The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), created in 1997, represents a commitment by the governments of OECD member countries to monitor the outcomes of education systems in terms of student achievement, within a common internationally agreed framework. PISA is a collaborative effort, bringing together scientific expertise from the participating countries and steered jointly by their governments on the basis of shared, policy-driven interests. Participating countries take responsibility for the project at the policy level. Experts from participating countries also serve on working groups that are charged with linking the PISA policy objectives with the best available substantive and technical expertise in the field of internationally comparative assessment. Through involvement in these expert groups, countries ensure that the PISA assessment instruments are internationally valid and take into account the cultural and curricular context of OECD member countries. They also have strong measurement properties, and place an emphasis on authenticity and educational validity.

Parents, students, teachers, governments and the general public – all stakeholders - need to know how well their education systems prepare students for real-life situations. Many countries monitor students’ learning to evaluate this. Comparative international assessments can extend and enrich the national picture by providing a larger context within which to interpret national performance. They can show what is possible in education, in terms of the quality of educational outcomes as well as in terms of equity in the distribution of learning opportunities. They can support setting policy targets by establishing measurable goals achieved by other systems and help to build trajectories for reform. They can also help countries work out their relative strengths and weaknesses and monitor progress.

This chapter discusses the conceptual framework underlying the PISA 2009 assessment of students’ reading competencies. It provides PISA’s definition of reading literacy and presents the elements of the survey which have remained consistent throughout the previous cycles, along with a new element: reading and understanding electronic texts. It describes how PISA assesses and analyses electronic reading tasks, as well as the way in which students navigate through texts and respond to the format of tasks. Sample print and electronic reading items are included throughout the chapter to further illustrate how students’ skill are measured. Finally, a discussion on reading engagement and metacognition addresses the motivational and behavioural elements of reading literacy.

This chapter begins with PISA’s definition of mathematics and explains the theory underlying the development of the assessment. The PISA mathematics assessment is organised into many different categories: situations or contexts; mathematical content and mathematical competencies. It also includes four overarching ideas: space and shape; change and relationships; quantity and uncertainty. The chapter describes the processes and competencies needed to solve PISA mathematics questions and explains the categorisation of the three competency clusters: reproduction, connections and reflections. It uses sample tasks from the PISA assessment to further illustrate the framework and then discusses how proficiency in mathematics is measured for the analysis and reporting of results.

This chapter presents the theory underlying the PISA 2009 science assessment. It begins with a definition of scientific literacy, outlines the organisation of science in PISA and sets the context for the test questions. The chapter describes the knowledge and skills at the heart of the assessment: identifying scientific issues, explaining phenomena scientifically and using scientific evidence. It then describes how knowledge and attitudes are also encompassed in the PISA definition of scientific literacy. Test questions are given as examples throughout this chapter to illustrate the classification, format and structure of the PISA science assessment.

This chapter describes the framework that led the design of the PISA 2009 questionnaires; the aim was to gather policy-relevant background information linked to student achievement from school principals, students and parents. The chapter presents the types and purposes of the information collected at four different levels: the educational system as a whole; the school level; the instructional setting; and the student level. It also puts forward ideas for analysing the policy-relevance of the data collected, such as: investigating effective learning environments in reading; ensuring school effectiveness and management; promoting educational equity and cost effectiveness; and developing systemlevel indicators.

The print reading sample tasks are examples of questions students answered in the PISA 2009 survey to assess their competencies in reading printed text. Note that the numbering of the questions is identical to the numbering used in the test booklets given to students.

Annex B provides the background questionnaires used in the PISA 2009 survey to obtain information about the participating schools, students and parents. There are different questionnaires for each group: The school questionnaire is administered to principals and covers the structure and organisation of the school; the student and teacher body; the school’s resources; the school’s instruction, curriculum and assessment; the school climate; the school’s policies and practices; and the characteristics of the principal or designate. The questionnaire for students addresses their educational career; family context and home resources; individual engagement in reading; instructional time, learning and assessment; classroom and school climate; access to and use of libraries; and students’ strategies in reading and understanding texts. Two optional questionnaires are administered to students: an educational career questionnaire covering the students’ educational histories and career aspirations; and a questionnaire about students’ access to information and communication technology and their use of and attitude towards computers. A third optional questionnaire for parents covers their children’s past reading engagement; their own reading engagement; home reading resources and support; parents’ background; their perception of and involvement in school; and school choice.

Annex C lists the experts who were involved in creating and implementing the PISA 2009 survey. They specialise in reading, mathematics and science, as well as questionnaire development and carrying out large-scale education-related international surveys.