Measuring student knowledge and skills

Questionnaire issues
Several issues are most appropriately addressed through questionnaire items rather than through
an assessment. One is the collection of information on reading practices and interests, another covers
some aspects of metacognition, and a third has to do with the role of technology in the lives of students
participating in OECD/PISA.
Reading practices and interests
The OECD/PISA student context questionnaire will include a set of questions designed to assess
students’ reading practices and to explore the context of their reading activities in general, both in and
out of school, as was the case with other large-scale surveys of reading and literacy (Council of Ministers
of Education, Canada, 1994; Elley, 1992; Jones, 1995; Smith, 1996; Taube and Mejding, 1997). Such ques-
tions are of both descriptive and explanatory interest. That is, they will serve to characterise the popula-
tions of 15-year-old students in terms of their access to printed materials, their interest in and attitude
toward various literacy activities, and their actual practices. In addition, these elements may help to
explain some of the variation in reading literacy proficiency observed among 15-year-old students par-
ticipating in OECD/PISA.
Two main principles have guided the selection of what types of information to include in the survey:
– the types of information assessed must be relevant in terms of educational policy;
– the reading assessment should have its counterpart in the questionnaires, seeking information
about students’ attitudes towards reading and reading practices.
Table 8.
Recommended distribution of constructed-response and multiple-choice tasks
by the five aspects of reading
Aspect
% of test
% of tasks requiring
constructed response
% of test items  requiring
constructed response
% of test items  requiring 
multiple choice
Retrieving information
20
35
7
13
Broad understanding
20
35
7
13
Developing an interpretation
30
35
11
19
Reflecting on content
15
65
10
5
Reflecting on form
15
65
10
5