PISA 2018 through a metric that was internationally agreed upon;

linking that with data from students, teachers, schools

The OECD Programme for International Student and systems to understand performance differences;
Assessment (PISA) examines what students know in and then harnessing the power of collaboration to
reading, mathematics and science, and what they can act on the data, both by creating shared points of
do with what they know. It provides the most reference and by leveraging peer pressure.
comprehensive and rigorous international assessment The aim with PISA was not to create another layer
of student learning outcomes to date. Results from PISA of top-down accountability, but to help schools and
indicate the quality and equity of learning outcomes policy makers shift from looking upward within the
attained around the world, and allow educators and education system towards looking outward to the next
policy makers to learn from the policies and practices teacher, the next school, the next country. In essence,
applied in other countries. This is one of six volumes PISA counts what counts, and makes that information
available to educators and policy makers so they can
that present the results of the PISA 2018 survey, the
make more informed decisions.
seventh round of the triennial assessment.
The OECD countries that initiated PISA tried to
There are 6 volumes analysing the results from the 2018 make PISA different from traditional assessments in
assessment: Volume I: What students know and can do, other ways too. In a world that rewards individuals
Volume II: Where all students can succeed, Volume III: increasingly not just for what they know, but for what
they can do with what they know, PISA goes beyond
What school life means for students’ lives, Volume IV:
assessing whether students can reproduce what they
Are students smart about money?, Volume V: Effective
have learned in school. To do well in PISA, students
Policies, Successful Schools and Volume VI: Are students have to be able to extrapolate from what they
ready to thrive in an interconnected world? know, think across the boundaries of subject-matter
Equipping citizens with the knowledge and disciplines, apply their knowledge creatively in novel
skills necessary to achieve their full potential, situations and demonstrate effective learning strategies.
to contribute to an increasingly interconnected If all we do is teach our children what we know, they
world, and to convert better skills into better lives might remember enough to follow in our footsteps;
needs to become a more central preoccupation but if they learn how to learn, and are able to think
of policy makers around the world. Fairness, for themselves, and work with others, they can go
integrity and inclusiveness in public policy thus anywhere they want.
all hinge on the skills of citizens. In working to Some people argued that the PISA tests are unfair,
achieve these goals, more and more countries are because they may confront students with problems they
looking beyond their own borders for evidence have not encountered in school. But then life is unfair,
of the most successful and efficient education because the real test in life is not whether we can
policies and practices. remember what we learned at school, but whether we
PISA is not only the world’s most comprehensive will be able to solve problems that we can’t possibly
and reliable indicator of students’ capabilities, it is anticipate today.
also a powerful tool that countries and economies But the greatest strength of PISA lies in its working
can use to fine-tune their education policies…That methods. Most assessments are centrally planned and
is why the OECD produces this triennial report on then contracted to engineers who build them. That’s
the state of education around the globe: to share how tests are created that are owned by a company
evidence of the best policies and practices, and – but not by the people who are needed to change
to offer our timely and targeted support to help education. PISA turned that on its head. The idea of
countries provide the best education possible for PISA attracted the world’s best thinkers and mobilised
all of their students. hundreds of experts, educators and scientists from the
ABOUT PISA participating countries to build a global assessment.
Up to the end of the 1990s, the OECD’s comparisons Today, we would call that crowdsourcing; but
of education outcomes were mainly based on whatever we call it, it created the ownership that was
measures of years of schooling, which are not reliable critical for success.
indicators of what people actually know and can do. In a nutshell, PISA owes its success to a collaborative
The Programme for International Student Assessment effort between the participating countries, the national
(PISA) changed this. The idea behind PISA lay in and international experts and institutions working
testing the knowledge and skills of students directly, within
the framework of the PISA Consortium, and the OECD. helped policy makers lower the cost of political action
Subject-matter experts, practitioners and policy makers by backing difficult decisions with evidence – but
from the participating countries worked tirelessly to it has also raised the political cost of inaction by
build agreement on which learning outcomes are exposing areas where policy and practice have been
important to measure and how to measure them best; unsatisfactory.
to design and validate assessment tasks that can reflect Since 2000, PISA has shown that education systems
those measures adequately and accurately across can provide both high-quality instruction and equitable
countries and cultures; and to find ways to compare learning opportunities for all, and that they can
the results meaningfully and reliably. The OECD support academic excellence in an environment that
co-ordinated this effort and worked with countries to also nurtures students’ well-being. PISA shows what
make sense of the results and compile the reports. countries are doing to support their students and
PISA 2018 was the seventh round of the international provides an opportunity for countries to learn from
assessment since the programme was launched in each other. This brochure summarises some of the
2000. Every PISA test assesses students’ knowledge initial
and skills in reading, mathematics and science; findings from PISA 2018 and puts them into context.
each assessment focuses on one of these subjects The full set of initial results can be found in PISA 2018
and provides a summary assessment of the other Results (Volume I): What Students Know and Can Do;
two. In 2018, the focus was on reading in a digital PISA 2018 Results (Volume II): Where All Students Can
environment; but the design of the assessment also Succeed; and PISA 2018 Results (Volume III): What
made it possible to measure trends in reading literacy School Life Means for Students’ Lives. Three additional
over the past two decades. PISA 2018 defined volumes of PISA 2018 Results – Are Students Smart
reading literacy as understanding, using, evaluating, about Money?; Effective Policies, Successful Schools;
reflecting on and engaging with texts in order to and Are Students Ready to Thrive in Global Societies?
achieve one’s goals, to develop one’s knowledge and – will be published in 2020.
potential, and to participate in society. PISA 2018 also
collected extensive data on students’ attitudes and
well-being.
PISA 2018 assessed the cumulative outcomes of
education and learning at a point at which most
children are still enrolled in formal education: the
age of 15. The 15-year-olds in the PISA sample must
also have been enrolled in an educational institution
at grade 7 or higher. All such students were eligible
to sit the PISA assessment, regardless of the type of
educational establishment in which they were enrolled
and whether they were enrolled in full-time or part-time
education. Not all of the students who were eligible
to sit the PISA assessment were actually assessed.
A two-stage sampling procedure first selected
a representative sample of at least 150 schools,
taking into account factors such as location (state
or province; but also whether the school is located
in a rural area, town or city) and level of education.
Then, in the second stage, roughly 42 15-year-old
students were randomly selected from each school to
sit the assessment. Most countries assessed between
4 000 and 8 000 students. Students selected to sit the
PISA assessment received sampling weights so as to
represent the entire PISA-eligible cohort.
Over the past two decades, PISA has become the
world’s premier yardstick for comparing quality, equity
and efficiency in learning outcomes across countries,
and an influential force for education reform. It has