PISA, FAQ

PISA is an acronym taken from the "Programme for International Student Assessment".

What is the history of PISA?

Responding to member countries’ demands for regular and reliable data on the knowledge and skills of their students and the performance of their education systems, the OECD began work on PISA in the mid-1990s. PISA was officially launched in 1997, with the first survey taking place in 2000, the second in 2003 and the third in 2006. Future surveys are planned in 2009, 2012, 2015 and beyond…

What makes PISA unique?

PISA benefits from its worldwide scope and its regularity. More than 60 countries have taken part in PISA so far and the surveys, which are given every three years, allow them 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, an age at which students in most countries are nearing the end of their compulsory time in school.

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. PISA both measures student performance in reading, mathematics and science literacy and also asks students about their motivations, beliefs about themselves and learning strategies.

Which countries participate in PISA?

Schools in each country are randomly selected by the international contractor for participation in PISA. At these schools, the test is given to students who are between age 15 years 3 months and age 16 years 2 months at the time of the test, rather than to students in a specific year of school. This average age of 15 was chosen because at this age young people in most OECD countries are nearing the end of compulsory education. The selection of schools and students is kept as inclusive as possible, so that the sample of students comes from a broad range of backgrounds and abilities.

What does PISA test?

Every PISA survey tests reading, mathematical and scientific literacy in terms of general competencies, that is, how well students can apply the knowledge and skills they have learned at school to real-life challenges. PISA does not test how well a student has mastered a school’s specific curriculum.

How does PISA test this?

To date, PISA has used pencil-and-paper tests. Assessments using computers are under consideration for future surveys. The tests are made up of both multiple-choice questions and questions requiring students to construct their own responses. The material is organised around texts and sometimes includes pictures, graphs or tables setting out real-life situations. Each PISA survey includes about seven hours of test material. From this, each student takes a two-hour test, with the actual combination of test materials different for every student.

Who creates the test questions?

All PISA countries are invited to submit questions to the international contractor; in addition, the international contractor also writes some questions. The questions are reviewed by the international contractor and by participating countries and are carefully checked for cultural bias. Only those questions that are unanimously approved are used in PISA. Further, before the real test there is a trial run in all participating countries. If any test questions prove to have been too easy or too hard in certain countries, they are dropped from the real test in all countries.

What are the PISA context questionnaires? What are they used for?

Students answer a background questionnaire, providing information about themselves, their attitudes to learning and their homes. It takes 20-30 minutes to complete. In addition, school principals are given a 20-minute questionnaire about their schools. Countries can also choose to administer several optional PISA questionnaires: the computer familiarity questionnaire, the educational career questionnaire and the parent background questionnaire. In addition, many countries choose to gather further information through national questionnaires.

The information collected from these questionnaires helps countries to explore connections between how students perform in PISA and factors such as migration, gender and students’ socio-economic background, as well as students’ attitudes about school and their approaches to learning.

Are the PISA tests and questionnaires available to the general public?

A selection of PISA test materials is available in Sample Tasks from the PISA 2000 Assessment (OECD, 2002), as are the school and student questionnaires for PISA 2000 and PISA 2003. Click on the links below for free PDFs:

Each country has its own group of test correctors, overseen by the country’s National Project Manager. They mark the PISA tests using a guide developed by the international contractor and the PISA Subject Experts (with input from all participating countries). The corrections are cross-checked by other experts. The final results are then sent to the international contractor, who in turn transmits the final data to the OECD Secretariat.

What do the test scores mean?

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.

Once a student’s test has been corrected, his or her score in reading, mathematics and science (plus problem solving in PISA 2003) can be located on the appropriate scale. For example, a student who is likely to lack the skills need to correctly complete easiest questions on a PISA test would be classified as below Level 1, while a student who is likely to have many of these skills need to correctly complete the test questions would be at a higher level.

In each test subject, the score for each participating country is the average of all student scores in that country. The average score among OECD countries is 500 points and the standard deviation is 100 points. About two-thirds of students across OECD countries score between 400 and 600 points.

Where can I find more information on the PISA scales?