This Tuesday the latest edition of the report of the International Program for Student Development, better known as the PISA Report, is launched, which aims to measure whether students have sufficient skills to continue learning and enter the labor market. . Based on this data, a plan to improve teaching is prepared in each country and the figures are compared internationally and in the school environment. It is not considered a competition between States.
What is PISA?
In the late 1990s, the 34 countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) considered designing tests that would measure whether 15-year-olds are prepared to participate in society. The first edition was presented in 2000 to measure mathematical and reading skills; and in 2006 the scientific ones were added. In each edition, more questions are included for one of the skills, this time mathematics.
Over the years, other tests have been incorporated that assess skills that are not so attached to the subjects, and for which the results are not known this Tuesday. In 2014, the financial PISA emerged, which offers a diagnosis of these skills, and in 2020, the results in global competencies were revealed for the first time, vital for analyzing, questioning and proposing solutions to 21st century challenges such as gender equality or poverty. . Starting in 2025, it will include the evaluation of students’ English level.
How often are the tests held?
They are repeated every three years and the results take a year to be known, as all the factors are analyzed before the final report is released that details by income level. The students took the exam in the spring of 2022, a year late in this last call, due to the closure of schools due to the pandemic.
Who is examined?
A sample of schoolchildren between 15 years and three months and 16 years and two months who have received six years of training are called – regardless of whether they have repeated or opted for vocational training – from 81 countries and territories (690,000 students representing 29 million). That is, students born between January 1 and December 31, 2006. It was agreed to establish the test at age 15 because in almost all countries children are finishing their compulsory schooling, although in developing countries, a A significant part of the most disadvantaged no longer study, which predictably improves national results that are already low.
This edition has the largest representation in history. For the first time, data from Palestine, Uzbekistan, Jamaica and Mongolia will be known. And China, leading in 2018, does not participate due to the pandemic.
Who evaluates?
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) coordinates with the participating countries. Each one subjects a sample to the exam, which can be expanded if there are communities in a country that want their own data, which they must pay for with their own funds. Madrid, for example, budgeted 200,000 euros for PISA 2018. All Spanish autonomous communities contract an expansion of the sample, so the country invests a lot in the test than others. Some Spanish private schools have begun to pay for their own tests and promote themselves in this way. A small country spends around 75,000 euros each year on this test; a large one, around 300,000 euros
What do the tests consist of?
There are two types of tests that have been completed by computer since 2015: knowledge tests that measure student performance and context questionnaires that students and management teams must answer. For the first time, mathematical reasoning is included. The objective is to check if they know how to apply what they have learned at school to their lives: if they understand a form, a recipe, an instruction manual, a graph… The analysts focus on the results of the tests and questionnaires. the most successful countries to establish the characteristics of their educational systems that can become a reference: How many students are there in the classroom? Do your teachers get paid more? Is there a curriculum determined by a central government?
How is it scored?
PISA does not scale from 0 to 10 as is done in Spain, but is based on the variations that exist between all participants. The average score of OECD countries was set at 500 points and it is estimated that a 40-point difference in a PISA test is equivalent to one academic year (some studies reduce it to 30, because it is not an official OECD figure). . In 2018, Spain achieved 483 points in science (13 points less than in 2013) and in mathematics 481 points, five less than in 2015. That is, it was half a year below the average. That year the evaluators detected “anomalies” in the Spanish reading comprehension answers and canceled that part of the exam.
What happens if you fail?
The results are anonymous and only a sample, therefore, they neither count for the student’s record nor are they a revalidation to pass that educational stage. We do not want to know the results of each student, but rather extrapolate them to a national level. PISA points out similarities and differences between different educational systems, but does not provide a verdict. Many countries set national standards and targets based on international PISA results; and some experts criticize governments for making only cosmetic changes to look better in the photo or for flawedly extrapolating some of the data to justify their policy direction. In any case, structural changes in a system take time to be reflected in PISA in both a positive and negative sense.
In the report, not only the country that has a high average score comes out well, but also the one that ensures that educational quality permeates all social classes, including the lowest ones. That happens in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore or Finland.
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