Research Projects

OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2009 - 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 (approximately) 65 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 and Computer-based testing;
  • 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, PISA 2003 and PISA 2006, the first three cycles of an international data-gathering strategy that produced indicators on student achievement, ACER has continued work on PISA 2009, the fourth cycle of the study.

The PISA project is managed for the OECD by a consortium of the Australian Council for Educational Research; Westat Inc.; cApStAn sprl (Linguistic Quality Control);  the German Institute for International Educational Research (DIPF); Unité d’analyse des systèmes et des pratiques d'enseignement (aSPe) at the University of Liege; and the Japanese National Institute for Educational Policy Research (NIER).

A separate consortium led by CITO (an educational research centre in the Netherlands) is responsible for the development of the background questionnaires for PISA 2009.

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 65 countries will participate in PISA 2009. 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, in PISA 2003 the major domain was Mathematics, and in PISA 2006 Scientific Literacy was the major domain. In PISA 2009, Reading once again takes its place as the major assessment 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 2009 is undertaken in 2009 and analysis of data will be conducted during 2010. The international report is planned for release in late 2010.

Staff: Prof Ray Adams (International Project Director), Ms Alla Berezner, Ms Yan Bibby, Ms Wei Buttress, Ms Renee Chow, Mr George Doukas, Ms Eveline Gebhardt, Ms Jennifer Hong, Ms Dulce Lay, Mr Tom Lumley, Mr Greg Macaskill, Dr Ron Martin, Mr Barry McCrae, Ms Juliette Mendelovits, Mr Martin Murphy, Dr Van Nguyen, Dr Alla Routitsky, Ms Dara Searle, Dr Wolfram Schulz, Ms Fionnuala Shortt, Ms Naoko Tabata, Mr Ross Turner, Mr Daniel Urbach, Mr Maurice Walker, Mr Wahyu Wardono.

Expected Completion Date: PISA 2009 results are scheduled for release in December 2010

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

Deliverables: Operational plans and support for implementing the assessment in all participating countries; assessment frameworks for all test domains, assessment instruments for all test 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 reports.

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 MyPISA web site. Login ID and password required.