 |
 |
58/94 |  |
International student assessment
How effective are school systems at providing young people with a solid foundation of knowledge and skills that will equip them for life and learning beyond school? OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) assesses student knowledge and skills in mathematics, science, reading and cross-curricular competencies at age 15, i.e. towards the end of compulsory education.
PISA 2003 also asked students about their access to computers and how often they used them. These questions were asked in 25 OECD countries and the results are also reported on the following pages.
Definition
The PISA survey covers mathematics, reading, science and problem solving. For the 2003 round of PISA, three and a half hours of testing time was in mathematics, plus one hour each for reading, science and problem solving. Each student spent two hours on the assessment items.
Mathematical literacy is an individual’s capacity to identify and understand the role that mathematics plays in the world, to make well-founded judgements and to use and engage with mathematics in ways that meet the needs of that individual’s life as a constructive, concerned and reflective citizen.
Scientific literacy is the capacity to use scientific knowledge, to identify questions and to draw evidence-based conclusions in order to understand and help make decisions about the natural world and the changes made to it through human activity.
Reading literacy is understanding, using and reflecting on written texts, in order to achieve one’s goals, to develop one’s knowledge and potential and to participate in society.
Frequent users of computers are defined as all students who responded that they use computers either "Almost every day” or "A few times each week”. Other possible answers for students were: "Between once a week and once a month”, "Less than once a month” or "Never”.
Comparability
Leading experts in participating countries advise on the scope and nature of the assessments and final decisions on this are taken by OECD governments. Substantial efforts and resources are devoted to achieving cultural and linguistic breadth and balance in the assessment materials and stringent quality assurance mechanisms are applied in translation, sampling and data collection.
Over a quarter of a million 15-year-old students in the 41 participating countries were assessed for PISA 2003. Because the results are based on probability samples, it is possible to calculate the standard errors of the estimates and these are shown in the tables.
|
Overview PISA results for 2000 (the first round of PISA) and for 2003 are shown in the table for reading and science. Where no figures are shown for a country, either that country did not participate in the round or the response rates were too low to give reliable results. The graph shows the 2003 results for mathematics in terms of differences from the OECD average score (500). For Austria, Germany, Ireland and the Slovak Republic the mathematics scores are not significantly different from the OECD average. There is large variation in the number of years that students reported having had access to computers. In seven countries, more than 50% of students reported that they had been using a computer for at least the last five years – i.e. since the age of about ten. Australia, Canada and the United States reported the highest percentages. At the other extreme, less than 25% of students in eight countries, including Italy and Japan, reported using computers for five or more years. Use of computers is much more common at home than at school. In most participating countries, more than 70% of students frequently use computers at home, although in Japan, Mexico, Turkey and Russian Federation, less than 50% of students report frequent use. |
Sources
- OECD (2001), PISA Knowledge and Skills for Life – First Results from PISA 2000, OECD, Paris.
- OECD (2004), PISA Learning for Tomorrow’s World: First Results from PISA 2003, OECD, Paris.
- OECD (2006), Are Students Ready for a Technology-Rich World? What PISA Studies Tell Us, OECD, Paris.
Further information
Analytical publications
- OECD (2003), PISA Literacy Skills for the World of Tomorrow – Further Results from PISA 2000, OECD, Paris.
- OECD (2005), PISA Problem Solving for Tomorrow’s World First Measures of Cross-Curricular Competencies from PISA 2003, OECD, Paris.
- OECD (2006), Where Immigrant Students Succeed: A Comparative Review of Performance and Engagement in PISA 2003, OECD, Paris.
Methodological publications
- OECD (2006), Assessing Scientific, Reading and Mathematical Literacy: A Framework for PISA 2006, OECD, Paris.
Online databases
Websites
- PISA website, www.pisa.oecd.org.
Performances on the mathematics scale in PISA 2003
Computer usage of 15-year-old students
Percentage of 15-year-old students using computers
|
58/94 | |