Scribd
Upload
5 views2 pages

TIMSSandPISA-backgrounder

PISA and TIMSS are international assessments that evaluate the skills of Australian students in reading, mathematics, and science, with PISA focusing on 15-year-olds and TIMSS on Year 4 and Year 8 students. Although both studies provide valuable insights into student performance, they assess different aspects of learning and cannot be directly compared due to differing participant countries and assessment frameworks. The Australian Council for Educational Research manages these assessments, which are crucial for monitoring educational progress over time.

Uploaded by

Madiha Baloch
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
5 views2 pages

TIMSSandPISA-backgrounder

PISA and TIMSS are international assessments that evaluate the skills of Australian students in reading, mathematics, and science, with PISA focusing on 15-year-olds and TIMSS on Year 4 and Year 8 students. Although both studies provide valuable insights into student performance, they assess different aspects of learning and cannot be directly compared due to differing participant countries and assessment frameworks. The Australian Council for Educational Research manages these assessments, which are crucial for monitoring educational progress over time.

Uploaded by

Madiha Baloch
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

PISA and TIMSS

What’s the story?


As part of the monitoring of the progress of Australian students, nationally representative samples of students are tested
regularly in the types of skills that are essential for every child to progress through school and life: reading, mathematics
and science.

Every three years, a sample of Australian students is Every four years, samples of students undertake
tested in the Programme for International Student the Trends in International Mathematics and
Assessment (PISA), which examines scientific, Science Study (TIMSS), which examines student
reading and mathematical literacy levels. achievement in mathematics and science.

Every 12 years, PISA and TIMSS align, in that their results are released more or less simultaneously, as is the case this
year, when only a week separates the release of the two studies.

Timeline for PISA and TIMSS testing (Note: Results are reported in the following year)

PISA PISA PISA PISA PISA PISA

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

TIMSS TIMSS TIMSS TIMSS TIMSS TIMSS

PISA looks at 15-year-olds – who in most countries TIMSS, on the other hand, looks at how well Year 4
are approaching the end of compulsory schooling and Year 8 students have mastered the factual and
– and asks how well they are able to apply procedural knowledge taught in school mathematics
understandings and skills in science, reading and and science curricula. For example, do students
mathematics to everyday situations. For example, know:
are they able to:
• how many legs an insect has?
• read tables and graphs in newspapers?
• which animals lay eggs?
• perform currency conversions?
• what happens when light passes through a prism?
• use basic understandings of science to make
• what the angles of a triangle sum to?
sense of magazine articles about topics such as 7
genetically modified foods and animal cloning? • how to convert 10 to a decimal?
• what congruent triangles are?

PISA is an initiative of the Organisation for TIMSS is an initiative of the International


Economic Cooperation and Development Association for the Evaluation of Educational
(OECD). Achievement (IEA).

The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) manages the implementation and reporting of PISA and TIMSS
in Australia on behalf of the OECD and IEA, with funding from the Commonwealth and state and territory governments.

Australian Council for Educational Research


PISA and TIMSS allow students’ performances to be compared
across countries and over time. So what is similar about the two
studies, what’s different, and what can we learn from each?

PISA and TIMSS comparison table:

PISA TIMSS

Areas Scientific literacy


Mathematics
assessed Reading literacy
Science
Mathematical literacy

Target All 15-year-old students regardless of year


population level – typically this is Year 10, but participating
Year 4 students Year 8 students
Australian students may be in Years 9 or 11,
due to differing school starting ages

Focus of How well students are able to apply How well students have mastered the factual
assessment understanding and skills in science, reading and procedural knowledge taught in school
and mathematics to everyday situations mathematics and science curricula

Australian
data July–September 2015 November/December 2014
collection

While PISA and TIMSS have much in common, they provide different, but
complementary, information about different aspects of students’ mathematics
and science learning. In both studies there are carefully developed assessment
frameworks that define what is assessed. The tests are sound, reliable
instruments that measure accurately what they were designed to measure.

Can the scores of


PISA and TIMSS
be compared directly?
No. Although achievement in PISA and both TIMSS Year 4 and Year 8 are described
on a scale in which 500 represents the international average, each scale is based on
a different group of participating countries.

èè The international average for PISA is the average of the OECD member
countries participating in PISA, which comprise around half of the total number
of participating countries.

èè The international average for TIMSS is the average of all participating countries,
including developing countries. The scores for Year 4 and Year 8 in TIMSS
cannot be compared because not all countries test both year levels.

Australian Council for Educational Research

You might also like

pFad - Phonifier reborn

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


Alternative Proxies:

Alternative Proxy

pFad Proxy

pFad v3 Proxy

pFad v4 Proxy