The Program for International Student Assessments (PISA) is an international assessment of 15-year-olds which focuses on assessing studentsâ reading, mathematics, and science literacy. PISA was first administered in 2000 and is conducted every three years. The United States has participated in all of the previous cycles, and will participate in 2018 in order to track trends and to compare the performance of U.S. students with that of students in other education systems. PISA 2018 is sponsored by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). In the United States, PISA is conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), within the U.S. Department of Education. In each administration of PISA, one of the subject areas (reading, mathematics, or science literacy) is the major domain and has the broadest content coverage, while the other two subjects are the minor domains. PISA emphasizes functional skills that students have acquired as they near the end of mandatory schooling (aged 15 years), and studentsâ knowledge and skills gained both in and out of school environments. PISA 2018 will focus on reading literacy as the major domain. Mathematics and science literacy will also be assessed as minor domains, with additional assessments of global competence and financial literacy. In addition to the cognitive assessments described above, PISA 2018 will include questionnaires administered to assessed students, school principals, and teachers. To prepare for the main study in 2018, NCES will conduct a PISA field test from April-May 2017 to evaluate newly developed assessment and questionnaire items, to test the assessment operations, and to test school recruitment, data collection, and data management procedures. The PISA main study will be conducted in the U.S. from September-November 2018. This submission requests approval for: recruitment and pre-assessment activities for the 2017 field test sample; administration of the field test; and recruitment of schools for the 2018 main study sample.
US Code:
20 USC 9573
Name of Law: Education Sciences Reform Act
The apparent decrease in burden from last approval is due to the fact that the last request was to conduct the TIMSS:2015 Main Study, while this request is to recruit schools and communicate with districts and parents in preparation for the 2017 eTIMSS pilot study.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that the collection of information encompassed by this request complies with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding the proposed collection of information, that the certification covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
Appendix A & B - PISA 2018 Recruitment & FT Communication Materials.docx
Program for International Student Assessment (PISA 2018) Recruitment and Field Test