Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)

PISA is the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment. Every three years it tests 15-year-old students from all over the world in reading, mathematics and science. The tests are designed to gauge how well the students master key subjects in order to be prepared for real-life situations in the adult world. Why choose 15-year-olds? Because in most countries, at the age of 15, students can decide whether or not they want to continue their education. They therefore need to be equipped for adult life. PISA publishes the results of the test a year after the students are tested to help governments shape their education policy. PISA cycles are referred to by the year in which the students were tested. Therefore PISA 2000 means the students were tested in the year 2000, PISA 2003, in the year 2003 and so forth. More information. https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pisa/ Overview The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an international assessment that measures 15-year-old students' reading, mathematics, and science literacy every three years. First conducted in 2000, the major domain of study rotates between reading, mathematics, and science in each cycle. PISA also includes measures of general or cross-curricular competencies, such as collaborative problem solving. By design, PISA emphasizes functional skills that students have acquired as they near the end of compulsory schooling. PISA is coordinated by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), an intergovernmental organization of industrialized countries, and is conducted in the United States by NCES. Data collection for the most recent assessment was completed in Fall 2015. PISA 2015 assessed students' science, reading, and mathematics literacy in more than 70 countries and education systems. Science was the focal subject of the 2015 data collection, as it was in 2006. PISA 2015 also included optional assessments of collaborative problem solving and financial literacy. U.S. 15-year-old students participated in both these optional assessments. Data from the core 2015 assessment and both the financial literacy and collaborative problem solving assessments are now available. The most recent PISA results are from 2015 and are available here. More information about PISA and resources, including the OECD's PISA reports, PISA assessment frameworks, and international data files, are available at the OECD's website.