ERIC ED479974: Literacy Skills for the World of Tomorrow. Further Results from PISA 2000.

385 Pages·2003·6.5 MB·English

by  ERIC

DOCUMENT RESUME
ED 479 974
TM 035 167
Literacy Skills for the World of Tomorrow. Further Results
TITLE
from PISA 2000.
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, Paris
INSTITUTION
(France).
ISBN-92-64-10286-8
ISBN
2003-00-00
PUB DATE
384p.; For the related report, "Knowledge and Skills for
NOTE
Life," see ED 460 970.
AVAILABLE FROM
OECD Publications, 2, rue Andre-Pascal, 75775 Paris CEDEX 16,
France. Web site: http://www.SourceOECD.org.
PUB TYPE Reports Descriptive (141)
EDRS Price MF01/PC16 Plus Postage.
EDRS PRICE
*Academic Achievement; Educational Policy; Elementary
DESCRIPTORS
Secondary Education; Foreign Countries; *International
Education; *Literacy; Outcomes of Education; *Performance
Factors; Sex Differences; *Test Results
Organisation for Economic Cooperation Development; *Program
IDENTIFIERS
for International Student Assessment
ABSTRACT'
This report builds on the analyses reported in "Knowledge and
Skills for Life" by examining results from all of the 43 countries that
participated in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)
2000. This report presents the distributions of performance in each country,
not only average scores. In addition, it uses background information on
students, their schools, and their education systems to examine a range of
factors associated with levels of performance. By, showing patterns of student
proficiency in different countries along side information about the
characteristics and experiences of students, PISA provides a tool to improve
the understanding of what promotes success in education. Chapter 1 describes
the PISA assessment measures and the broader context of educational policies.
Chapters 2 and 3 describe student performance in each of the three PISA
domains. Chapter 4 contains a profile of students at age 15, and chapter 5
examines gender differences in student performance in the three literacy
domains. Chapter 6 situates student performance in the context of their
backgrounds and the broader learning environment, and chapter 7 examines the
conditions of learning environments and the human resources countries invest
in education. Three annexes present additional information about the PISA
assessments and data tables. (Contains 69 tables, 67 figures, and 63
references.)
(SLD)
ENTIRE DOCU
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POOR PRINT
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Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made
from the original document.
PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND
DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS
BEEN GRANTED BY
S. Edam
Literacy Skills
TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)
1
for the World
of Tomorrow
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Office of Educational Research and Improvement
EDU ATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION
CENTER (ERIC)
This document has been reproduced as
received from the person or organization
originating it.
0 Minor changes have been made to
FURTHER RESULTS
improve reproduction quality.
FROM PISA 2000
Points of view or opinions stated in this
document do not necessarily represent
official OERI position or policy.
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7
Literacy Skills
for the World of Tomorrow
Further Results from PISA 2000
ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT
UNESCO INSTITUTE FOR STATISTICS
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Pursuant to Article 1 of the Convention signed in Paris on December 14, 1960, and which came into force on September 30,
1961, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) shall promote policies designed to:
achieve the highest sustainable economic growth and employment and a rising standard of living in Member
countries, while maintaining financial stability, and thus to contribute to the development of the world economy;
contribute to sound economic expansion in Member as well as non-member countries in the process of economic
development; and
contribute to the expansion of world trade on a multilateral, non-discriminatory basis in accordance with
international obligations..
The original Member countries of the OECD are Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland,
Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, 'flukey, the United Kingdom
and the United States. The following countries became Members subsequently through accession at the dates indicated
hereafter Japan (April 28, 1964), Finland (January 28, 1969), Australia (June 7, 1971), New Zealand (May 29, 1973), Mexico
(May 18, 1994), the Czech Republic (December 21, 1995), Hungary (May 7, 1996), Poland (November 22, 1996), Korea
(December 12, 1996) and the Slovak Republic (December 14, 2000). The Commission of the European Communities takes
part in the work of the OECD (Article 13 of the OECD Convention).
UNESCO
The constitution of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was adopted by 20
countries at the London Conference in November 1945 and entered into effect on November 4, 1946. The Organization
currently has 188 Member States.
The main objective of UNESCO is to contribute to peace and security in the world by promoting collaboration among
nations through education, science, culture and communication in order to foster universal respect for justice, the rule of
law, and the human rights and fundamental freedoms that are affirmed for the peoples of the world, without distinction
of race, sex, language or religion, by the Charter of the United Nations.
To fulfill its mandate, UNESCO performs five principal functions: 1) prospective studies on education, science, culture and
communication for tomorrow's world; 2) the advancement, transfer and sharing of knowledge through research, training
and teaching activities; 3) standard-setting actions for the preparation and adoption of internal instruments and statutory
recommendations; 4) expertise through technical co-operation to Member States for their development policies and
projects; and 5) the exchange of specialized information.
UNESCO is headquartered in Paris, France.
The UNESCO Institute for Statistics
The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) is the statistical office of UNESCO and is the UN depository for global statistics in
the fields of education, science and technology, culture and communication.
UIS was established in 1999. It was created to improve UNESCO's statistical programme and to develop and deliver the
timely, accurate and policy-relevant statistics needed in today's increasingly complex and rapidly changing social, political
and economic environments.
UIS is based in Montréal, Canada.
Photo credit: PhotoDisc.
Copyright OECD/UNESCO-UIS 2003
Permission to reproduce a portion of this work for non-commercial purposes or classroom use should be obtained
through the Centre francais d'exploitation du droit de copie (CFC), 20, rue des Grands-Augustins, 75006 Paris, France,
tel. [phone], fax [phone], for every country except the United States. In the United States, permission
should be obtained through the Copyright Clearance Center, Customer Service, [phone], 222 Rosewood Drive,
Danvers, MA 01923, USA, or CCC Online (www.copyright.com). All other applications for permission to reproduce or translate
all or part of this book should be made to OECD Publications, 2, rue André-Pascal, 75775 Paris Cedex 16, France or
UNESCO Publishing, Editorial and Rights Division, 7, place de Fontenoy, 75352 Paris 07 SP ou 1, rue Miollis, 75732 Paris
CEDEX 15, France. Fax: [phone]. Tel. [phone]. Email: [e-mail]
The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of
UNESCO and OECD concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or the delimitation of its frontiers or
boundaries.
4
FOREWORD
Compelling incentives for individuals, economies and societies to raise levels of education have been
the driving force for governments to improve the quality of educational services. The prosperity of
countries now derives to a large extent from their human capital and the opportunities available for
their citizens to acquire knowledge and skills that will enable them to continue learning throughout
their lives.
parents, students, those who teach and run education systems as well as the gen-
All stakeholders
eral public - need to be informed on how well their education systems prepare students to meet the
challenges of the future. Many countries monitor student learning in order to provide answers to
this question. Coupled with appropriate incentives, assessment and evaluation can motivate students
to learn better, teachers to teach more effectively and schools to be more supportive and produc-
tive environments. Comparative international analyses can extend and enrich the national picture by
providing a larger context within which to interpret national results. They can provide countries with
information to judge their areas of relative strength and weakness and to monitor progress. They can
stimulate countries to raise aspirations. They can also provide evidence to direct national policy, for
schools' curriculum and instructional efforts and for students' learning.
In response to the need for cross-nationally comparable evidence on student performance, the OECD
has launched the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). PISA represents a new
commitment by governments to monitor the outcomes of education systems in terms of student
achievement on a regular basis and within an internationally accepted common framework. PISA aims
to provide a new basis for policy dialogue and for collaboration in defining and operationalising edu-
in innovative ways that reflect judgements about the skills that are relevant to adult
cational goals
life.
The first PISA assessment was conducted in 2000 and will now be followed-up with similar assess-
ments every t.hree years. A first report, Knowledge and Skillsfor Life, was published in 2001 and provided
evidence on the performance in reading, mathematical and scientific literacy of students, schools and
countries, as well as insights into the factors that influence the development of these skills at home and
at school, and how these factors interact.
The wide interest generated by PISA beyond the OECD membership has encouraged many non-OECD
coimtries to join the effort. Brazil, Latvia, Liechtenstein and the Russian Federation implemented the
first PISA assessment together with 28 OECD countries in 2000. Albania, Argentina, Bulgaria, Chile,
Hong Kong-China, Indonesia, Israel, FYR Macedonia, Peru, Romania and Thailand followed in 2002
and further cotmtries have signed up for future rounds.
To respond to this increasing interest in PISA and international assessments more generally, OECD
and UNESCO have joined forces with the aims to facilitate the participation of non-OECD countries
in PISA and to analyse the resultant data. More broadly, the two organisations are collaborating, in
supporting a shift in policy focus from educational inputs to learning outcomes, to assist countries in
seeking to bring about improvements in schooling and better preparation for young people as they
enter an adult life of rapid change and deepening global interdependence.
3 III
OECD/UNESCO-UIS 2003
11 FOREWORD
This report, Literacy Skills for the World of Tomorrow - Further results from PISA 2000, which is the first
result of this collaboration, presents the results in PISA for the eleven systems that tested in 2002.
The report reveals considerable variation in levels of performance between students, schools and
countries. It shows that the socio-economic backgrounds of students and schools exert an important
influence on student performance, although this is much less marked in some countries than in others.
among them both OECD and non-OECD countries
More importantly, those countries
which have
been most successful in mitigating the effect of social disadvantage are among those with the highest
levels of overall student performance. These countries demonstrate that it is possible to achieve high
quality while reducing inequality. They define an important challenge for other countries by showing
what it is possible to achieve. The report also suggests that schools can make an important difference
although it will require further analysis to identify precisely how school resources, policies and prac-
tices interact with home background to influence student performance.
A series of more detailed thematic reports will be published in 2003 and 2004, including both OECD
and non-OECD countries, in pursuit of a deeper understanding of how countries and schools can
respond. In the meantime, the mere fact that high-quality learning outcomes are already a reality for
the majority of students in some countries is, in itself, an encouraging result that suggests that the
challenges ahead can be tackled successfully.
PISA is a collaborative effort, bringing together scientific expertise from the participating countries,
steered co-operatively by their governments on the basis of shared, policy-driven interests. A Board
of Participating Countries took responsibility for the project at the policy level. Experts from these
countries serve on working groups that are charged with linking the PISA policy objectives to the best
available substantive and technical expertise in the field of international comparative assessment of
educational outcomes. These expert groups ensure that the PISA assessment instruments are interna-
tionally valid, that they take into account the cultural and curricular contexts of participating coun-
tries, provide a realistic basis for measurement, and emphasise authenticity and educational validity.
The frameworks and assessment instruments for PISA 2000 in themselves are the product of a multi-
year development process.
This report is the product of close co-operation between the countries participating in PISA, the
experts and institutions working within the framework of the PISA Consortium, and the OECD and
UNESCO. The report was prepared by the OECD Directorate for Education, the UNESCO Institute
for Statistics and the programme on Trade and Development of the Hamburg Institute of Interna-
tional Economics (HWWA), under the direction of Andreas Schleicher (OECD) and Albert Motivans
(UNESCO). Contributing authors are Hannah Cocks (OECD), Jeffery Hutcheson (Vanderbilt University),
Katharina Michaelowa (HWWA), Kooghyang Ro (OECD), Thomas M. Smith (Vanderbilt University),
Claudia Tamassia (OECD), Sophie Vayssettes (OECD) and Yanhong Zhang (UNESCO) with production
assistance from Cassandra Davis (OECD) and Marie-Helene Lussier (UNESCO). The data underlying the
report were prepared by the PISA Consortium, under the direction of Raymond Adams and Christian
Monseur at the Australian Council for Educational Research.
The development of the report was steered by delegates from the participating non-OECD countries,
including Nikoleta Mika and Perparim Shera (Albania); Lilia Toranzos (Argentina); Alexander Petkov
OECD/UNESCO-UIS 2003
6
NI
FOREWORD
Lakiurski (Bulgaria); Leonor Cariola (Chile); Esther Sui Chu Ho (Hong Kong-China); Ramon Mohandas
and Bahrul Hayat (Indonesia); Bracha Kramarski and Zemira Mevarech (Israel); Vladimir Mostrov (FYR
Macedonia); Jose Rodriguez and Giuliana Espinosa (Peru); Adrian Stoica and Roxana Mihail (Romania);
and, Sunee Klainin (Thailand).
The report is published under the joint responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD and the
Director-General of UNESCO.
93\
Denise Lievesley
Barry McGaw
Director
Director for Education
UNESCO Institute for Statistics
OECD
C OECD/UNESCO-UIS 2003
5
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword
3
Chapter 1: Programme for International Student Assessment and non-OECD countries
11
12
An overview of PISA
Organisation of this report
15
17
What PISA measures
19
Reading literacy in PISA
20
Mathematical literacy in PISA
21
Scientific literacy in PISA
21
How PISA assesses students and collects information
24
How PISA can inform policy
24
Social, economic and education contexts of the 14 non-OECD countries
25
Characteristics of youth population
26
Educational participation and its returns
28
Capacities and efforts to invest in education
30
Summary
Readers' guide
32
Chapter 2:The reading performance of 15-year-olds
35
36
Introduction
37
How reading literacy is assessed in PISA
41
PISA proficiency level
43
Samples of the reading tasks used in PISA
69
Reading literacy profile of 15-year-olds
69
Percentage of students proficient at each level of reading literacy
74
The mean performances of countries
79
The distribution of reading literacy within cotmtries
84
Performance on the subscales of reading literacy
87
Conclusions
Chapter 3: A profile of studentperformance inmathematical and scientific literacy
91
92
Introduction
92
Student performance in mathematical literacy
92
How mathematical literacy is measured in PISA
95
The mean performances of countries in mathematical literacy
The distribution of mathematical literacy within countries
101
103
Reading and mathematical literacy performance
104
Student performance in scientific literacy
104
How scientific literacy is measured in PISA
108
The mean performances of countries in scientific literacy
108
The distribution of scientific literacy within countries
110
Reading and scientific literacy performance
111
Reading, mathematical and scientific literacy performance
Investment in education and student performance
111
114
The income distribution and performance
116
Conclusions
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 4: General outcomes of learning
119
Introduction
120
Student engagement in schooling and learning
121
Student engagement with school
122
Students' effort and persistence to learn and instrumental motivation
124
Student engagement in reading
127
Student interest and self-concept in reading and mathematics
129
Diversity and content of reading - Reader profiles
131
Student learning strategies and preferences
133
Controlling the learning process
133
Student use of elaboration and memorisation strategies
135
Co-operative and competitive learning
137
Conclusions
138
Chapter 5: Gender differences and similarities in achievement
141
Introduction
142
The future labour force
143
Gender differences in reading, mathematical and scientific literacy
146
Gender differences in subject interest
150
Gender differences in engagement in reading
152
Gender differences in learning strategies and self-concept
157
Gender differences in approaches for learning
competitive versus co-operative learning
160
Conclusions
161
Chapter 6: Family background and literacy performance
163
Introduction
164
Social, economic and cultural factors that influence schooling
164
Parental occupational status
165
Family wealth
167
Possessions related to "classical" culture
167
Parental education
167
Communication with parents on social issues and aspects of culture
169
Family structure
172
Place of birth and home language
173
Summarising the relationship between family economic, social and cultural status
and literacy performance
173
Is there a trade-off between quality and equity?
178
Importance of engagement in reading in improving literacy performance
180
Conclusions
184
Chapter 7: School characteristics and student performance
187
Introduction
188
Variation of scores and differences between schools
188
Physical and human resources at school
191
Schools' infrastructure and equipment
192
Schools' human resources
195
School organisation and management
201
School climate
205
Schools' socio-economic intake
212
Socio-economic and academic selection
212
Factors of social selection for different schools
220
Conclusions
222
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References
227
Annex A
231
Annex A 1 : Construction of indices and other derived measures from the student
and school context questionnaires
232
Student characteristics and family background
233
Learning strategies and attitudes
237
School policies and practices
239
Classroom practices
241
School resources and type of school
242
Annex A2: Explained variation in student performance
244
Annex A3: The PISA target population and the PISA samples
249
The PISA concept of "yield" and the definition of the PISA target population
249
Population coverage
252
Sampling procedures and response rates
255
Annex A4: Standard errors, significance tests and multiple comparisons
259
Annex A5: Quality assurance
260
Annex A6: Development of the PISA assessment instruments
262
Annex A7: Reliability of the marking of open-ended items
268
Annex B
269
Annex Bl: Data tables
270
Annex C
385
Annex Cl: The development and implementation of PISA A collaborative effort
386
Introduction
386
Members of the PISA Board of Participating Countries (PISA 2000 and PISA Plus)
387
PISA National Project Managers (PISA 2000 and PISA Plus)
387
OECD Secretariat
388
UNESCO Institute for Statistics
388
PISA Expert Groups
388
PISA Technical Advisory Group (PISA)
388
PISA Consortium (PISA 2000 and PISA Plus)
389
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