Student preparation for large-scale assessments: a comparative analysis
Date
2019
Authors
Sellar, S.
Lingard, B.
Rutkowski, D.
Takayama, K.
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Maddox, B.
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Book chapter
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Source details - Title: International Large-Scale Assessments in Education: Insider Research Perspectives, 2019 / Maddox, B. (ed./s), Ch.8, pp.137-156
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Abstract
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) has become arguably the most influential and successful international large-scale assessment (ILSA) and represents a major global investment in test development, administration, data collection and analysis. PISA assesses reading, mathematical and scientific literacy and is conducted with 15-year-olds in approximately seventy countries every three years. This chapter examines different approaches to preparing students to sit for PISA. We compare four national cases at different points in time: (1) Prince Edward Island, Canada in PISA 2003; Japan following PISA 2003; Scotland in PISA 2012; and Norway in PISA 2015. Approaches to preparation across the four cases span a continuum from close adherence to the test administration guidelines to structural reforms that increase alignment between curricula and what PISA assesses. We aim to answer the following question: what can different preparation strategies for PISA tell us about the impact and use of PISA in these contexts? We do not aim to demonstrate a relationship between preparation and performance. Rather, we show how politics and policy within nations produce different approaches to preparing for and administering PISA, and we illustrate how this aspect of the assessment can deviate substantially from the OECD’s technical standards.
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Copyright 2019 Bryan Maddox and Contributors