Research Projects

OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2006 - International Component

Project Director: Mr Ross Turner

Internationally, ACER leads a consortium of research and educational institutions and eminent individuals to deliver the International PISA project on behalf of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

ACER's international work on PISA includes:

  • leading the development of the methodology and procedures required to implement the PISA survey in all 58 participating countries;
  • developing and implementing sampling procedures and assisting with monitoring sampling outcomes across participating countries;
  • leading the development of all assessment instruments in Reading, Mathematics, Science, Problem Solving, Computer-based testing, background and contextual questionnaires;
  • developing purpose-built software to assist in sampling and in data capture;
  • analysing all data and assisting the OECD in preparation of the international  report.

Following PISA 2000 and PISA 2003, the first two cycles of an International data gathering strategy that produced indicators on student achievement, ACER has continued work on PISA 2006, the third cycle of the study. Results for PISA 2006 were released on 4 December 2007.  Development work for PISA 2009 has commenced.

The PISA project is managed for the OECD by a consortium of the Australian Council for Educational Research, The Netherlands National Institute of Educational Measurement (Citogroup), Westat Inc., and the Japanese National Institute for Educational Policy Research (NIER).

The fundamental aim of the project is to collect data on students' knowledge, skills and competencies in Reading , Mathematics and Science for OECD countries. Approximately 58 countries will participate in PISA 2006. The Data Strategy stresses that the data collection should include both curriculum-focused and cross-curricular elements so that broadly defined content areas, not narrowly defined subject matter knowledge, are assessed. In PISA 2000 Reading was the major assessment domain, and in PISA 2003 the major domain was Mathematics. In PISA 2006 Scientific Literacy is the major domain. The PISA target population is students aged 15, the highest age at which enrolment in OECD countries is essentially universal. Data collection for PISA 2006 is undertaken in 2006 and analysis of data will be conducted during 2007. The international report was due for release on 4 December 2007.

Staff: Prof Ray Adams, Dr Alla Berezner, Ms Wei Buttress, Ms Eveline Gebhardt, Ms Dewi Handayani, Ms Dulce Lay, Mr Le Tu Luc, Mr Greg Macaskill, Dr Ron Martin, Mr Barry McCrae, Ms Pippa McKelvie, Ms Juliette Mendelovits, Mr Martin Murphy, Dr Van Nguyen, Dr Alla Routitsky, Dr Wolfram Schulz, Ms Fionnuala Shortt, Mr Ross Turner, Mr Maurice Walker, Mr Wahyu Wardono.

Expected Completion Date: PISA 2006 results were released on 4 December 2007.

Funding: Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), France

Deliverables: Assessment frameworks for all test and questionnaire domains, assessment instruments for all test and questionnaire domains, data analysis plans, translation verification services for all national versions, school and student sampling services for all participating countries, site visits for quality assurance purposes, specified data products (including database, data compendia), technical documentation, thematic report

Publications/Links:

Visit the international OECD PISA website to download International reports and data.

For people involved in the implementation of PISA, visit the restricted PISA web site. Login ID and password required.