PISA - What Do The Scores Actually Mean?

Every three years, the OECD conducts an indepth study of the reading, science and mathematics skills of over sixty countries, and ranks them relative to each other. In addition to testing students (they test fifteen year olds), they also collect information from school principals to help in making sense of the results.

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) always generates a lot of controversy. The release of findings generates heated discussion about the value of comparing countries, and even whether the scores from various countries are even meaningful. In the USA, where per capita spending is among the highest in the world, the rankings, in which the USA usually ranks lower than much less wealthy countries, stimulates a lot of analysis and conclusions, ranging from excuses "We have a much more diverse population", to panic "Why are we failing", to more constructive thinking "What can we do to 'catch up'.

But what to the scores actually mean? What are the implications for national education policies? Do they mean anything at all?

The answers aren't simple, and often it depends on one's own existing bias, but they are worth considering if we are to do the best for our children.

In this section, we've presented some of the better interpretations of the results, and also the meaning of those results and their implications for education.

Findings, Analysis, And Interpreting The PISA Results

PISA-What Do The National Education Scores Really Mean