🧠 Ian's Public Journal

Search

SearchSearch

IOPS, What Does PISA Assess and Why

Sep 09, 202411 min read

What Does PISA Assess and Why?

rw-book-cover

Metadata

  • Author: IOPS
  • Full Title: What Does PISA Assess and Why?
  • Category:articles
  • Document Note: The OECD stands for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. It is the organization that created and administers the PISA assessment. The document you are reading provides information about PISA, including what it assesses and how it is developed and administered by the OECD.
  • Document Tags: Philippines: Learning
  • Summary: PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) is a test administered by the OECD to assess the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students in mathematics, reading, and science. It focuses on measuring students’ ability to use what they have learned in and out of school for their full participation in society. PISA also collects information on student attitudes and motivations, as well as skills such as collaborative problem solving and creative thinking. The assessment is conducted every three years and involves a sample of schools and students from participating countries and economies. PISA aims to provide insights into public policy issues, literacy, and lifelong learning, and its results have been linked to adult life outcomes.
  • URL: https://www.oecd.org/pisa/pisafaq/

Highlights

  • Created by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), PISA tests the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students in mathematics, reading and science. Eighty-one countries and economies took part in the 2022 assessment, which focused on mathematics, and the data were released by the OECD on 5th December 2023. (View Highlight)
  • Created by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), PISA tests the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students in mathematics, reading and science. Eighty-one countries and economies took part in the 2022 assessment, which focused on mathematics, and the data were released by the OECD on 5th December 2023. (View Highlight)
  • PISA focuses on the assessment of student performance in mathematics, reading and science to measure the extent to which students can use what they learned in and out of schools for their full participation in societies. PISA also collects valuable information on student attitudes and motivations, and assesses skills such as collaborative problem solving, global competence and creative thinking. (View Highlight)
  • PISA focuses on the assessment of student performance in mathematics, reading and science to measure the extent to which students can use what they learned in and out of schools for their full participation in societies. PISA also collects valuable information on student attitudes and motivations, and assesses skills such as collaborative problem solving, global competence and creative thinking. (View Highlight)
  • The PISA 2022 survey focused on mathematics, with reading, science and creative thinking as minor areas of assessment. PISA 2022 also included an assessment of young people’s financial literacy, which was optional for countries and economies. (View Highlight)
  • The PISA 2022 survey focused on mathematics, with reading, science and creative thinking as minor areas of assessment. PISA 2022 also included an assessment of young people’s financial literacy, which was optional for countries and economies. (View Highlight)
  • Some 690 000 students took the assessment in 2022, representing about 29 million 15-year-olds in the schools of the 81 participating countries and economies. (View Highlight)
  • Some 690 000 students took the assessment in 2022, representing about 29 million 15-year-olds in the schools of the 81 participating countries and economies. (View Highlight)
  • Computer-based tests were used in most countries, with assessments lasting a total of two hours. In mathematics and reading, a multi-stage adaptive approach was applied in computer-based tests whereby students were assigned a block of test items based on their performance in preceding blocks. Students also answered a background questionnaire, which took about 35 minutes to complete. Test items were a mixture of multiple-choice questions and questions requiring students to construct their own responses. (View Highlight)
  • Computer-based tests were used in most countries, with assessments lasting a total of two hours. In mathematics and reading, a multi-stage adaptive approach was applied in computer-based tests whereby students were assigned a block of test items based on their performance in preceding blocks. Students also answered a background questionnaire, which took about 35 minutes to complete. Test items were a mixture of multiple-choice questions and questions requiring students to construct their own responses. (View Highlight)
  • there is a link between the socio-economic status of a student’s household – including material living conditions and parents’ educational attainment – and the student’s performance in PISA. However, even after accounting for these factors, students who perform better in PISA at age 15 have stronger education and employment outcomes at the age of 25. (View Highlight)
  • what students say about themselves in the PISA questionnaires also appears related to young people’s future life prospects. For further details, please see the November 2019 PISA in Focus and the report Equity in Education. (View Highlight)
  • Four countries – Australia, Canada, Denmark and Switzerland – have conducted longitudinal studies that followed the cohort of students who sat the first PISA assessments in the early 2000s through their transition into adulthood. Across all of these countries, students who performed better in PISA at age 15 were more likely to attain higher levels of education by the age of 25. They were also less likely to be out of the labour market entirely, as measured by the percentage of students who were not in education, employment or training (NEET). (View Highlight)
  • Four countries – Australia, Canada, Denmark and Switzerland – have conducted longitudinal studies that followed the cohort of students who sat the first PISA assessments in the early 2000s through their transition into adulthood. Across all of these countries, students who performed better in PISA at age 15 were more likely to attain higher levels of education by the age of 25. They were also less likely to be out of the labour market entirely, as measured by the percentage of students who were not in education, employment or training (NEET). (View Highlight)
  • there is a link between the socio-economic status of a student’s household – including material living conditions and parents’ educational attainment – and the student’s performance in PISA. However, even after accounting for these factors, students who perform better in PISA at age 15 have stronger education and employment outcomes at the age of 25. (View Highlight)
  • Various social changes such as digitalisation and new technologies, the use of data in personal decisions, and globalisation have redefined what it means to be mathematically competent and well-equipped to fully participate in the 21st century. (View Highlight)
  • In addition, what students say about themselves in the PISA questionnaires also appears related to young people’s future life prospects. For further details, please see the November 2019 PISA in Focus and the report Equity in Education. (View Highlight)
  • Created by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), PISA tests the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students in mathematics, reading and science. Eighty-one countries and economies took part in the 2022 assessment, which focused on mathematics, and the data were released by the OECD on 5th December 2023. (View Highlight)
  • Various social changes such as digitalisation and new technologies, the use of data in personal decisions, and globalisation have redefined what it means to be mathematically competent and well-equipped to fully participate in the 21st century. (View Highlight)
  • Creative thinking was tested for the first time in PISA 2022; results for this subject will be published in mid-2024. (View Highlight)
  • PISA assesses students between the ages of 15 years and 3 months and 16 years and 2 months, and who are enrolled in an educational institution at grade 7 or higher. The lists from which schools and students are selected for the PISA assessment cover all students who meet these criteria, regardless of the type of educational institution in which they are enrolled and whether they are enrolled in full-time or part-time education. (View Highlight)
  • The PISA sample represents all students between the age of 15 years and 3 months and 16 years and 2 months, and who are enrolled in an educational institution at grade 7 or higher, minus those that are excluded. PISA reports the proportion of the total 15-year-old population that is represented by the PISA sample (this is known as Coverage Index 3). This proportion ranges from close to 100% in countries with limited exclusions and universal enrolment in educational institutions for 15-16-year-olds, to less than 50% in some low- and middle-income countries. In most participating countries and economies, more than 80% of 15-year-olds are covered. (View Highlight)
  • Further information about the share and number of 15-year-olds covered by PISA can be found in Chapters 4, 6 and in Annex A2 of PISA 2022 Results (Volume I). (View Highlight)
  • Over 100 countries and economies have taken part in PISA so far and the surveys, which are usually carried out every three years, allow participating countries and economies to track their progress in meeting key learning goals. PISA is the only international education survey to measure the knowledge and skills of 15-year-olds. (View Highlight)
  • PISA is also unique in the way it looks at: • Public policy issues: Governments, principals, teachers and parents all want answers to questions such as, “Are our schools adequately preparing young people for the challenges of adult life?”, “Are some kinds of teaching and schools more effective than others?” and “Can schools contribute to improving the futures of students from immigrant or disadvantaged backgrounds?” • Literacy: Rather than examine mastery of specific school curricula, PISA looks at students’ ability to apply knowledge and skills in key subject areas and to analyse, reason and communicate effectively as they examine, interpret and solve problems. • Lifelong learning: Students cannot learn everything they need to know in school. In order to be effective lifelong learners, young people need not only knowledge and skills, but also an awareness of why and how they learn. In addition to measuring student performance in reading, mathematics and science literacy, PISA also asks students about their motivations, beliefs about themselves and learning strategies. (View Highlight)
  • PISA scores can be located along specific scales developed for each subject area, designed to show the general competencies tested by PISA. These scales are divided into levels that represent groups of PISA test questions, beginning at Level 1 with questions that require only the most basic skills to complete and increasing in difficulty with each level. (More specifically, the mathematics scale starts at Level 1c, followed by Levels 1b and 1a; the lowest level of the science scale is Level 1b, and is followed by Level 1a; and the lowest level of the reading scale is Level 1c, followed by Levels 1b and 1a.) (View Highlight)
  • Once a student’s responses to the test have been scored, his or her overall score in mathematics, reading and science can be located on the appropriate scale. For example, a student who lacks the skills needed to correctly complete the easiest questions on a PISA test would be classified as below Level 1b or 1c, as per the domain, while a student whose answers show mastery of these skills would be classified at a higher level. (View Highlight)
  • The OECD strives to identify what policies and practices appear to be “working” in countries and economies that are recording high performance or show evidence of significant improvement over time on PISA. It then reports those findings and supports countries and economies that wish to investigate and explore the extent to which they would benefit from similar programmes. The OECD is aware of the different circumstances in different countries and economies (with 81 participating in PISA 2022). There is no ‘one size fits all” education model for countries and economies. It is not possible or appropriate to “cut and paste” one country’s education system into another country or economy. (View Highlight)
  • The initial PISA 2022 results will be released with two volumes on 5 December 2023. The first volume, The State of Learning and Equity in Education, assesses how student performance in mathematics, reading and science evolved before and after the pandemic. Did student performance suddenly shift between 2018 and 2022 or stay the same? Are there long-term trends which have continued or sharply changed direction? The PISA team are examining these issues and whether specific student groups, such as socio-economically advantaged and disadvantaged students, boys and girls, and immigrant and non-immigrant students have exhibited varying performance trends. (View Highlight)
  • The second volume of PISA 2022, Learning During – and from – Disruption, goes beyond academic ability and examines student well-being. It identifies “resilient education systems” that maintained or promoted student learning, equity and well-being amid the disruption caused by COVID-19. Education systems are scrutinised to see which maintained performance scores for all students, regardless of their socio-economic profiles, while keeping or boosting their sense of belonging at school. For more information, read PISA in Focus. (View Highlight)

Backlinks

Graph View