Challenges in International Large-Scale Assessments

1. Challenges in International Large-Scale Assessments Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia, May 16, 2013

2. Challenges • Using information to improve quality • Measuring beyond the academics • Reaching out of school population • What to measure • Difficulty level of the tests

3. Challenge 1: Using Assessment information to improve education quality

4. Challenge 1: Using ILSA to improve education quality A success Story: The case of Poland

5. Monitoring impact of reforms in Poland Source: The World Bank. Knowledge Brief. Nov 2010, Vol 34

6. Poland: PISA Reading Scores

7. Challenges for effective use of assessments • Political environment • Dissemination • Local capacity • Assessment culture

8. Challenge 2: Measuring beyond the academics Success requires a combination of academic, personality and social skills

9. Personality is important to predict success Personality Psychology and Economics. 2011 Almlund, M., Duckworth, A., Heckman, J., Kautz, T.

10. Self-Discipline Outdoes IQ in Predicting Academic Performance of Adolescents Duckworth, A. L. & Seligman, M. E. P. (2005). Psychological Science, 16, 939-944

11. Grit Scale GRIT: Perseverance for achieving long-term goals

12. Grit Scale Men Women 1st-9th percentile: < 2.5010th-19th percentile: 2.51 - 2.8720th-29th percentile: 2.88 - 3.1230th-39th percentile: 3.13 - 3.2440th-49th percentile: 3.25 - 3.4950th-59th percentile: 3.50 - 3.6260th-69th percentile: 3.63 - 3.7870th-79th percentile: 3.79 - 3.9980th-89th percentile: 4.00 - 4.2490th-99th percentile: 4.25-5.00 1st-9th percentile: < 2.5010th-19th percentile: 2.51 - 2.8220th-29th percentile: 2.83 - 3.0530th-39th percentile: 3.06 - 3.2440th-49th percentile: 3.25 - 3.3750th-59th percentile: 3.38 - 3.5360th-69th percentile: 3.54 - 3.7470th-79th percentile: 3.75 - 3.9180th-89th percentile: 3.92 - 4.0090th-99th percentile: 4.21-5.00

13. Background Questionnaires • TIMSS 2011 • Attitudes towards math and science: Like, value, confidence • Results • Younger students have more positive attitudes • Correlation with achievement • Strong and positive within countries • Weak among countries

14. Discussion • Should we move towards measuring personality traits? How?

15. Challenge 3:Reaching out of school population

16. Challenge 3:Reaching out of school population 96% 91% 84% 72% 73% n.a. The PISA 2009 profiles by country/economy. http://stats.oecd.org/PISA2009Profiles/#

17. PISA 2006 Sample Coverage Covered Pop / Total Pop Ferreira, F. & Gignoux, J. (2011). The Measurement of Educational Inequality. Achievement and Opportunity. Policy Research Paper 5873. Development Research Group. The World Bank

18. PISA 2006 Sample Coverage Science Scores 513 438 Covered Pop / Total Pop 390 Ferreira, F. & Gignoux, J. (2011). The Measurement of Educational Inequality. Achievement and Opportunity. Policy Research Paper 5873. Development Research Group. The World Bank

19. Which country did better? 2ary school enrollment 400 Country Y: 70% Country X: 90% 375

20. Did the country stay the same? Country X 2ary school enrollment 400 2009 80% 2000 70% 400

21. Discussion • Should we compare countries with different proportions of out-of-school population?

22. Challenge 4: What to measure?

23. The traditional view in assessment Emphasis on opportunities to learn

24. The “new” view in assessment Society PISA approach: to what extent students can apply their knowledge to real-life situations and be equipped for full participation in society.

25. Measuring 21st Century Skills

26. 21st Century Learning Framework • Core subjects and interdisciplinary themes • Language, math, sciences, • Finances, health, civics • Skills • Creativity and innovation • Critical thinking and problem solving • Communication and collaboration • Information, media, and ICT literacy

27. Challenge 5:Difficulty level of the tests Measuring what student should know and be able to do? Measuring what student actually know and can do?

28. Difficulty Level of the tests

29. Difficulty Level of the Tests Examine and Evaluate Content, Language, and Textual Elements Interpret and Integrate Ideas and Information PIRLS & PrePIRLS Make Straightforward Inferences Focus on and Retrieve Explicitly Stated Information Read short sentences EGRA, Provinha Recognize words Recognize letters

30. PrePIRLS Example questionsRetrieve explicitly stated information

31. ProvinhaExample Question Identify Letters X Source: Provinha March 2012. Caderno do Professor.

32. Administrator reads test questions to the students. Test questions are only included in the Test Administrator booklet

33. ProvinhaExample question Read words X Source: Provinha March 2012. Caderno do Professor.

34. Difficulty Level of the Tests Examine and Evaluate Content, Language, and Textual Elements Interpret and Integrate Ideas and Information PIRLS & PrePIRLS Make Straightforward Inferences Focus on and Retrieve Explicitly Stated Information Read short sentences EGRA, Provinha Recognize words Recognize letters

35. Opposed Forces Push for more difficult “higher order thinking skills” questions More low ability students expected to take the tests in more developing countries

36. How to address this? new new PISA for Development PrePIRLS new new new new new new

37. Universal scale

38. DiscussionWhat challenges do you foresee?How can they be addressed?