Programme For International Student Assessment (PISA)

What is PISA
PISA is an international comparative study which is carried out by a consortium headed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in cooperation with national research institutions and governmental research agencies.

PISA assesses how well students at age 15 - and therefore approaching the end of compulsory schooling in most countries - are prepared to meet the challenges of today’s societies. The PISA assessment takes a broad approach to assessing skills and knowledge that reflect the current changes in curricula, moving beyond the school based approach towards the use of knowledge in everyday tasks and challenges. These skills reflect the ability of students to continue learning throughout their lives by applying what they have learned in school to non-school environments, evaluating their choices and making decisions.

PISA combines the assessment of three domain-specific areas such as:

• reading,
• mathematical and
• scientific literacy.

PISA covers these domains not so much in terms of mastery of the school curriculum, but of important knowledge and skills needed in adult life. Emphasis is on the mastery of processes, the understanding of concepts and the ability to function in various situations within each domain. This emphasis is particularly significant in light of the concern among nations to develop human capital, which is defined in PISA as: “the knowledge, skills, competencies and other attributes embodied in individuals that are relevant to personal, social and economic well- being.”

Objectives of PISA
The objective of the study is to provide countries with international comparative data as well as with national trend data on reading, mathematical and scientific literacy of 15 year old students. The three literacy domains, plus the cross-sectional Problem Solving domain, are defined as follows:

Mathematical Literacy
An individual’s capacity to identify and understand the role that mathematics plays in the world to make well-founded judgments 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

Reading literacy
An individual’s capacity to understand, use and reflect on written texts, in order to achieve one’s goals, to develop one’s knowledge and potential and to participate in society

Scientific literacy
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.

Problem Solving
An individual’s capacity to use cognitive processes to confront and resolve real, cross –disciplinary situations where the solution path is not immediately obvious and where the literacy domains or curricular areas that might be applicable are not within a single domain of mathematics, science or reading.

Test Materials and Design
Test items are a mixture of multiple-choice items and questions requiring students to construct their own responses. The items are organized in groups based on a passage or problem describing a real-life situation. The paper-and-pencil tests last a total of two hours for each student.

The PISA assessment takes place every three years: Each of the PISA cycles looks in depth at a “major” domain, to which two-thirds of testing time is devoted; the other domains provide a summary profile of skills. Major domains were reading literacy in PISA 2000, mathematical literacy in PISA 2003, scientific literacy in PISA 2006, reading literacy in 2009 and will be mathematical literacy in 2012. The design of the PISA study focuses mainly on providing results at the system level; it is not intended to report individual student scores. Besides the reading tests, questionnaire data from schools, students and parents are collected and analyzed. This background information is intended to identify factors or combination of factors that are associated with high levels of reading, mathematical and scientific literacy.

PISA 2006 and 2009 in Qatar
In Qatar, the PISA administration is census- based. That means all eligible 15 year old students in Private Arabic, Independent, community and International schools participated in the PISA 2006 and 2009 main administrations. Since the eligibility criterion is not grade but age based, the 15 year old students taking part in PISA come from 9th , 10th and 11th grades. The total number of students in PISA 2006 and PISA 2009 was 7500 and 10500, respectively.

Importance of PISA for Qatar

• The analysis of student performance in PISA will inform Qatar about proficiency in reading, mathematical and scientific literacy of 15 year old Qatari students as well as analyses of sub-groups (e.g. boys vs. girls, differences by school type, etc.).
• PISA provides comparative results of the position of Qatari students in comparison to other countries.
• Since PISA is conducted every 3 years, Qatar’s participation in PISA 2006 represents a baseline from which the country can track its progress in reading, mathematical and scientific literacy of 15 year old Qatari students over time. The Qatari educational reform is expected to lift up students performance in the coming years. Thus, the comparison of the 2006 and 2009 cycles of PISA will present Qatar with an external validation of the impact of its educational reform efforts upon reading, mathematical and scientific literacy of 15 year olds, in addition to the internal one (QCEA).
• Together with the questionnaire data it will also be possible to identify factors that are related to reading, mathematical and scientific literacy acquisition, like instructional practices, school resources, and home environment.
• By pointing out strength and weaknesses in reading, mathematical and scientific literacy of Qatari students, decision makers will have additional information about where to focus resources for improving students’ skills in those domains.
• PISA will complement results from the QCEA in the subject matters Arabic, Mathematics and Science. Due to its specific focus on competencies, i.e. how students can apply what they have learned in school to real life situations, PISA can offer deeper insights in reading, mathematical and scientific literacy of 15 year old Qatari students.

  Moreover, the Problem Solving domain is used across subject matters areas and is therefore more germane for this type of assessments than for yearly applied national tests like the QCEA.

Release of the PISA 2009 Results
As part of the OECD procedures, The PISA 2009 results will be released on December 7, 2010 in the form of a comprehensive report touching on all aspects of achievement, particularly as it pertains to reading literacy and such correlates as the socio-economic background.

PISA 2012
Guided by the idea of tracking the outcomes of the educational reform, the Supreme Education Council decided to join PISA 2012 where the major domain will be mathematics. In PISA 2012 whose Field Trial will be administered in March 2011, 1300 students enrolled in Private Arabic, Independent, Community and International schools will be assessed. Since the eligibility criterion is not grade but age based, the 15 year old students taking part in PISA come from 9th , 10th and 11th grades.

More information about PISA is available online at www.pisa.oecd.org