after two years of schooling, a child should have acquired sufficient reading fluency and comprehension, and have basic numeracy skills. Without acquiring these basic skills children may never be able to learn. ASER assess the children of falling in the age group 5-16. The answers are graded on 5 levels, where level 1 means that the child is not able to answer the question at all (Beginner), and level 5 means that a child was able to give the perfect answer. The tests have been developed by a variety of experts; among them are practicing teachers, curriculum authors and ASER Pakistan Team.

The 3 kinds of survey tools are developed and prepared with the consultation of all the ASER Partners that includes but not limited to NCHD, SEF, DCHD etc and are finalized after going through a two tier rigorous evaluation process of Test validity. For each learning subject (English, Mathematics, Urdu/Sindhi/Pashto) two subject specialists from different universities, colleges and schools are requested to provide their feedback. A detailed checklist is developed to determine the structure and emphases, correspondence with accepted curricula, and the selection, appropriateness and representation of the items. The tools are then finally shared (for a review) with Provincial Education Assessment System (PEAS), Punjab Examination Commission (PEC), Institute of Education and Research and University of Education Punjab and other international experts including Dr. Monazza Aslam from Oxford University and ASER Center India. After incorporating all the comments, the tools are then analyzed for their reliability by using Index such as Flesch Kincaid Grade Level and Flesch Reading Ease.