The RISE Programme seeks to provide insights to policy-makers on how to improve systems of education in order to promote learning. Key points of this paper: 1) Analysis of learning profiles fills important gaps in current understanding of learning outcomes by providing information on the dynamics of learning over multiple ages or grades. 2) Learning profiles contribute to two main policy areas: a) By quantifying learning trajectories, they shed light on potential learning gains from expanding years of schooling (extending the learning profile) versus improving learning per year (steepening the learning profile), and on how resulting policy priorities will vary across countries; b) When disaggregated by group, they help diagnose inequalities in learning and inform policies aimed at achieving equality across groups and equity goals of universal skills. 3) Because descriptive learning profiles can be analysed using many types of existing data, education ministries, researchers, or practitioners can use this typology, combined with a scan of available data for a particular country, to determine what types of learning profiles analysis are possible and will best meet the needs of that country.