Measuring student knowledge and skills

Scientific Literacy .......................................................................................................................... 59
Definition of the domain ................................................................................................................................... 59
Organisation of the domain ............................................................................................................................... 61
Task characteristics ............................................................................................................................................. 66
Assessment structure ......................................................................................................................................... 68
Reporting scales ................................................................................................................................................. 71
Other issues ........................................................................................................................................................ 72
References ........................................................................................................................................................... 73
Appendix 1.
Functional Expert Group Membership ..................................................................................... 77
Appendix 2.
Considerations for Future Survey Cycles of OECD/PISA........................................................ 79

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OECD 1999
INTRODUCTION
How well are young adults prepared to meet the challenges of the future? Are they able to analyse,
reason and communicate their ideas effectively? Do they have the capacity to continue learning through-
out life? Parents, students, the public and those who run education systems need to know.
Many education systems monitor student learning to provide some answers to these questions.
Comparative international analyses can extend and enrich the national picture by establishing the levels
of performance being achieved by students in other countries and by providing a larger context within
which to interpret national results. They can provide direction for schools’ instructional efforts and for stu-
dents’ learning as well as insights into curriculum strengths and weaknesses. Coupled with appropriate
incentives, they can motivate students to learn better, teachers to teach better and schools to be more
effective. They also provide tools to allow central authorities to monitor achievement levels even when
administration is devolved and schools are being run in partnership with communities.
Governments and the general public need solid and internationally comparable evidence of educa-
tional outcomes. In response to this demand, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Develop-
ment (OECD) has launched the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). OECD/PISA will
produce policy-oriented and internationally comparable indicators of student achievement on a regular
and timely basis. The assessments will focus on 15-year-olds, and the indicators are designed to contrib-
ute to an understanding of the extent to which education systems in participating countries are preparing
their students to become lifelong learners and to play constructive roles as citizens in society.
OECD/PISA represents a new commitment by the governments of OECD countries to monitor the
outcomes of education systems in terms of student achievement, within a common framework that is
internationally agreed. While it is expected that many individuals in participating countries, including
professionals and lay-persons, will use the survey results for a variety of purposes, the primary reason for
developing and conducting this large-scale international assessment is to provide empirically grounded
information which will inform policy decisions.
The results of the OECD assessments, to be published every three years along with other indicators
of education systems, will allow national policy makers to compare the performance of their education
systems with those of other countries. They will also help to focus and motivate educational reform and
school improvement, especially where schools or education systems with similar inputs achieve mark-
edly different results. Further, they will provide a basis for better assessment and monitoring of the effec-
tiveness of education systems at the national level.
OECD/PISA is a collaborative process. It brings together scientific expertise from the participating
countries and is steered jointly by their governments on the basis of shared, policy-driven interests. Fol-
lowing an overview of the design of OECD/PISA and a summary of the most important features of the
assessments, there is a description of the nature of this collaboration, and how it is being used to develop
the frameworks that will define the OECD assessments.
The remaining sections of this publication then set out the conceptual framework underlying the
OECD/PISA assessments: they define each domain to be assessed and explain what will be assessed and
how. They also describe the context and constraints within which the OECD/PISA assessments are placed.

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