Student preparation for large-scale assessments: a comparative analysis

Abstract

[Extract] Sam Sellar Bob Lingard David Rutkowski Keita Takayama and The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) has become arguably the most influential and successful international large-scale assessment (ILSA) and represents a major global investment in test development, administration, data collection and analysis. PISA assesses reading, mathematical and scientific literacy and is conducted with 15-year-olds in approximately seventy countries every three years. This chapter examines different approaches to preparing students to sit for PISA. We compare four national cases at different points in time: (1) Prince Edward Island, Canada in PISA 2003; Japan following PISA 2003; Scotland in PISA 2012; and Norway in PISA 2015. Approaches to preparation across the four cases span a continuum from close adherence to the test administration guidelines to structural reforms that increase alignment between curricula and what PISA assesses. We aim to answer the following question: what can...